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Chase Stokes has definitely got the role of supportive boyfriend on lock. The Outer Banks star was captured on camera adorably rocking out to Kelsea Ballerini‘s performance at the CMT Music Awards Sunday (April 2) after the couple made their official red carpet debut at the ceremony.
In a clip posted by CMT’s official account, Stokes bops his head and claps his hands to the beat of “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too),” which Ballerini performed during the ceremony alongside a handful of drag queens — an act of protest against the recent anti-drag laws in Tennessee. At one point, the 30-year-old actor pulls out his phone and starts filming a home video of the three-time Grammy nominee.
Rumors of the pair’s romance started back in January, with Ballerini eventually confirming the relationship in a February episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. “I’ve never seen his show, but I just knew of him, and I just swan dove right on in,” she told host Alex Cooper at the time. “His handle is ‘@hichasestokes,’ and I said, ‘Hi, Chase Stokes.’”
In addition to performing and being nominated for video of the year and female video of the year, Ballerini also co-hosted the awards ceremony for the third year in a row. She devoted her opening remarks to those impacted by gun violence following the recent school shooting in Nashville. “Tonight’s broadcast is dedicated to the ever-growing list of families, friends, survivors, witnesses and responders whose lives continue to forever be changed by gun violence,” she said, also telling the audience about her own personal experience with the issue.
“I pray deeply that the closeness and the community we feel through the next few hours of music can soon turn into action, like real action that moves us forward together to make change for the safety of our kids and our loved ones,” she added.
The country star also subtly shouted out her beau in her opening monologue, celebrating country music from “Nashville and Austin to Yellowstone and the Outer Banks.”
Watch Chase Stokes dance along to his country star girlfriend’s CMT Music Awards performance below:
The 2023 CMT Music Awards took over the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, where everyone from Kelsea Ballerini and Shania Twain to Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood and more took the stage.
Ballerini’s performance of “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” was a joyful romp filled with confetti and rainbows and backed by RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Manila Luzon, Jan, Olivia Lux and Kennedy Davenport, while the queen of country brought her new single “Giddy Up!” to life before being presented the Equal Play award by Megan Thee Stallion.
Shelton mashed up history by playing a medley of his 2001 debut track “Austin” and his latest single “No Body” before the American Idol season four champion powered through “Hate My Heart,” the second single off her ninth studio album Denim & Diamonds.
Meanwhile, the awards show also included multiple tributes over the course of the evening, including Gary Clark Jr. honoring Stevie Ray Vaughan with “The House Is Rockin’” and a star-studded tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd featuring Wynonna Judd, LeAnn Rimes, Chuck Leavell, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Slash and more.
Elsewhere, rising star Jelly Roll brought the Moody Center to church with “Need a Favor,” complete with a robed choir of gospel singers, and Kane Brown put his love on display with wife Katelyn Brown with their romantic duet of “Thank God.” Gwen Stefani made her CMT Music Awards debut with an assist from Carly Pearce for No Doubt’s smash hit “Just a Girl” off 1995’s Tragic Kingdom.
Watch all the performances from the 2023 CMT Music Awards and vote for your favorite below. (Note: Shania Twain’s performance of “Giddy Up!” isn’t available on YouTube as of press time.)
The 2023 CMT Music Awards went on the road this year, airing for the first time from Austin, Texas on Sunday night (April 2). It was an excuse to bring some Lone Star State flavor to the fast-paced show, which featured more than 20 performances from such country luminaries as Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson and Darius Rucker, and celebrated the top videos of the past year.
The show, which aired live on CBS for the second year in a row after the ACM Awards decamped to Amazon’s Prime Video, opened cold with co-host Kelsea Ballerini addressing the mass shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School last week that left six dead and Music City reeling. The somber moment included Ballerini recalling her own experience in 2008 watching a classmate die from a shooting when she was in high school and calling for “real action.” That then gave way to celebration, as she and Kane Brown, co-hosting for the third time, proved again to be an amiable, nimble pairing.
Shania Twain, introduced by Megan Thee Stallion, accepted the CMT Equal Play award, calling for the country industry to “do our part to close the gap and provide an equal workspace for all talent. Let’s ensure that all our fellow artists get equal play, regardless of gender, age or race.” And the show tried to do just that, relying heavily on girl power throughout the evening. (Jelly Roll was still the night’s biggest winner, taking home all three awards for which he was nominated.)
The evening’s performances heavily relied on collaborations featuring country artists and rock acts performing the latter’s 90s hits. It was a gambit that worked, in large part because many of the rock fans of the ’90s are now country listeners.
Below are the top performances of the night.
Wynonna and Ashley McBryde Show They Know What Love Is
Image Credit: Kempin/GI
The Judds‘ last performance before Naomi Judd’s death last year was at the 2022 CMT Awards, when they sang their anthem, “Love Can Build a Bridge” — so it was only fitting that Wynonna return this year to showcase a song from her upcoming CMT special, which recreates the Judds’ 1991 initial final show in 1991. Joined by Ashley McBryde for an elegiac, slowed down version of Foreigner’s classic “I Want to Know What Love Is,” Judd took the audience to church, turning the song into her own personal testimony. When she declared, “Mama, you need to be here tonight,” she invoked goosebumps.
Kelsea Ballerini’s Performance Is a Real Drag
Image Credit: Jason Kempin/GI
If such things were handed out, Kelsea Ballerini’s performance of current single, “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” easily won the award for best set of the night. Looking like something straight out of Barbie’s backyard and building on the retro pastel theme of the video, it featured Ballerini dressed like a ‘60s housewife, complete with teased hair and a bright green duster (under which she had on a floral romper), surrounded by equally festively dressed drag queens — including Manila Luzon, Kennedy Davenport, Jan Sport and Olivia Lux. Leave it to Ballerini, one of the few country artists not afraid to speak out on issues, to address the Tennessee anti-drag bill in a fun, but very obvious, way.
Jelly Roll Takes Us to Church
Image Credit: Christopher Polk for Variety
Just like Wynonna, rapper-turned-country artist Jelly Roll took the CMT Awards to church with his rising and rousing single, “Need a Favor.” The thumping track, featuring Jelly Roll accompanied by a gospel choir, includes the poignant line, “I only pray when I ain’t got a prayer,” which Jelly Roll delivered like a man seeking salvation. The crowd couldn’t get enough — and it felt like a new superstar was crowned, as Jelly Roll was the evening’s big winner, taking home three awards.
All-Star Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd Turns Austin into Alabama
Image Credit: Jason Kempin/GI
Though it helps, you don’t have to be southern to love Lynyrd Skynyrd — as the show’s closing performance proved, with both Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers and Guns N’ Roses’ Slash paying tribute to the band following March’s death of the last original member, Gary Rossington. Joined by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, the Rolling Stones’ Chuck Leavell, Cody Johnson and the world’s finest backing vocalists, LeAnn Rimes and Wynonna Judd, the ensemble started slowly with Rodgers delivered a soulful “Simple Man,” before several members took over lead vocals for the southern rock anthem, “Sweet Home Alabama.” Johnson seemed right at home onstage with the legends, banging his head and playing air guitar during Gibbons’ and Slash’s smoking solos.
Darius Rucker and The Black Crowes Talk to Angels
Image Credit: Christopher Polk for Variety
If the Black Crowes were just starting now, their bluesy, swampy sound would probably make them a country act. The Crowes joined Darius Rucker for a down-and-dirty version of their 1990 hit, “She Talks to Angels,” with Chris Robinson and Rucker both in fine vocal form. Rucker is one of the top vocalists of any genre, and to hear him and Robinson trade off lines on the song about drug addiction (with the Rolling Stones’ Chuck Leavell on keys) was potent and powerful. The two acts also performed the song for a forthcoming edition of CMT Crossroads.
Alanis Morissette With Lainey Wilson, Ingrid Andress, Madeline Edwards & Morgan Wade
Image Credit: Christopher Polk for Variety
The evening was high on multi-generational and cross-genre girl power, as Carly Pearce joined Gwen Stefani for a spunky performance of the No Doubt’s 1995 classic, “Just a Girl,” and then country upstarts Ingrid Andress, Madeline Edwards, Morgan Wade and Lainey Wilson kicked off Alanis Morissette’s vitriolic “You Oughta Know,” also from 1995, before being joined by Morissette herself. Nearly 30 years later, neither the song nor Morissette has lost any of its primal urgency. The new rendition received a resounding standing ovation. Ashley McBryde spoke for all of us when she jumped out of her seat, raised her arm, flashed the rock horns and shouted, “Yes!”
Gary Clark Jr. Pays Tribute to a Texas Hero
Image Credit: Christopher Polk for Variety
Falling under the “When in Rome…” maxim, the CMT Awards leaned into the location of Austin and wisely decided to pay homage to one of Texas’ finest, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, by having Austin native and fellow gunslinger Gary Clark Jr. pay tribute. In one of the most exhilarating performances of the night, Clark and his band played a blazing medley of SRV & Double Trouble’s “The House is Rockin’”/”Travis County Courthouse,” so fiery that it threatened to burn down the Moody Center.
Carrie Underwood Rocks the House
Image Credit: Catherine Powell/GI for CMT
In a show when the collaborations, most of them of non-country songs, dominated and outpaced the appearances by today’s current country hitmakers, Carrie Underwood served to show them she is still boss with a rollicking performance of “Hate My Heart.” Dressed in a black leather jacket and shorts with hearts emblazoned on them, the country Queen of Hearts took the audience outside the Austin Capitol to a fever pitch with her incomparable vocals and moves copped from her beloved buddy Axl Rose from Guns N’ Roses.
Following the passing of Southern rock star Gary Rossington in March, the 2023 CMT Music Awards decided to pay tribute to the late superstar and his impact with Lynyrd Skynyrd on Sunday night (April 2).
Taking to the stage for the evening’s final performance, country singers Cody Johnson, Wynonna Judd and LeAnn Rimes were joined by Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers and former Allman Brothers Band members Chuck Leavell and Warren Haynes for a tribute to the late guitarist, performing the band’s iconic tracks “Simple Man” and “Sweet Home Alabama.”
The star-studded group of performers was introduced by British rock star Peter Frampton, who lauded Rossington as a “Southern rock icon,” saying the star “helped define a band’s sound, and he inspired millions of fans and musicians” before joining his fellow bandmates “in rock n’ roll heaven.”
For their performance, the superstar group turned the stage into a Southern swamp of talent, backed by images of murky waters and reeds, as the musicians grooved their way through “Simple Man,” with Johnson and Rodgers trading verses back and forth. Once they finished out the classic track, the supergroup launched into a rollicking performance of “Sweet Home Alabama,” bringing the cheering crowd to its feet for a big finish to the annual ceremony.
Johnson, Judd, Rimes and company were far from the only performers to take to the CMT stage on Sunday. Stars including Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Jelly Roll and Carrie Underwood all performed at the awards show, while Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown hosted the telecast and delivered sets of their own.
Carrie Underwood delivered her highly anticipated CMT Music Awards performance on Sunday night (April 2) when she unleashed her Denim & Rhinestones hit “Hate My Heart” onstage in front of the capitol building in Austin.
Fittingly dressed in a Queen of Hearts-inspired blazer, corset and shorts — and holding a heart-encrusted microphone — the country superstar delivered the track as fireworks blasted off behind her. “Hate My Heart” was up for video of the year at this year’s ceremony, though it ultimately lost to Kane and Katelyn Brown’s “Thank God.”
Underwood’s “Ghost Story” was also nominated for female video of the year.
The singer is no stranger to the CMT Music Awards, as she’s taken home 25 total trophies throughout her career. She also has the most video of the year wins and female video of the year wins of any artist.
“I wanted to have fun from the get-go,” the 40-year-old star previously told Billboard of Denim & Rhinestones, which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart. “That was definitely mission No. 1. With some other albums, it took me writing for a while before I figured out where the album’s gonna go. It’s got a lot of vintage sparkle. It’s not solidly throwback, but we have a couple of songs that are a little more ’70s feel and some that are in the ’80s pop world and some ’90s rock stuff, and obviously country. But we wanted to have music that was fun and felt good.”
Honoring ten years of CMT’s “Next Women of Country” series, a quintet of female singer-songwriters delivered Alanis Morissette‘s star-making 1995 post-breakup anthem “You Oughta Know” at the 2023 CMT Music Awards. Morissette was joined by previous honorees Lainey Wilson, Ingrid Andress, Madeline Edwards and Morgan Wade for the performance.
Wearing a sequined shirt over a white tee, Alanis led the All-Star vocal group in a performance of the incendiary Jagged Little Pill classic — with, appropriately enough, an actual blaze going on behind them. The performance was a mostly faithful rendition, albeit with some more complex harmonies added to the chorus, befitting the vocal talents of the singers assembled, and Alanis still stole the show with her piercing “ohhhhhh“s on the song’s wordless bridge.
The performance was the second ’90s alt-rock crossover event of the evening, following Gwen Stefani and Carly Pearce teaming up for a run through “Just a Girl,” originally by the former’s best-selling band No Doubt. Lainey Wilson had previous taken the stage for her ballad “Heart Like a Truck,” and also picked up a pair of awards earlier in the evening: female video of the year (for “Heart Like a Truck”) and collaborative video of the year (for “Wait in the Truck,” along with HARDY).
“You Oughta Know” served as Morissette’s breakout hit in 1995, as the first single pulled from her Jagged Little Pill album, and made her a phenomenon with its furious (and much-debated) lyrics and impassioned delivery. Jagged Little Pill would ultimately go on to be certified diamond by the RIAA, and ranks at No. 7 on Billboard‘s Greatest of All-Time Billboard 200 chart.
When it came time for her performance at the 2023 CMT Music Awards on Sunday night (April 2), Kelsea Ballerini decided to bring a quartet of fabulous drag queens out to help her deliver a poignant message.
Performing her single “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too),” Ballerini was joined by RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Manila Luzon, Kennedy Davenport, Jan Sport and Olivia Lux. All dressed in their best 1950s southern drag, Ballerini and the queens strutted around the stage — which was decorated like a white picket-fenced front yard — singing about their ride-or-die friendship with one another.
Eventually, the quintet of performers found its way from the stage to a massive catwalk stretching through the audience. As confetti rained down from above, Ballerini cuddled up with the four queens, belting out the final words to the song: “Our bodies are buried and they’re in the same ditch/ So even if I wanted to, I can’t snitch,” she sang. “Thirty to life would go quicker with you/ So if you go down, I’m goin’ down too.”
The performance came as something of a political statement from the country star, especially as drag has become a target for right-wing legislatures around the country. Most recently, after Tennessee passed its widely criticized public-drag ban, a federal judge blocked the law from taking effect for 14 days on Friday (March 31), claiming that the state failed to make a compelling argument as to why the new law was warranted.
Ballerini wasn’t only performing on Sunday night — the singer served as one of the evening’s hosts alongside Kane Brown. Stars including Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Gwen Stefani and Tyler Hubbard also shared performances during the event, while Lainey Wilson led nominees at the event with four nominations. Brown, Jelly Roll and Cody Johnson followed with three each.
Check out the full performance below:
Jelly Roll rocked the 2023 CMT Music Awards on Sunday night (April 2) with a performance of his genre-bending hit, “Need a Favor.”
Backed by a full gospel choir, the 38-year-old delivered his sermon for the sinners as church signs featuring the track’s lyrics flashed behind him. “I only talk to God, when I need a favor/ And I only pray, when I ain’t got a prayer,” he belted in the chorus.
Jelly Roll (born Jason DeFord) snagged his first CMT Music Award this year, as he won all three awards he was nominated for. “Son of a Sinner” won digital-first performance of the year, breakthrough male video of the year and male video of the year.
The rising country star made history earlier this year after he surpassed NLE Choppa for most weeks atop Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, as “Need a Favor” peaked at No. 37 on Hot Country Songs and his most popular track to date, “Son of a Sinner,” peaked at No. 8.
“I think what I think I represent is just a beacon of hope,” the singer previously told Billboard of his success. “I don’t look like the guy that you would’ve assumed would’ve made it [in the music industry]. Sam Hunt’s a really dear friend of mine, and Sam is just a big striking, handsome guy. When you see him, you’re like, ‘Oh, I get it.’ When you see me, you don’t get it initially — then you meet me, and hear the story and hear the music. I just feel like I represent the guy who looks at himself in the mirror every day and goes, ‘Yeah, guys like me don’t make it.’”
Carly Pearce joined Gwen Stefani on stage in Austin at the 2023 CMT Music Awards for a performance of the latter’s first signature song with her ’90s and ’00s band No Doubt, 1995’s “Just a Girl.”
With co-host Kelsea Ballerini teasing a “scream-sing” moment for the old crowd, Stefani took the stage in a throwback sort of punk chic dress to deliver the song’s first verse and chorus. A black-clad Pearce then made her way to the stage to take the second verse and chorus, with Pearce and Stefani trading off vocals on the climactic refrain and singing together on the final “ohhh, I’ve had it up to here”s to loud audience appreciation.
The appearance was Pearce’s second time playing on the evening, having previously performed on her own for her country radio smash “What He Didn’t Do.” Pearce is also nominated for two awards at this year’s ceremonies: female video of the year and CMT performance of the year, both nods for “What He Didn’t Do.” (She lost female video shortly after her and Stefani’s performance, to Lainey Wilson for “Heart Like a Truck.”) Stefani’s husband Blake Shelton previously kicked off the show with his recent single “No Body.”
“Just a Girl” peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early Hot 100, the group’s first top 40 hit. Along with follow-up singles like “Spiderwebs” and “Don’t Speak,” “Girl” helped its parent album Tragic Kingdom become of the best-selling albums of the mid-’90s, earning diamond certification from the RIAA.
Shania Twain proved that she’s still the one on Sunday night (April 2) when accepting the equal play award at the 2023 CMT Awards.
The country icon was presented her award by rap superstar Megan Thee Stallion, who celebrated Twain for being “an outspoken ally against every hate of all kind,” while also celebrating her newfound kinship with the singer. “I don’t wanna cheese this hard because I just met her and that’s my new bestie,” Megan said with a laugh. “She’s hot girl Shania!”
Taking to the stage, Shania immediately proclaimed that one song title in particular appeared to be following her. “When I wrote the phrase, ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman,’ I had no idea at the time that it would be the undercurrent of a decades-long career, and get adopted by an array of fantastic communities around the world, and become a genuine path of power and progress for women in country music,” she said, grinning.
Reflecting on her history at the CMT Music Awards, Twain eventually cut to the heart of the issue, making a vow to keep uplifting “the many outstanding country artists who are not currently played, streamed, signed or awarded at the level they deserve.” She continued, saying “I believe in an all-inclusive country music. We’re a family … let us, the country music industry, do our part to close the gap and provide an equal workspace for all talent. Let’s ensure that all our fellow artists get equal play, regardless of gender, age or race.”
The “That Don’t Impress Me Much” singer was just one among a bevy of attendees on Sunday night — stars such as Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Gwen Stefani and Tyler Hubbard all performed throughout the telecast. Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown served as the evening’s hosts, while Lainey Wilson led nominees with four nominations. Brown, Jelly Roll and Cody Johnson followed closely behind with three each.