On the evening of Wednesday November 13, hundreds of country music artists and their fans filled Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Tennessee for the biggest night in Country Music:The 53rd CMA awards. This year was focused on honoring all of the legendary women of Country music; past, present, or up and coming. Being the year of female on country music, it was only fitting to have three of the biggest women in the industry host the show. For the eleventh year in a row, Carrie Underwood hosted the show and was joined by none other than Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire. By the first ten minutes, you could tell the show was going to be epic.

Throughout the night, there were many memorable performances and collaborations. The show opened with an all female star studded performance of hits by women in country music. In my opinion, the best of the night was Carrie Underwood’s jazz inspired performance of her new single “Drinking Alone”. Female Vocalist of the year,Kacey Musgraves,made headlines with her performance of “Rainbow Connection” with legend Willie Nelson. Luke Combs performed his hit “Beer Never Broke my Heart”, and Maren Morris performed hit “Girl”.

Many honorable awards were also handed out throughout the night. The most controversial being “Entertainer of the Year”,which was taken home by Garth Brooks. This is taken as controversial because Underwood was the only female nominated in this category, and being the year of women, her not taking home the award was a big shock. As being a huge fan of hers and having been too two of her concerts, I was disappointed since I felt she should have won. Maren Morris’s “Girl” took home album of the year. The title song has been such an anthem for girls everywhere and has such an empowering message. Duo of the year went to sensations Dan and Shay. With their smash hits “Tequila”and “Speechless”, there is no wonder they won. This year’s show was definitely one to remember.