Is Mrs. Kelce planning returning to the CMA Awards?
The Country Music Association unveiled its nominees for the 60th annual CMA Awards today, with women once again absolutely dominating the selections. To absolutely no one’s surprise, Ella Langley is riding the highs of her record-shattering success with “Choosin’ Texas” to nine nominations the most of any artist this year.
Her nominations include her first-ever Entertainer of the Year nod, Album of the Year for Dandelion, Single and Song of the Year for both “Be Her” and “Choosin’ Texas,” Female Vocalist of the Year, Music Event of the Year (“I Can’t Love You Anymore” with Morgan Wallen) and Music Video of the Year (“Choosin’ Texas”).
Right behind her with seven is “Choosin’ Texas” co-writer and superstar, Miranda Lambert, who snagged seven nominations. These include her work on both Langley’s Dandelion and “Choosin’ Texas” as well as Female Vocalist of the Year, and two Musical Event of the Year nods for “A Song to Sing” with Chris Stapleton and “Horses and Divorces” with Kacey Musgraves.
Musgraves herself also scored five nominations, including Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for Middle of Nowhere, Song and Music Video of the Year for “Dry Spell” and the aforementioned Musical Event of the Year for “Horses and Divorces” with Lambert.
And also returning to the ranks of CMA Awards nominees is pop superstar Taylor Swift.
Of course, Swift has racked up 28 CMA Award nominations since getting her start in country music back in 2006, and has already taken home 12 awards in her career. But her last two nominations came in 2018 and 2022 in the Video of the Year category, and her last appearance in a major category was back in 2017 when she took home Song of the Year for “Better Man.”
Well this year Taylor broke nearly a 10-year drought in night’s top categories when she was nominated for Single of the Year for her song “I Knew It, I Knew You,” which dropped back in June from the soundtrack to Toy Story 5.
Unfortunately for Taylor, the song has largely been shut out from the top of the charts by Langley’s massive hit “Choosin’ Texas,” though Taylor did manage to score two weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and two weeks atop the all-genre Hot 100 chart before once again being knocked off by Ella’s record-breaking single.
In even worse news, she’ll have to somehow find a way to beat out “Choosin’ Texas” if she wants to take home the trophy for Single of the Year, a category in which Ella is actually nominated twice with both “Choosin’ Texas” and “Be Her.” But it sounds like, despite being a longshot (which is rare for Taylor) she still plans to be in attendance at the show.
After the nominations were announced, Taylor shared the news to her Instagram story and hinted that she would be making an appearance at the CMA Awards:
“Looks like I haven’t yee’d my last haw. Thank you CMA! See you there Nov 18.”
While performers haven’t been announced yet, you’ve got to think organizers are doing everything they can to get her to perform on the show for the ratings that she would bring. It will also mark her first time in attendance at the awards since 2016, when Taylor made a surprise appearance to present Garth Brooks with the Entertainer of the Year award.
The 60th annual CMA Awards airs live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday, November 18th on ABC, Disney+ and the next day on Hulu.
You can see the full list of nominees below.
Entertainer of the Year
- Luke Combs
- Cody Johnson
- Ella Langley
- Chris Stapleton
- Lainey Wilson
Album of the Year
- Ain’t In It For My Health – Zach Top
- Dandelion – Ella Langley
- Middle of Nowhere – Kacey Musgraves
- Parker McCollum – Parker McCollum
- The Way I Am – Luke Combs
Song of the Year
- “Choosin’ Texas” – Ella Langley
- “Be Her” – Ella Langley
- “Beautiful Things” – Megan Moroney
- “Dry Spell” – Kacey Musgraves
- “Gary” – Stephen Wilson Jr.
Single of the Year
- “Choosin’ Texas” – Ella Langley
- “Be Her” – Ella Langley
- “I Knew It, I Knew You” – Taylor Swift
- “Somewhere Over Laredo” – Lainey Wilson
- “The Fall” – Cody Johnson
Male Vocalist of the Year
- Luke Combs
- Cody Johnson
- Chris Stapleton
- Zach Top
- Stephen Wilson Jr.
Female Vocalist of the Year
- Miranda Lambert
- Ella Langley
- Megan Moroney
- Kacey Musgraves
- Lainey Wilson
New Artist of the Year
- Avery Anna
- Carter Faith
- Emily Ann Roberts
- Tucker Wetmore
- Stephen Wilson Jr.
Vocal Duo of the Year
- Brooks & Dunn
- Brothers Osborne
- Dan + Shay
- Muscadine Bloodline
- Thelma & James
Vocal Group of the Year
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Midland
- Old Dominion
- The Red Clay Strays
Musical Event of the Year
- “A Song to Sing” – Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton
- “Horses and Divorces” – Kacey Musgraves & Miranda Lambert
- “I Can’t Love You Anymore” – Ella Langley & Morgan Wallen
- “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay” – Carly Pearce & Riley Green
- “McArthur” – Hardy, Eric Church, Morgan Wallen & Tim McGraw
Music Video of the Year
- “Choosin’ Texas” – Ella Langley
- “Dry Spell” – Kacey Musgraves
- “Gary” – Stephen Wilson Jr.
- “The Fall” – Cody Johnson
- “White Horse” – Chris Stapleton
Musician of the Year
- Tom Bukovac – Guitar
- Jenee Fleenor – Fiddle
- Paul Franklin – Steel Guitar
- Rob McNelley – Guitar
- Charlie Worsham – Guitar
