Telling us how she really feels.
Last night, the CMA Awards proved to not be the absolute trainwreck many of us were expecting. Though there were a few lows throughout the night, namely following up George Strait’s heartfelt tribute to Vince Gill after he received his Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award with a performance from BigXthaPlug (along with Luke Combs on “Pray Hard”), overall, the show was one of the better ones in recent memory,
This, of course, was highlighted by The Red Clay Strays shocking the world and finally dethroning Old Dominion as Vocal Group of the Year en route to their first-ever CMA win, Zach Top winning New Artist of the Year, Stephen Wilson Jr. giving a breath-taking performance of “Stand By Me” and Cody Johnson snapping Chris Stapleton’s four-year streak as Male Vocalist of the Year en route to his first win in the category.
As expected with any award show, not everyone entered and exited the CMA Award shows completely content.
Throughout the night, there were quite a few major stars missing. First and least surprisingly, Morgan Wallen continued his streak of snubbing the award show, despite being up for three awards including Entertainer of the Year. Other notable names missing in attendance included the likes of Eric Church, Jelly Roll (who was nominated Musical Event of the Year for “Hard Fought Hallelujah with Brandon Lake) and Jason Aldean.
With Aldean, it looks like his absence may have been personal.
Before the CMAs began last night, Jason’s wife, Brittany, began posting photos to her Instagram story from their trip to Miami. In turn, she also asked fans to send questions, prompting a quick Q&A session.
During the show, a fan asked why the couple weren’t attending the award show. In a short yet sweet response, Brittany simply replied, “Not much love from that one.”
Whenever you see an artist (or artist’s spouse in this case) publically shade an awards show, it’s bound to turn some heads. The question that obviously raises in this case is, “Have the CMAs actually not shown love to Aldean?”
Well… in a way, they haven’t.
Whether you like the “She’s Country” singer or not, there’s really no denying the success he’s had in the genre over the past two decades. Along with 30 #1 hits, 27 platinum certifications from the RIAA and over 51 million units sold in the U.S. alone, Aldean has commerically been one of the most successful country artists we’ve seen this century so far.
And with those accolades, Aldean has been awarded greatly by the likes of ACM, Billboard and CMT Music Awards in the past. Particularly, the CMA Awards direct competitor, the ACM Awards, have shown quite the affinity for him. In total, he’s won 14 separate ACM Awards, including Entertainer of the Year three-straight times from 2016-2018, Male Artist of the Year three-straight times from 2013-2015 and most notably bringing home the highly-coveted Artist of the Decade Award in 2019, beating out the likes of fellow 2010s superstars, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and more.
Taking a look at Aldean’s CMA Award history, he has… two awards all time, taking home Album of the Year for My Kinda Party and Musical Event of the Year for “The Only Way I Know” in 2011. That’s it, no Entertainer of the Year, no Male Vocalist of the Year or anything else.
While it’s highly doubtful that the CMAs themselves have some sort personal vendetta against the Georgia native, it’s quite incredible to see the massive discrepancy between his career CMA and ACM Award totals throughout his career. You can’t really blame the couple for skipping out on an award show that neither of them are nominated in, either.
Full Throttle Tour 2026 US Dates
1/15/2026 – North Little Rock, AR – Simmons Bank Arena
1/16/2026 – Tupelo, MS – Cadence Bank Arena
1/17/2026 – Biloxi, MS – Mississippi Coast Coliseum
1/22/2026 – Peoria, IL – Peoria Civic Center Arena
1/23/2026 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena
1/24/2026 – Charleston, WV – Charleston Coliseum
1/29/2026 – University Park, PA – Bryce Jordan Center
1/30/2026 – Allentown, PA – PPL Center
