On Thursday, the Country Music Academy announced the hosts for its 56th annual awards ceremony.
By a press release sent to The root, country music singer Mickey Guyton will make history as the first black woman to host the ACMAs, where he will join fellow countryman Keith Urban. Guyton previously performed at last year’s ceremony for the first time, where Urban provided a piano accompaniment to his acclaimed hit “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?”
Read More
“As I said before, ‘if you can see, you can be’, and it is an honor to take the stage at the ACM as the first black woman to perform the show,” said Guyton in a statement. “Over the years, the Academy of Country Music has always been a home to me through opportunities both on stage and throughout its work on diversity and inclusion. This is a moment of great significance for me and I am very excited to share it with all the fans ”.
“I am very happy to be a co-host with my friend Mickey,” added Urban. “I love that everyone will finally be able to see his infectious energy and his super creative spirit in full light.”
Signed a contract with Capitol Records Nashville in 2011, Guyton released her self-titled EP four years later and was subsequently nominated for her first Academy Award for Country Music for New Female Vocalist in 2016. In September 2020, she released Bridges, an EP that included the aforementioned hit, “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?” as well as “Black Like Me”, the latter was released earlier that year in June during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. It was subsequently recognized as one of the top 10 songs of 2020 by NPR, Billboard and The Associated Press. Speaking about the importance of highlighting reality through musical lenses, Guyton told the Taste of Country:
“The music must be hopeful, and this is the kind of music I’ve been trying to write: talk about the problems that are going on and then, hopefully, bring some hope to people after I talk about it,” the singer and composer explains. “The only way to improve is to talk about it. We can’t just brush it under the rug, as we always do – it is very damaging to your heart. You have to face this. “
In addition to hosting the 2021 ACMAs, Guyton also made history as the first black female solo artist to be nominated for a Grammy in the country category. Currently competing for the Best Performance Solo Country award, she will perform “Black Like Me” at this year’s ceremony, which will air on Sunday, March 14.
Grammys 2021: Beyoncé is the queen of nominations; Trevor Noah for the host
The 56th Academy of Country Music Awards will be broadcast live on Sunday, April 18, 2021 at 8:00 pm (Eastern Time) on CBS and will also be available for live streaming and on demand at Paramount +.