Here we got "The 50th Annual CMA Awards". These aired back in November 2016, which means they are slightly over four years old now, probably older as you will not read my review one day after I posted it. You can see from the title that this was really a round anniversary and it surprised me a bit that the fact that it was the 50th show was not really featured anywhere during the broadcast. The director was Paul Miller and the two writers were Ryan O'Dowd and David Wild. All three of them are (and also were back then) quite experienced when it comes to being in charge or projects and events like this one here. One of the writers has several Emmy nominations. The director has several wins even. I would not really blame one of them that it did not turn out a great show. It was a very long show. I watched the condensed version without commercials and even that one ran for 2.5 hours. But it felt slightly shorter I would say. If you take a look at the list of people that were part of this show in front of the camera, you will find some names of actors that you would not necessarily expect in a country music event. I struggled a bit with them being there too, but then again, they may have a background that I am not super familiar with. One thing that came to mind a bit here is that country music is a genre in which (at least in the United States) it feels as if it is almost the same dozen of artists that are featured prominently. This is a bit of a pity. But then there is hope with artists like Maren Morris that new players could be emerging. The quantity is just still a little low at this point. But it's definitely not a lost cause. And aside from that, there are many experienced and established artists that are still part of the industry and that also get to be part of the show one way or the other despite of (or because of) having been part of this scene for decades. It's nice that they are not forgotten. One person I would like to talk about especially is Taylor Swift. Country music is where her roots are, where she began and where she also was at her best in my opinion. Such a pity she moved on to make more commercial, but far less creative and inspired generic pop music afterwards, especially as she received a truly special awards years ago and now her only connection really with this event is that she is there to give awards to other people. Like Sharon Stone. Or Peyton Manning. Enough said. Oh by the way, Beyoncé (terrible outfit too) was also part of the show this time, but I was not amazed at all. I like her, well not as much anymore as when she was with Destiny's Child, and I can see why including her makes people watch this show, but her country number did not work out one bit, no matter how many actual country singers they put next to her. There we have a problem of the show as well. There were too many performances, too few awards. Or maybe not even the latter necessarily, but I think this should have been 30 minutes shorter and those minutes should mostly stem from live performances. I can see why some of those are a highlight for people being right there, maybe also for some watching this live on television, but I am one who emphasizes that nothing should matter more than the awards here. And even if it maybe was not as bad as during the Grammys many times where it wwas like 95% music and 5% awards, it still was not the right proportion.
As for the winners, sadly I cannot say too much. I do like country music, but I almost never really focus on checking out the/new artists in detail. Still I liked most of what I heard, so I believe the quality is there. One person I definitely want to mention here is Randy Travis. He deserves the attention after his illness and it was a nice little tribute, even if it could/should have been a bit longer. By the way, I did not even mention the hosts yet. Sorry. Those were Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, two of the biggest stars of the scene. A bit unusual. I mean you don't get Pitt and Streep as Oscar hosts or anything. But these two here have done it many times already it seems. Underwood also took home a prestigious award. Paisley seemed really nice and easy-going I think, even if I must admit I've always found his wife more interesting than him. Anyway, nothing against him, the hosting was alright. You could see that the two have hosted together several times in the past. This show took place right before the 2016 American Presidential Election. But this is only featured once and that is kind of a good thing. I always like it when awards shows are on the unpolitical side. Sadly, as amazing as they seemed initially by saying that the should keep politics out now and it is so annoying that everybody is talking about the upcoming election, they still messed up immediately afterwards when they took a little cheap shot at (then not yet) President Trump. But as I said I liked these shows unpolitical. I shall also abstain from this subject for the rest of my review. What else can I say here? Oh yes, while I liekd the music, I still felt that some of the lyrics were way too much influenced by the #metoo movement in the sense of how much they were praising women and being disrespectful towwards men. I think there was one song especially cringeworthy as it dealt with pointless generalisations about how each gender deals with break-ups. There was more I did not appreciate too much. It surprised me a bit because country music has always had a more conservative background, but then again all American entertainment industries seem to be impacted by this trend. Oh well, it's gonna end one day anyway or hopefully turns into something worth discussing like actual differences in wage between genders and not creating fourth, fifth and sixth genders, so everybody is happy. But I am drifting a bit away now, so let me think about what else I could mention here. Oh yes, were certain key categories even included in the braodcast? Like Thomas Rhett's win. Don't really remember. But if not, then big boo here! Oh yes, if you found Billy Ray Cyrus inclusion here funny or not is up to you to decide. I am undecides, but I know I like Miley. So yes, the music is fine. There were allso interesting covers in here, already from three songs I like in the first hour. First would be "Stand by your Man" (Dittsche favorite), second would be "Rose Garden" and of course, as a huge Johnny Cash fan, "Jackson". In the second half of the show, there were no real classics included or at least none I recognized with the exception of "I Will Always Love You" at the end. But if that works with a country music approach I am still not sure. Dolly Parton is a pretty cool cat though somehow. Lily Tomlin not so much. Not sure why I onlce liked her. Okay, I guess this is it then. Overall, this show has good moments and the fact that I say that with four out of ten it is still better than most other awards shows these days is pretty telling, but it also had weaknesses and they were too frequent. The consequence is that I say this one here is an event that should be skipped by everybody who is not a huge country music fan. It sure won't turn you into one. No hard feelings though, folks. Stay humble and kind. The cowbboy hats, hay bales and Johnny Cash references will always rock my world. Also pretty cool that Willie Nelson got an award named after him. And that he is still with us in 2020.
As for the winners, sadly I cannot say too much. I do like country music, but I almost never really focus on checking out the/new artists in detail. Still I liked most of what I heard, so I believe the quality is there. One person I definitely want to mention here is Randy Travis. He deserves the attention after his illness and it was a nice little tribute, even if it could/should have been a bit longer. By the way, I did not even mention the hosts yet. Sorry. Those were Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, two of the biggest stars of the scene. A bit unusual. I mean you don't get Pitt and Streep as Oscar hosts or anything. But these two here have done it many times already it seems. Underwood also took home a prestigious award. Paisley seemed really nice and easy-going I think, even if I must admit I've always found his wife more interesting than him. Anyway, nothing against him, the hosting was alright. You could see that the two have hosted together several times in the past. This show took place right before the 2016 American Presidential Election. But this is only featured once and that is kind of a good thing. I always like it when awards shows are on the unpolitical side. Sadly, as amazing as they seemed initially by saying that the should keep politics out now and it is so annoying that everybody is talking about the upcoming election, they still messed up immediately afterwards when they took a little cheap shot at (then not yet) President Trump. But as I said I liked these shows unpolitical. I shall also abstain from this subject for the rest of my review. What else can I say here? Oh yes, while I liekd the music, I still felt that some of the lyrics were way too much influenced by the #metoo movement in the sense of how much they were praising women and being disrespectful towwards men. I think there was one song especially cringeworthy as it dealt with pointless generalisations about how each gender deals with break-ups. There was more I did not appreciate too much. It surprised me a bit because country music has always had a more conservative background, but then again all American entertainment industries seem to be impacted by this trend. Oh well, it's gonna end one day anyway or hopefully turns into something worth discussing like actual differences in wage between genders and not creating fourth, fifth and sixth genders, so everybody is happy. But I am drifting a bit away now, so let me think about what else I could mention here. Oh yes, were certain key categories even included in the braodcast? Like Thomas Rhett's win. Don't really remember. But if not, then big boo here! Oh yes, if you found Billy Ray Cyrus inclusion here funny or not is up to you to decide. I am undecides, but I know I like Miley. So yes, the music is fine. There were allso interesting covers in here, already from three songs I like in the first hour. First would be "Stand by your Man" (Dittsche favorite), second would be "Rose Garden" and of course, as a huge Johnny Cash fan, "Jackson". In the second half of the show, there were no real classics included or at least none I recognized with the exception of "I Will Always Love You" at the end. But if that works with a country music approach I am still not sure. Dolly Parton is a pretty cool cat though somehow. Lily Tomlin not so much. Not sure why I onlce liked her. Okay, I guess this is it then. Overall, this show has good moments and the fact that I say that with four out of ten it is still better than most other awards shows these days is pretty telling, but it also had weaknesses and they were too frequent. The consequence is that I say this one here is an event that should be skipped by everybody who is not a huge country music fan. It sure won't turn you into one. No hard feelings though, folks. Stay humble and kind. The cowbboy hats, hay bales and Johnny Cash references will always rock my world. Also pretty cool that Willie Nelson got an award named after him. And that he is still with us in 2020.
