LET'S TALK ABOUT THE 2021 CMA AWARDS NOMINATIONS.

 The nominations for the CMA Awards came out three days ago. The ceremony will take place on November 10th awarding the best country artists, singles and albums of the year (the eligibility period is from July 1,2020 to June 30, 2021).

Let's get into the nominations:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR:This is the biggest award of the night. Eric Church and Chris Stapleton earn a nomination in this category. Both lead the nominations with five each. 

Eric Church

Luke Combs

Miranda Lambert

Chris Stapleton

Carrie Underwood

Church and Stapleton nominations seem reasonable. Both have released projects this year, which could be candidates to 'Album Of The Year'. Luke Combs gets a nomination too. He is one of the biggest country stars nowadays and he has had great chart success with 'Forever After All'. 

The only nomination that is a little disappointing for me is Miranda Lambert's. Despite releasing The Marfa Tapes, she's been living by the success of 'Settling down', included on her 2019 album, Wildcard.

I miss Carly Pearce in this category. She has been one of the protagonist of the year.

SINGLE OF THE YEAR:

“Famous Friends,” Chris Young with Kane Brown

“The Good Ones,” Gabby Barrett

“Hell of a View,” Eric Church

“One Night Standards,” Ashley McBryde

“Starting Over,” Chris Stapleton

I find the songs nominated confusing. Luke Combs' Forever After All could have been a great contestant, like 29 by Carly Pearce or Sand In My Boots by Morgan Wallen too. Even a Luke Bryan single would have fit here . Instead of that, we get a pretty little mixture. I think Hell Of A View nom is okay, as well as Starting Over. However, The Good Ones doesn't seem defining of the year. The same we could say about Famous Friends , which has Chris Young experimenting  big chart-success by awaking moral emotivism. 

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:

29, Carly Pearce

Dangerous: The Double Album, Morgan Wallen

Heart, Eric Church

Skeletons, Brothers Osborne

Starting Over, Chris Stapleton

Carly Pearce gets a truly deserved nomination on this one. I think the nominations in this category are okay, defining the year in country. It caught my attention that they have nominated 'Heart' instead of the ensemble 'Heart & Soul', showing that maybe he should have made an only-one-part-record. 

Morgan Wallen gets here his only nomination, protected by the massive sales of the project, even if as an ensemble it lacks of some uniformity. It's weird. They were free to decide to nominate him or not. However, if you are considering his work, why not considering the songs too? Is it just because of the sales that they feel pressure to nominate him in this category ?

SONG OF THE YEAR: (award to songwriters)

“Forever After All,” recorded by Luke Combs

“The Good Ones,” recorded by Gabby Barrett

“Hell of a View,” recorded by Eric Church

“One Night Standards,” recorded by Ashley McBryde

“Starting Over,” recorded by Chris Stapleton

The nominees in this category are very similar to the  'Single Of The Year' ones. However, there are diferences between both categories: Single of the year awards artists, producers and mix engineers , while Song Of The Year awards songwriters, taking into account the lyrics or the quality of music and not the popularity of a song. 29 by Carly Pearce could have made the cut in this category, as well as Sand In My Boots.

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR:

Jimmie Allen

Ingrid Andress

Gaby Barrett

Mickey Guyton

HARDY

Three of this year's nominees (Jimmie Allen, Gaby Barrett and Ingrid Andress) were nominated last year in the same category. Is this due to laziness? If last year they were nominated for new artists,  this year they should be consolidated artists, known by the public and the industry. Usually, new artists are a representation of the year in music; they had stormed in changing the outlook of the year. I find really significative that they have made this in such an important category.

They could have nominated Laney Wilson, for example. 

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:

Gaby Barrett

Miranda Lambert

Maren Morris

Carly Pearce

Ashley McBride

Carrie Underwood would have fit in the category, rather than Maren Morris. The Bones' success in last year's CMAs seemed even late in 2020, and so does today, when her participation in Chasing After You seems a guest appeareance.

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR:

Dierks Bentley

Eric Church

Luke Combs

Thomas Rhett

Chris Stapleton

The nominees are more representative here. Thomas Rhett gets here a nomination. It seems that his latest project, Country Again hasn't been quite accepted. Luke Bryan could have been there too. 

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR:

Brooks & Dunn

Brothers Osborne

Dan + Shay

Florida Georgia Line

Maddie & Tae

Again, Brooks & Dunn nomination doesn't seem defining of the year. It feels like they were trying to fill the gap. Maddie & Tae nomination would have fit better last year. Taking into account that Die From a Broken Heart was completely ignored last year by the awards, it feels again like they were trying to fill the gap.

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR:

Lady A

Little Big Town

Midland 

Old Dominion

Zac Brown Band

Lady A would have been a perfect nominee to this award in 2010, but not in 2021.I would say the same for Little Big Town, if these were the 2017 CMAs. Midland gets a deserved ( in my opinion) nomination here, while Zac Brown Band gets another. It seems like the Association is supporting the band, even if they're a little lost with the sound they want to bring. 

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR:

“Buy Dirt” – Jordan Davis and Luke Bryan

“Chasing After You” – Ryan Hurd with Maren Morris

“Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” – Elle King & Miranda Lambert

“Famous Friends” – Chris Young with Kane Brown

Here, I don't understand the Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home) nomination. Even if the banjo and both singers' voices recall some country spirit on the track, the production is very pop, emphasized by the Lumineers' Ho Hey percussion.