Morgan Wallen is already a big winner ahead of the tonight’s 2022 American Music Awards (AMAs), which has been labeled the world’s largest fan-voted awards show.
On Sunday afternoon (Nov. 20), ahead of the live broadcast of the star-studded AMAs and during a Twitter space livestream, dubbed the 2022 AMAs Non-Televised Winners Announcement, Wallen was announced as the winner of two awards.
Upon hearing the exciting news of his two wins, Wallen shared video messages with the awards show, accepting the honors and graciously thanking his fans.
Favorite Male Country Artist
Wallen was crowned Favorite Male Country Artist ahead of the awards ceremony, where he took home the trophy that Chris Stapleton, Cody Johnson, Luke Combs and Walker Hayes were also nominated for.
CHEERS to @MorganWallen for being this year's #AMAs Favorite Male Country Artist! 🤠 pic.twitter.com/TZGzdNOkbi
— American Music Awards (@AMAs) November 20, 2022
“I was just informed that I won a couple of awards at the AMAs and I’m not surprised by that because it’s fan voted and I just wanted to say thank you to my fans first of all, first and foremost… y’all know how much you mean to me,” Wallen said with a smile as he virtually accepted the Favorite Male Country Artist award prior to the AMAs broadcast. “I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to vote for me and just always supporting me. It means a lot to me to represent this genre and represent myself and represent you guys. So thank you for this, it means a lot.”
Favorite Country Song For “Wasted On You”
In addition to being named Favorite Male Country Artist, Wallen’s chart-topping hit, “Wasted On You,” was also named Favorite Country Song.
All those votes were not "Wasted on You," @MorganWallen! Congrats on taking home the #AMAs for Favorite Country Song! 🎶 pic.twitter.com/E0r2spOj3y
— American Music Awards (@AMAs) November 20, 2022
“I’m saying thank you for Favorite Country Song ‘Wasted On You.’ This has always been a special song for me,” Wallen said in the clip. “I knew from the minute we wrote it that it was going to be one of my favorite songs that I was a part of writing. It ended up being a big success and I’m really proud of it. So, I’m really glad that you guys have related to the song as much as I have. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to vote for me. Thank you for always showing me so much love and support. It never goes unnoticed, so thank you. See y’all out on the road.”
Also nominated in the Favorite Country Song category this year were Chris Stapleton’s “You Should Probably Leave,” Cody Johnson’s “‘Til You Can’t,” Dustin Lynch featuring MacKenzie Porter’s “Thinking ‘Bout You,” and Jordan Davis featuring Luke Bryan’s “Buy Dirt.”
“Wasted On You” is Wallen’s sixth No. 1 hit overall and the fourth from his record-breaking sophomore project, Dangerous: The Double Album.
Co-written by Wallen alongside Ryan Vojtesak, Ernest K. Smith (ERNEST), and Josh Thompson, “Wasted On You” finds the East Tennessee native crooning over the downfall of a relationship while reflecting on everything he’s “wasted” on his ex. He also admits to turning to a bottle of bourbon to help ease the pain.
The songwriters found a clever way to use the term wasted in multiple ways as Wallen admits he’s wasted time, money and miles on his past lover, while also getting wasted to drown out the memories.
“All of this time and all of this money/ All of the these sorries I don’t owe you honey/ All of these miles on this Chevy, and prayers in a pew/ All them days I spent, wasted on you/ Wasted on you,” he sings on the chorus.
Wallen first debuted “Wasted On You” in January 2021 as part of The Dangerous Sessions, an acoustic series leading up to the much-anticipated release of his album.
Wallen will not be in attendance at the 2022 American Music Awards.
The 2022 American Music Awards will feature performances from Carrie Underwood, Imagine Dragons, P!NK, Yola, Anitta, Bebe Rexha, D-Nice (House DJ), Dove Cameron, GloRilla, J.I.D., Lil Baby, WizKid, and Tems.
P!nk will kick off the AMAs with the live debut of her latest single “Never Gonna Not Dance Again.” In addition to kicking off the show, P!nk will also deliver an emotional tribute performance to the late Olivia Newton-John, who died of breast cancer at 73-years-old in August of 2022, later in the broadcast.
Additionally, Stevie Wonder will join forces with Ari Lennox and Charlie Puth to perform a medley of Lionel Richie’s hit songs in honor of the American Idol judge and former Commodores member, who is the recipient of the prestigious AMAs Icon Award.
Jimmie Allen, Meghan Trainor, Dan + Shay, Dustin Lynch, Ellie Goulding, Jessie James Decker, Kelly Rowland, Kim Petras, Latto, Melissa Etheridge, Sabrina Carpenter and Smokey Robinson, Karreuche Tran, Roselyn Sanchez, Niecy Nash-Betts and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Liza Koshy will also be on hand to present during the coveted awards show ceremony.
Hosted by Wayne Brady, the 2022 American Music Awards are set to broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Nov. 20 at 8/7c on ABC.
