The biggest stars in country music packed the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday (Nov. 11) evening in celebration of the 56th annual CMA Awards. And, one of the questions on many people’s minds going into the big night was whether or not Maren Morris would be attending the glitzy ceremony.
The “Circles Around This Town” singer, who was up for the coveted Album of the Year trophy for her current album, Humble Quest, previously revealed she had mixed feelings about going to the show after getting into a public feud with Jason Aldean’s wife Brittany Aldean.
“Honestly, I haven’t decided if I’m gonna go,” Morris, 32, previously told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m very honored that my record is nominated. But I don’t know if I feel [at] home there right now. So many people I love will be in that room, and maybe I’ll make a game-time decision and go. But as of right now, I don’t feel comfortable going.”
“I think I was more sad going last year,” she continued in the September interview. “Some nights are fun. Others I’m just crawling out of my skin. I’m not good at those events because I’m awkward. But this time I, kind of, feel peaceful at the notion of not going.”
Turns out that Morris did, in fact, attend Country Music’s Biggest Night, but she opted to skip the star-studded 2022 CMA Red Carpet, according to Entertainment Tonight. Instead of taking part in the pre-gaming events leading up to the actual ceremony, Morris showed up in the nick of time to find out who won the Album of the Year award.
Morris, who was accompanied by her husband country singer/songwriter Ryan Hurd, was nominated for Album of the Year, alongside an impressive array of albums: Lainey Wilson’s Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin,’ Luke Combs’ Growin’ Up, Miranda Lambert’s Palomino, and Old Dominion’s Time, Tequila & Therapy.
The prize ended up going to Combs’ Growin’ Up, which he co-produced with Chip Matthews and Jonathan Singleton. Matthews and Jim Cooley mixed the record. Despite not winning, Morris did show her support for Combs, applauding him before exiting the building. She also took to Twitter to offer a look at her ensemble for the night.
BYOB, CMA. 🥂 pic.twitter.com/s5GZF6ssgy
— MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) November 10, 2022
The clip, as shown above, finds Morris dressed in a plunging gown that sparkles from head to toe. She holds up a bottle of champagne as Taylor Swift’s “Karma” plays on in the background.
“BYOB, CMA,” she captioned the post, which includes a “cheers” emoji.
On Thursday (Oct. 10) morning, Morris shared a handful of photos from her night at the awards
“Good Mourning. 🖤,” she captions the first slideshow of shots, which show her and Hurd dressed to the nines.
“Aren’t you envious that, for you, it’s not? 🖤,” she writes in another post, throwing a nod to Swift’s song.
In a third shot, she writes, “Last one, I wanted to fix the grid. 🤠😂🖤.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckyn760uriv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Morris’s ongoing online quarrel with Brittany started earlier this year after the former NBA Charlotte Bobcats Cheerleader made a comment on Instagram that many deemed transphobic.
“I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase,” Brittany wrote alongside a video that had her using a blush brush to apply makeup on her face.
Without directly addressing Brittany, Morris responded on Twitter: “It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie.”
The conversation continued with other artists and high-profile people taking sides in the debate. (An in-depth reading of the Morris/Brittany feud can be found, Here).
On the flip side, Aldean and Brittany did attend and stay for the entirety of the 2022 CMA Awards. Aldean was nominated for the Musical Event of the Year award.
Who gave @Jason_Aldean and Brittany the authority to be this HOTTT 🥵❤️ #CMAAwards pic.twitter.com/2bj622g7L8
— iHeartCountry (@iHeartCountry) November 10, 2022
Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde emerged victorious in the category for their collaboration of “Never Wanted To Be That Girl.”
The 56th annual CMA awards, co-hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, broadcasted live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on ABC.
