Country Music Well Represented at the 2018 American Music Awards

Last night the 2018 American Music Awards, hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross, aired live on ABC. The American Music Awards is the world’s largest fan-voted awards show, honoring artists in multiple musical genres, including country. Fans had the chance to vote for their favorites, from September 12th to October 4th via Twitter and web voting online. Each nominee listed was based on key fan interactions reflected by Billboard, including radio airplay, streaming, social activity, album, and digital song sales and touring. For those who didn’t tune in to the live broadcast, here’s a recap!

The AMA’s was a big night of music and this year country music was represented by Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, Florida Georgia Line, and Jesse James Decker; who took part of the pre-show red carpet as well as being the Subaru Correspondent during the show. The first award of the night was presented by country duo, Florida Georgia Line and their “Meant to Be” duet partner, Bebe Rexha.  Together they announced Cardi B as the Favorite Artist in the Rap/Hip-Hop category.  As the night went on we got to see more of our fan favorites take the stage to present awards and introduce other artists. Grammy-nominated artist, Kelsea Ballerini, and EDM-Pop duo, The Chainsmokers, introduced Post Malone and Ty Dolla Sign to the stage for their performance. While later in the evening platinum-selling country artist, Kane Brown had the honor to present favorite album Soul/R&B to XXXTENTACION’s family after his untimely death.

Throughout the night, fans of country music were on the edge of their seats waiting to see which of their favorites won in the country music categories. The first category announced was Favorite Female Artist.  Thomas Rhett presented this award to the queen of country herself, Carrie Underwood, winning the category for the fourth year in a row, making this her 13th AMA award. She went up to the stage thanking God, her incredible team and of course the fans, saying “Tonight is all about the fans! Thank you so much, you’ve have shown so much love and support for me…you guys mean the world to all of us, just thank you so much!” The next award of the night was Favorite Male Artist in the country category. First time nominee, Kane Brown took home the award, winning his first ever AMA award. Brown came up on stage saying, “First off I feel like I’m about to pass out” then went on thanking the fans and everybody who helped him win. This wasn’t the end to Brown’s night, he went on a streak,  winning all the awards he was nominated for, taking home Favorite Song for his single “Heaven” and Favorite Album for his self-titled record. Last but not least the award for Favorite Duo or Group was given off-air to Florida Georgia Line, closing out the awards for the country categories.

 

As the night was coming to an end, Carrie Underwood stole the show with her stunning performance of her new song “Spinning Bottles” off her brand new album Cry Pretty. Underwood took to the stage, right after she won Favorite Female Country Artist, showing everyone watching how deserving she is. She chose to sing one of her more heartbreaking songs, appearing in a beautiful red grown surrounded by candles. Her performance was extremely intimate, showing her emotions with every note she hit, leaving the crowd in complete awe. Underwood’s flawless delivery was one for the books, giving one of the best performances of the night.

The AMA winner gave everyone a taste of what to expect from her at her concerts and luckily as New Yorkers, we can experience The Cry Pretty Tour 360 with special guests Maddie & Tae and Runaway June at the iconic Madison Square Garden on October 2, 2019. While we have to wait a year to see Underwood, luckily we New Yorkers have the chance to see Kelsea Ballerini this month on the Graffiti U tour with Keith Urban at the Barclays Center on October 27th. Three-time AMA winner, Kane Brown will be playing a one-night-only exclusive album release show at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on November 7th.

 

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