CMA Awards 2011: TOWIE for Tay at the CMA

CMA Awards 2011: TOWIE for Tay at the CMA 



Taylor Swift poses backstage with the award for
Entertainer of the Year at the
45th Annual CMA Awards
 in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 9, 2011
(Getty Image)



Yes the finale of the third series of semi-reality show The Only Way Is Essex was given a miss , instead opting to catch the 3 hour live red carpet footage of the CMA’s. Woken by the alarm the next morning Radio 2’s news announcer Moira Stuart informs me that it was in fact The Only Way Is Entertainer for the 21-year-old Pennsylvanian superstar Taylor Swift on what is deemed  “Country Music’s Biggest Night™”  

Reba's McEntire (photo) the CMA 1986 Entertainer presented her with the 2011 Entertainer of the Year award. In a similar way to what Reba did in 1999 pointing to Shania Twain before telling her to “Come On Up Shania Twain” this time Taylor got a few seconds warning before hearing her name to collect the biggest prize of the night with her second CMA Entertainer.  Taylor swiftly leapt from her seat with her arms in the air and jumped up and down before hugging her mother, Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta, and good friend Tim McGraw.

In so doing Miss Swift (“Tay” to her fanbase) made history and is  now the second woman to win entertainer of the year twice at the CMAs, joining Barbara Mandrell. To win Taylor overhauled male country big-hitters Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley and Keith Urban to claim this year's prestitious title.

Taylor Swift holds aloft the
CMA Entertainer of the Year Award
(Getty Image)

In addition to Taylor and Barbara Mandrell, only seven other artists in the 45-year history of the CMA Awards have won the coveted top prize more than once: Alabama, Hank Williams Jr., George Strait, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney. Taylor was this year's only female nominee in the Entertainer of the Year category.

"She's inspired legions of young girls to take up guitar and write their own songs, and she has spread the gospel of country music to the Far East, filling stadiums like few others can," the Associated Press wrote of Taylor's big repeat CMA win. "She crossed the 20 million mark in album sales and has almost no rival in the genre when it comes to bringing converts over the wall.

"She's made all that headway on the strength of her songs. She loves nothing better than the process of turning inspiration into something that makes a connection with people all over the planet."

"Thanks to all the fans who filled up the stadiums all over the world this year," the clearly astonished singer said from the stage in her acceptance speech  , going on to also thank every guest artist who has joined her for surprise duets on her Speak Now world tour, reading names ranging from Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney to Usher and Justin Bieber off her hand. "You have made my year!"

“The reason why we celebrate like we just won the Super Bowl is that my band and crew, the dancers, the aerialists, the catering crew, my family, friends and fans all over the world were paying attention tonight, and they were excited because they're part of this," Taylor Swift later said backstage at the 45th annual CMA Awards press room.

According to the CMA official website, the Entertainer award is given to the act "displaying the greatest competence in all aspects of the entertainment field." In voting, CMA members are encouraged to consider not only an artist's recorded music but also his/her live performances, along with "staging, public acceptance, attitude, leadership, and overall contribution to the Country Music image."



Taylor ticks many of those boxes and has become a Worldwide star with the biggest selling country album in 2010 with 3.7 million copies sold to date in America in nearly a year. She has just come off her elaborate, record-breaking SPEAK NOW World tour. "To look out into a stadium full of people is the most overwhelming feeling – it's a sea of people and you can't see the end of it," Taylor said Wednesday night after her big win. "They're the ones who decide whether you're playing in a theater or a stadium. I'm absolutely in awe of the fact that they have taken it further and further and topped themselves every single year."

"All of the sudden this idea that was just yours is now everybody else's, and they sing it in their cars and sing it about their breakups or falling in love, and they incorporate it into their lives," Taylor said, talking about her songwriting in the backstage press room after the show



Getty Image



"I am so proud of this tour, and the reason why it's so much fun is because I obsess over how to treat each song," says the newly-crowned CMA Entertainer of the Year.

"One of the things that I love about the Speak Now tour is that it's very theatrical, and each song has its own treatment. The reason I obsess over it so much is that I obsess over writing them so much ... With this next album, I'm so excited because I've been writing so much. We're still in the first gear of making it, so as we finish songs and demo them in my producer's basement, I can picture them being played on the stage. "It's such a fun, daydreaming job to have," she continues. "You spend so much of your time planning and daydreaming about the future, and it's a blast to get to call that a career."





Taylor has spent this year on her SPEAK NOW WORLD TOUR in support of her 5+ million-selling Speak Now album, playing to capacity crowds in stadiums and arenas over 98 shows in 17 countries spanning three continents. When Taylor was first crowned Entertainer of the Year in 2009, the year she launched her breakout FEARLESS headlining tour, she was the first female artist in a decade to take the trophy.

The North American leg of Taylor's SPEAK NOW WORLD TOUR wraps later this month with two sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, and the tour has been extended into 2012 with shows in Australia and New Zealand.

SPEAK NOW WORLD TOUR – LIVE, CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray sets of Taylor's 2011 concert, are due to appear in stores and at online retailers on November 21st. Sold as a CD/DVD or CD/Blu-ray combo-pak, the set will be released on Big Machine Records.

Tay Trivia – Taylor’s favourite number is 13 and when she won her second consecutive CMA for entertainer of the year, there was another 13 - her win was following the show’s 13th segment !

Many congrats to Taylor! - Watch YouTube Video  

SOURCE - CMA Press – Associated Press / PR Newswire