Well it's that time again. Less than a week until the CMA Awards and everyone's been busy making their predictions and sharing their thoughts. So I figured I better hop on that train before time runs out. Remember: the CMAs are on ABC this coming Wednesday (November 6th) at 8/7 Central. This year the CMA will be doing a live stream of the press room, starting at 5/4 Central over on http://www.cmaworld.com/cma-awards/. Might be worth checking out.
I've done prediction posts a few times and I never seem to do them the same way twice. Oh, they all amount to the same thing. My thoughts on who I think will win and who I want to win and why. But I always seem to tweak the posts in some way or another. This time I'm going to be including a list of who I would've nominated if I was able to. Because like so many of you, I don't agree with every nomination and you know what? That's okay. Never let anyone tell you that you need to be in perfect agreement with the CMA. I bet we all have artists that we wish would've gotten nominated and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Who do you think got snubbed this year? Out of the people nominated, who do you want to see win?
How about performances? I always look forward to just about every performance, though if I had to pick the three I was most looking forward to? That would be Eric Church, Little Big Town and the George Jones tribute that will be done by Alan Jackson and George Strait. The CMAs better give said tribute the amount of time it deserves. This is George Jones we're talking about here, one of the greatest voices that country music has ever known. Arguably the greatest. He deserves a proper tribute, wouldn't you say? On paper it looks good: I think Alan Jackson and George Strait are perfect for this. But they need to give them a good amount of time. Or I will not be happy and I don't think I'd be alone.
Also, in case you missed it, I want to give you a chance to be featured on here as a guest blogger. You can check out the post with all the details here. Scroll on down to the fifth point.
Now: time for some predictions.
Starting with the biggest award of the night:
Entertainer of the Year
The nominees:
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Blake Shelton
George Strait
Taylor Swift
My predicted winner:
Either George Strait or Luke Bryan. I'm pretty certain that it's going to be one or the other. Luke has had an incredible year. He had to add more shows in multiple cities because the first shows were selling out so fast. His new album, Crash My Party, debuted at Number 1 and went gold the first week. It would take less than six weeks for it to go platinum. People rave about his shows. I'd say he has a strong chance. But here's the thing: George Strait is in the middle of his last tour and they don't call him King George for nothing. Earlier this year he got his 60th number one single. Not to mention that the CMAs tend to be more traditional than all the other country awards shows which is not going to hurt him. Ultimately it depends on how sentimental the voters are. I would be stunned if any of the other three one. Luke may make more sense of the two, but sentiment goes a long way. So I'd give a slight edge to George Strait taking this one home.
Who should win:
Jason Aldean. Yeah. I've made the argument for why he deserves it more than once and he just continues to add to the list. He sold out every show on his past two tours, setting who knows who many venue attendance records in the process. In fact, earlier this year, he set the record for the highest concert attendance ever in the entire state of Wyoming. It is my belief that he deserves this award more than anyone else.
Now here's who I think should have been nominated. You'll notice that a couple of the categories have six nominees instead of five. Apparently there were ties in those categories. Well, in this case I'm adding a sixth nominee.
My personal choices:
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
George Strait
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Out of these, I'd still want Jason to win.
Female Vocalist of the Year
The nominees:
Kelly Clarkson
Miranda Lambert
Kacey Musgraves
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
My predicted winner:
Carrie Underwood. Her Blown Away tour was hugely successful and the singles off said album were as well. Next month, she'll be playing Maria in the live remake of 'The Sound of Music'. She is hands down the best vocalist of the category as far as I'm concerned. Miranda's been winning this award lately and it'd be silly to count her out. But I'd be surprised if Carrie didn't win. Don't see Taylor stealing the win here, and with all due respect to Kelly and Kacey, I really think they're just there to round out the category. This one is ultimately a battle between Carrie and Miranda.
Who should win:
Carrie Underwood.
Who I think should have been nominated:
Miranda Lambert
Kellie Pickler
LeAnn Rimes
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
I'd still want Carrie to win this, though Kellie is a very close second choice. I think it's ludicrous that Kellie didn't get a nomination this year. She seriously needs to stop being overlooked. LeAnn Rimes might be a random choice, but her Spitfire album, released earlier this year, is a strong one. It would've been nice to see her get a nomination.
Male Vocalist of the Year
The nominees:
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Blake Shelton
Keith Urban
My predicted winner:
Jason Aldean. This said, I think this award will go to Luke Bryan if George Strait gets Entertainer. How's that for a guess? I can't see Keith Urban or Eric Church winning, though I love that Eric got nominated. You can't count Blake out since he's one of the CMAs darlings, but I don't know. I think Jason's going to get this. Unless the aforementioned scenario happens.
Who should win:
Eric Church. It'd certainly shake this category up and his career has been pretty hot lately. It'd be nice to see him win this.
Who I think should have been nominated. Yeah…this'll be another category where I add a sixth person because I just can't decide between two. So they're both going on.
Jason Aldean
Dierks Bentley
Lee Brice
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Chris Young
It kind of blows my mind that Chris Young didn't get a nomination. He'd be my pick out of this group to win. As for Dierks Bentley, I think it's absurd that he doesn't get more recognition. As for Lee? I believe he's one of the best male vocalists in the genre right now. He deserves a nod. Not to mention that this category needs some shaking up.
New Artist of the Year
Lee Brice
Brett Eldredge
Florida Georgia Line
Kip Moore
Kacey Musgraves
My predicted winner:
Florida Georgia Line. All of the other nominees have had pretty solid years. In fact, I'd say that all of the other nominees are very evenly matched. But while they've all had really good years, Florida Georgia Line is having a pretty incredible year. I think they're a lock to win this. Though if they don't, I think it'll go to Kacey Musgraves instead.
Who should win:
Florida Georgia Line.
Who I think should have been nominated:
Brett Eldredge
Florida Georgia Line
Kip Moore
Kacey Musgraves
Thomas Rhett
Only one substitution here. I don't really see Lee as a new artist and I'd much rather see him up for Male Vocalist instead. I'd probably still want Florida Georgia Line to win just because of the monster year they've had. It would've been nice to see Thomas Rhett get up, but my guess is he'll be nominated next year. See, now I'm doing predictions a year in advance. Too bad we won't find out about that one for, oh, a little less than a year.
Vocal Group of the Year
The nominees:
The Band Perry
Eli Young Band
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Zac Brown Band
My predicted winner:
Little Big Town. There's no question that The Band Perry and Lady Antebellum both had great years this past year, but I think that this is Little Big Town's time to shine. So I'm calling it for them.
Who should win:
Little Big Town. Because vocally speaking, none of the other groups come close. I'm not knocking the others so much as praising Little Big Town. They're on a different level for me.
Who I think should have been nominated:
The Band Perry
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Parmalee
Rascal Flatts
I know. I know what you're thinking. Parmalee? But they're so new! But they've only released two songs to radio! I know. As much as I'm loving them, it would be silly for them to win this at this time - and I wouldn't want them to win. Not now. Not yet. But their current single "Carolina" has made a big impact this year, becoming their very first top ten single. It seems to be resonating with fans more than any song released by either Eli Young Band or Zac Brown Band this year. Parmalee's on the rise. And the group category is in dire need of new blood. So yeah, I think they deserved a nod over either Eli Young Band or Zac Brown Band. As for Rascal Flatts? It's ludicrous that they're not in the running. Absolutely ludicrous. I'd still want Little Big Town to win, but I pretty much put Rascal Flatts on the same level as them.
Vocal Duo of the Year
The nominees:
Big & Rich
The Civil Wars
Florida Georgia Line
Love and Theft
Sugarland
Thompson Square
My predicted winner:
Thompson Square. *Unless* Florida Georgia Line somehow doesn't get New Artist. Thompson Square has the edge in the category because they won last year, but as I've already said multiple times, this year was very good to Brian and Tyler. I really think they have a shot. More so than any of the other nominees. I don't see them getting both New Artist and Duo though. It'll be either one or the other.
Who should win:
Thompson Square. I don't really like the idea of the same act winning both new artist and either duo, group, or male/female vocalist. And I love Thompson Square. So there you go. I don't understand how the Civil Wars and Sugarland got nominated. It's been years since Sugarland has released new music or even toured. Now they're both doing solo projects. I love them and hope to see them do another album down the road, but come on.
Who I think should have been nominated:
Big & Rich
Florida Georgia Line
LoCash Cowboys
Love and Theft
Thompson Square
I'll be honest here. I really think that three of these duos deserve their nominations, based on this past year alone. There's a decent amount of duos out there now, but it seems like the only ones really doing anything are Florida Georgia Line, Love and Theft and Thompson Square. I'd love to see that change! But for the purpose of this post, each category needs at least five nominees. Big & Rich released a new album last year and LoCash Cowboys released one this year. And that's really why I included them.
So there you go. This concludes part 1. Part 2 will hopefully be up sometime this weekend. I'm aiming for tomorrow, but we'll see if that happens. That part will include my predictions & pick for: Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Song of the Year, Musical Event of the Year (a tough one) and Music Video of the Year. Feel free to share your predictions and thoughts in the comments and thanks for reading!
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