Hi, I'm gonna give my thoughts on the whole thing, bear with me.
Performances:--Opening medley with the EOTY nominees was cute, and of course Carrie was the highlight of it.
--Mad respect to Keith Urban for at least acknowledging the plight this country is facing right now as it pertains to social justice and reckoning
--I hate "Make Me Want To" to this day so Jimmie Allen was a snooze fest for me
--Old Dominion's medley was incredible
--Luke Bryan...yawn. It just feels a little too late in the year now for singing "One Margarita" but that's just me
--Come through Kelsea!! Loved the outfit and she was one of the highlights of the night.
--Miranda doing "Bluebird" at the Bluebird and wearing the color of bluebirds was really lovely. Standout performance of the night.
--Blake/Gwen duet was cute; she looked cute
--I said my piece on Carrie's medley already, but to summarize: she's the next one of those women she honored.
--LOVED Luke C doing "Better Together" as that's a favorite from the parent album and I'm glad it's being used as the next single! I'd been hoping we'd see it at some point.
--OK then, Gabby!!! Loved her performance and she looked amazing.
--Maren's performance was great as well
--Taylor Swift DID THAT. God, I hope she wins SOTY with "betty." It was lovely to see her back at the place of her roots and I loved getting to see
folklore come to life through a performance.
--Mickey had me in tears. What a woman and I hope the industry turns around and starts actively supporting her soon.
--Trisha was beautiful and they should've kept her as the final performance of the night.
--Everything else was okay or a bit bland for me. Loved P!nk tho, she's always great. Eric did pretty great as well.
Awards:--Loved seeing on my Twitter feed in the hours before that Miranda won Musical Event OTY. Such a great song and it was nice to see that win for women, nearly all of whom are new or newer to the genre.
--Hillary Lindsey is such a great songwriter; I'm happy to see her win Songwriter OTY
--I would've much preferred Morgan Wallen win New Male Artist...big meh. As for the New Female Artist, there is just something about Tenille T's voice that is just not for me. That category was stacked with greats and I honestly would've preferred anyone over Tenille. That said, I'm 110% here for all women finding success in this genre, and I wish her the absolute best and extend my congratulations to her.
--SOTY..."Girl Goin' Nowhere" and "Some of It" were sitting right there, but "One Man Band" is also great so I'm not too upset to see them win. Loved both of their acceptance speeches.
--Single...I personally am not too upset at all to see "God's Country" take home the win here. It's a great song which is not always easy for Blake to come by with me. That said, I do also like "Rumor" and WIINGOY...and of course "Rainbow" but to be frank I didn't see that winning this.
--Duo...I said my piece while watching what I could live last night
--To be honest, Old Dominion made the most sense to be winning Group. Compared to the other groups on the list, they seemed like they had the biggest 2019.
--Album should've easily gone to Miranda. Luke C put forth a very great sophomore effort but whereas it does start to feel bloated after awhile,
Wildcard is completely flawless and has aged like the finest wine.
--I'm very happy to see Maren win FVOTY!!! For their respective 2019 years in particular it did feel like it should've been between she and Miranda, so I'd have been happy with either outcome. LOVED her telling us to vote (and that she had to go to the girls' room
). MVOTY going to Luke C made the most sense to me so I'm glad he won there as well.
Congrats to all of the winners and nominees!!
EOTY: my two cents2020, man.
Leaving my stan card at the door, I have to say that of all the men to tie with Carrie, I find it odd that Thomas is the one to do it. If anything I would say Luke C or Eric deserved to co-win with Carrie. Their years were much bigger as a whole than what Thomas had, it feels like. In any case, I extend my congrats to Thomas on this coveted win.
Now, as for the conspiracy theories: if there's any that hold merit imo, it's that Thomas won fair and square and the ACM shoved Carrie in with him anyway so as to avoid backlash...which is honestly even worse. To avoid backlash for having only one televised woman win an ACM last night, you're gonna shove a woman (and the most deserving woman this year at that) into an award she didn't outright win? That not only will lead to...lol, even more backlash (and more intense), but it would be a slap in the face to Carrie and to the young girls and women watching, as well as a cheapening of the highest TV award the country music industry awards annually. I genuinely don't think, however, this happened. I know this industry is very male-dominated lately, but the ACMs have a reputation to uphold, this has never happened before, and the third party some others here were mentioning would not tarnish that reputation by forcing a tie. On the flip side, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that Carrie won it fair and square and they forced a man in with her for some sexist reason. So really, I take the win for what it is: Carrie's third and history-making ACM win for EOTY. Thomas tagging along for the victory ride was just a complete and genuine fluke and I congratulate them both.
Overall, this was a pretty great show. I loved the use of the three iconic Nashville venues (particularly the Bluebird Cafe), and there was something about the show being in Nashville that felt like a backyard picnic, if that makes sense at all lol. It did feel quite subdued with no audience, but honestly that helped me enjoy it just a bit more. I'd give the show a solid A-, honestly.