Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde and Cody Johnson are early 2022 CMA Awards winners.
Videos by American Songwriter
On the morning of the awards show on Wednesday (Nov. 9), CMA announced on Good Morning America that Pearce and McBryde won Musical Event of the Year for their hit duet, “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” while Johnson takes the trophy for Music Video of the Year with his chart-topper, “Til You Can’t.”
“WOWWWW what a way to start #cmaawards day!!! This song means everything to me & seeing the life it has had this year has been so rewarding. Thank you @cma for this. MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR!!!” Pearce writes on Instagram in a celebratory post.
“I woke up to a text from Carly this morning. HOT DAMN!! Thank you CMA!” raves McBryde. “That’s a helluva way to start the day! Happy CMA day y’all!! Let’s gooo!!!!”
“Great way to start the day. Thanks @cma and all of the voters. Thanks Dustin Haney for bringing this song to life,” shares Johnson about his win. He’ll perform the song during the broadcast.
“Never Wanted to Be That Girl” is also nominated for Single of the Year and Song of the Year. This serves as Pearce’s third CMA win, McBryde’s second and Johnson’s first. Pearce tearfully accepted her first CMA Female Vocalist of the Year trophy in 2021, along with Musical Event of the Year in 2020 for her collaboration with Lee Brice on “I Hope You’re Happy Now.” McBryde previously won New Artist of the Year in 2019.
Pearce and McBryde were up against Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood’s “If I Didn’t Love You,” Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson’s fiery “Never Say Never,” “Beers on Me” by Dierks Bentley, HARDY and BRELAND and Jon Pardi’s collaboration with Midland on “Longneck Way to Go.” Johnson bested Taylor Swift’s video for “I Bet You Think About Me,” along with “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” “Never Say Never” and “Longneck Way to Go.”
Wilson is the most nominated act at the 56th annual awards show where Luke Combs, Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen are up for the top prize, Entertainer of the Year.
Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning co-host the CMA Awards when they air live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
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