These are the 2022 CMT Music Awards and they just took place the other day really, so a very new and fresh show and review now. The letters CMT maybe tell you that the focus here is once more on country music and I think there are quite a few music awards shows from this genre, at least in the United States where country music is still more popular than in almost any other area of the world. Or country. Sorry, I just had to. Those other countries do not even have genre-specific awards shows linked to country music. And here we got several. Then again, the description is unfortunately only partially correct because just like almost any other American music awards show, the focus is sadly much more on the performances and the awards seem to be nothing more than a contributing factor at this point. That is not how it should be. Absolutely not. Like most other awards shows these days, they are fairly long. This one here ran for 130 minutes, slightly over, and this does not include commercials yet. With these, it was even longer. Easily over 2.5 hours for sure, maybe not too far away from the three-hour mark. What I also did not like, namely linked to commercials again, was that they included some advertizing also in the broadcast, even if it was during the stages when the commercials were about to start, but it just should not be handled this way. I am not sure if trophies or categories were named after brands, which is something that happened a lot on other occasions (hello Britain),but maybe the most cringeworthy moment was when one brand (or voice mentioning the brand) congratulated the female winners or something like that. Horrible. Imagine this the other way around. Genderism at its worst.

The hosting, as most times with country music shows, included a man and woman. Kelsea Ballerini was the co-host which made sense with her music background, but felt questionable because she was not in the arena, but instead at her home. Quarantine. Sigh. As a consequence, she did not have too many inclusions. Neither did the fella we see early on who is presented to us as a co-host and who also had the initials KB, which was a bit confusing for a moment. He disappeared immediately again. The bigger host was actor Anthony Mackie and he was there more often and with him you clearly wonder why. He kinda knew this criticism could come up, so he joked a bit about it on one occasion in terms of his connection to the country music industry. The question still stays. Even if you like him as an actor and I do or once did at least, you have to wonder why he was a part of this ceremony. There are other surprises that did not really belong there. Taylor Lautner of course. I felt a bit bad for him. The "thanks for having me" can be really seen literally by now if we look at his fellow Twilight actors Pattinson being Batman these days and Stewart scoring an Oscar nomination. Oh well, he still has his looks. The reason why I did not just give two out of ten here has to do with some of the music as well. There were some alright songs. I especially liked the Little Big Town inclusions and even if it was way too much music for an awards show, the music was at least not as terrible as it is the case at the Grammys these days. Or has been for years. Maybe because they are going less for political correctness here. There was one brief LBGT inclusion and reference and some applause, but there would have been a standing ovation at other ceremonies I guess, so you can see that these often more conservative country musicians, cowgirls and cowboys, are not always as dedicated when it comes to liberalism as the rest of the entertainment industry. I like that.

What else can I add? Joel McHale I found fairly annoying, another fella poking fun and joking about why he should(n't) be at a country music ceremony. That's what it was and you know right away when you see all the performers listed at the very start. Just like it was here and reminded me a bit of the Teen Choice Awards. There was one very tear-filled acceptance speech that stays more in the mind than the rest I guess, but I am not sure if it was really authentic. Oh yeah, I mentioned Little Big Town already and I think one of their numbers was with Monica and that is surely an interesting collaboration. Fits right in with some of the concerts from artists that LeAnn Rimes was talking about. I could have done without her promoting her own stuff and singing briefly, even if I like two or three of her old songs, but the fact that she and the show directed my attention to Kenny Rogers (rip) and Lionel Richie this way I am definitely grateful for. Listened to the entire concert immediately afterwards. I forgot the exact name, but you can just google it. There are many others. It is basically an idea where we have country music artists collaborate with musicians that t´do not really come from this field of music. Even the Backstreet Boys were briefly included in a clip and Bryan Adams was there for a stage performance. So much for a basic summary of strengths and weaknesses. There was nothing about this show I really hated, even if I must say that most of the winners or at least their songs did not do too much for me either to be honest and I was also not really cheering for anybody to win.

I will just go on and do some random brainstorming. Nelly is always nice to see and I wonder where he has been for so long. I really liked his collaboration with Tim McGraw from ages ago and I guess this song is maybe one reason why he attends a ceremony like this. Another encounter between different music genres. Anyway, glad he was there. That was maybe the funniest moment there also with Mackie. The two were definitely enjoying themselves, especially Nelly. Not Furtado of course. The outfits were so-so. I would have liked a few more cowboy hats and jeans and less suits and expensive dresses, but hey the glamour was not unsurprising either. Still props to everybody who did not follow this trend. One moment I did not like that much was when one character was talking about having to change her baby's diapers in the morning. Taylor Swift, still seen by some as a bt of a country music prodigy despite the most recent years or decades almost, was not a factor here in 2022. She won a category with a strange name I see, but had no impact that night. The alcohol reference(s) I did not care about too much. It's okay and people should not be too strict about those, even if I don't drink myself either. Some of the female haircuts were just a bit too much for me I must admit, but good to see gingers still going strong, even if it's not a natural red. Probably going stronger in the country music industry than anywhere else. Except Ireland. Where's the ponytails though? Oh yeah, then there was this inclusion with the chubby big toilet lady or cleaning lady or whatever? I mean the first time they showed her was still alright, but for a running gag it dit get stale really quickly. The last thing happening before the closing credits was also another performance and not the biggest category of the night as it should have been, so another key mishap that makes it difficult to call this an awards show.

One thing these country music shows have in common is that you almost always see the same people and there are not many new musicians joining this elite on a regular basis. Maren Morris is a bit of a recent addition, but she is establishment by now as well. Keith Urban was the opener for the show this time. He has been around for decades of course. Like some of the others. Nicole I did not see this time. Maybe shooting a movie somewhere. And there are also really many big names still alive like the Dixie Chicks or Willie Nelson etc. People who are not featured every single year and also not in the audience or performing. One moment I liked came from an African-American female presenter who made a joke about how she never thought she would be a part of this show, but then had some really nice words about country music artists, how they are always the kindest and also always have great stories to tell. That was seet. Seemed heartfelt and stayed in the mind. No need for subpar joking around like McHale's. So there were surely some good moments and with a little more focus on the awards, I maybe could have given a positive recommendation even, but the percentage of music inclusions and performances was simply too high, especially in the face of some categories not even being a part of the broadcast. Truly disrecpectful to the winners (and nominees) there. That is it then. I personally would have enjoyed to see Sturgill Simpson here of course because of subjective taste, but he covers many music genres now, not just country anymore, so no surprise either he was not present. I think this show was not a complete failure like most other music-oriented awards shows these days, but could have been better from many perspectives nonetheless. I give it a thumbs-down.