ACM Awards - April 1st, 2012

Honestly, I've come to a point where I don't care whether EOTY is fan-voted or industry-voted anymore.

The industry have their Miranda/Blake bias and are always ignoring others like Jason Aldean etc... who's to say industry-voted EOTY will be any better than fan-voted ones? As a Carrie fan, they snubbed Carrie at the CMA as well, plus the endless Rascal Flatts snubbing throughout the years etc etc. Clearly, they aren't any better than the fans.

At least the fans gave it to Taylor, whom I think deserved it this year. Who knows if the industry would have handed it to Blake instead?

You know I may be totally off base here, but I have always thought Jason Aldean was slow to get nominated for awards/ win awards more because of his label. Keep in mind I work in the music industry so maybe I hear things and just have come to my own conclusions.

I dont think the industry will be that much better because like desertfloods said they have their favorites as well. I like Blake,but there is no way he should of beat Jason at the CMA and ACM for male vocalist, after the incredible year Jason has had selling out concerts and a ton of albums. Now I would give Miranda the win because Carrie has been quiet this past year, but Blake should of not beat Jason.

I dont think I would have a problem with them wanting to promote the country couple if they both deserved it, but Jason just got snubbed twice. I hate that these award shows has become more a popularity contest than about the music. Not saying Blake music is not good but with all the heavy promotion he gets at radio, awards shows, and his own reality show with the voice, he is still not able to match Jason. Once again dont get me wrong i like Blake, but Jason should of won.

Edit: Be ready for a long-winded post.

Well, I pretty much hated the ACM’s this year. Almost all the performances were flat and boring. I love C#arrie, but I was disappointed in her performances after seeing Youtube videos of her doing Good Girl live at various places where she absolutely nailed it. I feel like she’s focusing more on looks and all the glitz and glamour so far when it should be just about the voice. I hope that isn’t reflected in the next album.

I do not like Tim and Kenny's new single. Maybe I'll like the studio version better, and it may grow on me somewhat, but it is so average and predictable. It'll probably be a big hit though. Red Solo Cup was fun for a while, but it is old now. Martina's performance would have been really good, but I agree with a couple others that it was a very inappropriate place for a wedding. I believe weddings should be private with friends and family, not showcased to the world. And, I cannot believe that they would do this on an award show!! Just....wow...is all I can say....

I will say that I enjoyed a couple performances. Lady A did good (Hilary sounded much better than usual). I enjoyed the small performance by Brantley Gilbert, and I absolutely loved Zac Brown Band's second performance of Whiskey's Gone. That was an unexpected surprise. I really enjoyed Brad's guitar playing. His singing is usually average, but he can play that guitar!

Blake and Reba as hosts do not work for me. I thought Reba hosted last year on her own, but apparently, a friend told me they both hosted last year. I like Blake on the Voice, but not as a host. And, as for Reba, I like her TV show, but I just don’t like her as a host. Together, they are very awkward.

The awards were so predictable. The only two that I was surprised about were Crazy Girl winning Song of the Year and Thompson Square winning Duo of the Year. I love Crazy Girl, but I never expected it to win, so that was a pleasant surprise. And, I do not like Thompson Square at all, but I am glad that they won Duo of the Year over Sugarland who literally had no musical impact this year. Other than that, every single award was predictable. Has the Album award been renamed to the Miranda award? Seriously, how many times has she won that now? I’m not a big Miranda fan. I like a few of her songs every now and then (I think her music was better before she turned into a big star), but I don’t think one person can be that good? I understand it’s all subjective, but it is getting old to see her win the Album award every single year when there are lots of other worthy candidates in the category. I can understand her winning Female because C#arrie had an off-year, and they aren’t going to award T#aylor apparently. No one else is left, but Album is another story.

Lady Antebellum winning Group is also getting really old. I’ve said this for a couple years now, but what is it going to take for Zac Brown Band to win Group?! Lady A should not just be automatically entitled to it just because they are releasing music. I think Zac Brown had the better year. People talk about how it was old when Rascal Flatts won, but they hardly had any big competition for most of their reign, unlike Lady A. I think I would enjoy Lady A’s music more if they wouldn’t win this award every year. I love their current single, and I loved their last single (but I still wish they would go back to their debut sound, which obviously isn’t going to happen unless they start losing awards).

Miranda and Blake’s reactions to winning are so painfully bad! I thought Taylor Swift’s “oh my gosh” award speeches were bad, but Miranda and Blake’s dry “I seriously cannot believe this…for real” award speeches make Taylor Swift’s seem good! I agree with what MusicSTFan is saying about Miranda and Blake. The industry is making them out to be the new Tim and Faith, except that they don’t have near the starpower that they have. I think what happened is that Miranda had been releasing music for several years that was going unrecognized. She had a small, but very, very loyal following who kept pushing for her. She finally hit the right song, and the industry just went with that (not saying she isn't a star, but she's not as big as she's made out to be). Blake has been around a while, but he was just there for the longest time. I think his relationship with Miranda and the “Six Pack” album idea fueled some interest in him. He had some hits and then the Voice came along. Combine that with Miranda’s relationship and the fact that people are saying that he was long due for some awards of his own, and there you have it. It is going to get old the next couple of years, but country music loves having a power couple to showcase.

The fan-voted categories need to go. Although they seem like good ideas because the industry does select certain favorites, at least they avoid off-the-wall winners, such as the case with Scotty McCreary winning New Artist of the Year. Yes, he won American Idol, but other than that, has he really made a dent in country music? He hasn’t even had a Top 10 single yet. Brantley Gilbert, on the other hand, wrote two Jason Aldean hits (one was Dirt Road Anthem that was huge). Then, he landed a #1 of his own with Country Must Be Country Wide, and his current single is climbing the charts and doing well. Who has made the largest impact? There is absolutely no question here. This situation is very similar to when Julianne Hough won New Artist several years back simply because she was on Dancing With The Stars. Where is she now?! No offense to Scotty fans, but I definitely don’t see him having an impact.

And, I can understand T#aylor winning Entertainer, but I felt like with the huge year that J#ason has had (sell-out concerts, two absolutely huge hits, and huge album sales) that he deserved to win the award. Yes, the industry does tend to vote for their favorites, but a fan-voted award simply favors artists who have younger fans who are willing to spend hours per day voting. I believe if you were to look at the numbers from last year that J#ason sold more album sales, so the argument that votes = album sales does not necessarily translate. In addition, T#aylor has many worldwide fans who likely found a way to vote, which puts her at a huge advantage. I’m not saying Taylor did not deserve any of her Entertainer wins. I think her win last year was justified. This year, not quite so much. By the way, I felt the same way when C#arrie won Entertainer at the ACM’s a few years ago.

So, I think the ACM’s need to do away with Fan-voting awards and go back to purely Industry awards. As I said before, although the industry has their favorites, I think they have much more variety than fan-voted awards.

Well, there you go. Not much else to say about this award show.

Maybe they're waiting for Zac to take off the beanie?

(I thought what Brad Paisley did with them was hilarious)


Seriously though, I can't believe they've never won any awards... with all their #1 songs, album sales, and touring success. At least they got to perform twice tonight, so maybe the ACM people felt badly for them...

The Good
- The upset in the Duo category. I'm not a Thompson Square fan, but the change was nice.
- The recognition for Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson.
- Toby's performance. Exactly what it was supposed to be: Fun.


Mixed
- The Martina performance and wedding. Good vocals, but a poorly executed "special" moment. A wedding is not appropriate for an award show. That time should have been used to air the DUO category and/or it could have allowed Lionel Richie to sing his 1 song.


The Bad
- Blake Shelton's comic timing.
- Turning the show into the 'Blake and Miranda' show. Their fake reactions to their wins also added to the disappointment.
- Predictable winners: Taylor, Blake, Miranda (Female), Miranda (Album), Lady A....sound familiar?
- Fan voting: The EOTY award has lost all prestige. It was bad enough when the industry voters picked their favorites and failed to nominate those that should've won. Now, the award goes to the act who has the most dedicated fans (aka the most repeat-voters).
- The Tim McGraw + Kenny Chesney performance. It was as bad as I had feared. No matter how horrible it is, unfortunately it should have no problem reaching # 1.
- Cutting Lionel Richie's performance off at the end of the show. There was time for a long performance involving an awkward wedding, but not enough time to allow Richie to do his 1 song that was promoted heavily during the telecast?


Steve Martin/Earl Scruggs: Was there a proper tribute to Earl Scruggs? Did I miss it?

I didn't watch the entire Rascal Flatts + Steve Martin performance, but what I did see was a disappointment.

Why couldn't Steve have skipped the Rascal Flatts thing and done a solo Banjo tribute to Earl Scruggs? It could've been a 'banjo tribute' segment with Rascal Flatts playing their song and then Steve playing the banjo by himself with an image of Earl Scruggs behind him. Then, cut to a commercial break with the image of Earl Scruggs on the screen.

I don't know. That's just an idea.

I didn't say "all will be o.k.", I said I cannot wait. As a Carrie fan, yes I'd be happy for her to win again... Especially if she is truly deserving. Miranda and Blake are quite deserving, but this year, especially in Male Vocalist there were other deserving nominees as well, but I feel people are somewhat caught in the "King and Queen" of Country thing. This, in turn gives all the others a disadvantage, and I'm over it. It was cute at first, but now I'd like to see a change in the winners again. I wouldn't complain if it was a change back to Carrie, Brad, Kenny, etc, as those are my favorites. However, I'd love for one day someone like Kellie Pickler contend for Female Vocalist... So, basically I'm just anxious and hopeful to see the return of some of the older faces, as well as the arrival of some new ones at award shows.

This. Why are they still not huge? idgi. Radio needs to wake up and realize this, because obviously the industry is fully aware in that they often get performance slots on a lot of televised programs without having a lot of big hits.

Once again - THIS so much. One of last night's highlights all around!

I watched over half of the show on mute.

I was disappointed that "Home" didn't win Song of the Year, but Dierks showed what a classy guy he is when he was the first nominee out of his seat to congratulate EYB (who I'm absolutely okay winning). I thought his performance sounded great, and Bono's intro was awesome, but everybody clapping along was so, so weird. You don't clap to "Home." Odd.

LBT sounded FANTASTIC. So unbelievably underrated.

Really not okay with the Earl Scruggs "tribute." Sorry, but no.

Didn't like Kenny/Tim's song at all - I feel like they're trying way too hard to hold on to their "glory days," and ... just not impressed.

Miranda's performance was solid, as was Eric's but he sounded really, really nasally, as did Jason. I have to say that I'm so tired of Blake and Miranda being shoved down our throats. We get it. You're married. I do NOT need to hear it again.

Thought the awards were mostly well-deserved, but I'll never root for Blake for Male Vocalist, so I wish that had gone to somebody else, and I would have liked to see ZBB win over Lady A.

They performed at the end. I'd tell you how it was, but the tv was on mute.

I really was hoping for Jason to win male vocalist but I'm just glad Brad didn't win it again. I don't think you can say Blake doesn't deserve the win. In my opinion, he had a strong year of singles on the radio that all performed really well. I think he's actually a very good vocalist in the true sense of the word. He has a very natural sounding voice and it's smooth. I thought his performance with Lionel was really good. His voice was one of the best things I heard all night in that song. I never worry if he's going to hit the note or not. He's very confident and sings with authority and I like that. I think he's come a long way in the last few years.

I actually think Band Perry was the dark horse for Vocal Group, as opposed to Zac Brown. I thought they might actually win.

As much as I don't like Lady A's new single, I thought they had the best performance of the night.

I hate to sound old but I miss watching an awards performance that had songs about something other than how much people love to drink.