Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey’s performance of “The Other Girl” from the 2020 CMT Music Awards was crowned CMT Performance of the Year during the 2021 CMT Music Awards on Wednesday, June 9.
Ballerini, who co-hosted the show alongside fellow superstar Kane Brown, took the stage to accept the honor and was overcome with excitement over the news.
“This is my first CMT Award,” Ballerini said enthusiastically. “I’m like beaming that it’s for a performance with another woman in music that I respect and that I love.”
After explaining that the performance, which was inspired by Coyote Ugly, ended up being a hot topic genre conversation, she shared, “This tells me that you know where my roots are and that you know who I am. Thank you so much you guys!”
Other performances nominated in the category include Brooks & Dunn and Luke Combs’ “1, 2 Many” from the 2020 CMT Music Awards, Dan + Shay’s “I Should Probably Go To Bed” from the 2020 CMT Music Awards, Jimmie Allen and Noah Cyrus’ “This Is Us” from the 2020 CMT Music Awards, Little Big Town’s “Wine, Beer, Whiskey” from the 2020 CMT Music Awards and Nathaniel Rateliff and Margo Price’s “Twinkle Twinkle” from CMT Crossroads.
Congrats @KelseaBallerini on your FIRST-EVER #CMTawards win! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/02qdzOCPpV
— CMT (@CMT) June 10, 2021
Co-hosted by superstars Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown, the 2021 CMT Music Awards aired on Wednesday, June 9 and featured performances from Ballerini with Paul Klein from LANY and Brown with Chris Young.
Additionally, the two-hour event included collaborations from BRELAND and Mickey Guyton, Brothers Osborne and Dierks Bentley, H.E.R. and Chris Stapleton, Ingrid Andress and JP Saxe, Lady A with Carly Pearce and Lindsay Ell, Lauren Alaina and Jon Pardi, Mickey Guyton and Gladys Knight, Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall and NEEDTOBREATHE with Carrie Underwood.
Chris Stapleton, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett also performed while Blanco Brown, Dylan Scott, Hailey Whitters, Lainey Wilson, Niko Moon and Tenille Arts appeared on the Ram Trucks Side Stage.
Presenters included Anthony Mackie, Brett Young, Busy Philipps, Carly Pearce, Dylan Scott, Gladys Knight, Iliza Shlesinger, Little Big Town, Michael Strahan, Mickey Guyton, Restless Road, Tennessee Titans’ Taylor Lewan and Trace Adkins, as well as CMT Hot 20 Countdown hosts Cody Alan, Katie Cook and Ashley ShahAhmadi.
