Kelsea Ballerini Disappointed by Another CMA Awards Snub
She vents on Twitter after a second year without any nominations.
After this morning’s CMA Awards nominations were announced, not every artist in Music City was in the mood to celebrate. Especially Kelsea Ballerini, who for the second year in a row was left without a nod from the powerful Nashville trade org.
Taking to Twitter, she vented her frustration in crystal clear terms — but stayed professional at the same time.
“Last time this happened, I wrote homecoming queen the next day about the feeling,” she wrote,” referencing her vulnerable single, “homecoming queen?,” which was written after she was also snubbed by the 2019 ACMs, all about releasing the pain we tend to hide underneath smiling faces. “Something beautiful will undoubtedly come from the current disappointment.”
That disappointment is perhaps magnified because Ballerini was not nominated in any CMA category last year either, despite earning nods for Female Vocalist of the Year in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. In the last two years she’s been on major tours both as a headliner and opening act, made high-profile TV appearances (even starring in an episode of CMT Crossroads with pop sensation Halsey), and earned two Platinum singles with “Miss Me More” and “homecoming queen?” — not to mention big streaming numbers and placing her third album, kelsea, high on the charts. She was even nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Album during that time.
It all makes Ballerini’s frustration seem warranted — especially since she is currently in the running for ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, which will be decided during the September 16 ceremony in Nashville. Many of her peers seemed to agree, replying to the status with messages of support.
Merlo in particular makes a good point, in that much of the CMA voting process favors artists with major label organizations behind them. Ballerini is on an independent label, and her experience puts her in good company. Superstar Jason Aldean, for example is regularly ignored by the Nashville-based CMA Awards (he was this year as well) … while the West-coast centered ACMs just crowned him Artist of the Decade.
