CMT Awards wrap-up: Carrie Underwood doesn't buckle under pressure

Despite having to sit through a mess of an awards show, Carrie Underwood could do nothing but smile at the 2010 CMT Music Awards. Carrie won two awards, including the coveted Video of the Year distinction for "Cowboy Casanova."

Carrie must've said "awesome" a dozen times upon taking the stage to receive the buckle, as she was as appreciative as always of her fans' support. She was also sure to sneak in a kiss with her fiance, Mike Fisher, before making her way through the crowd, as seen in the photo on the right.

Earlier in the show Carrie took home a buckle for CMT Performance of the Year thanks to her "Invitation Only" performance of "Temporary Home" in addition to introducing Tim McGraw for his performance of "Southern Voice" and taking the stage to perform her current smash hit "Undo It." Watch her performance (including an awkward 10-second mute mic at the beginning and Kara DioGuardi's bumbling intro) below:

Although Carrie was clearly the star of the night, Kellie Pickler also got a lot of face time despite losing out in the only category she was nominated for, Collaborative Video of the Year. Kellie helped Kid Rock kick off the show when she contributed to an all-star performance of the host's "Cowboy." She also presented an award with football bad boy Terrell "T.O." Owens and was seen "partying" backstage with Rock.

As for my predictions, I was right on with Carrie's win for PotY and loss for FVotY and Kellie's loss for CVotY, although I was [gladly] wrong about Carrie not taking home VotY.

Also in the house was Danny Gokey, who found the time to catch up with fish out of water presenters Snooki and "The Situation" from MTV's Jersey Shore. According to a tweet of his, Snooki told him her mother is a fan. Really?

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IDOL LIVE predix: 2010 CMT Awards

Two Idol alums are up for awards at tonight's 2010 CMT Music Awards, with a combined four categories available for them to nab.

Carrie Underwood is shooting for her "Cowboy Casanova" video to earn her a CMT Award in the Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year categories, while she could be victorious in the CMT Performance of the Yearcategory thanks to her live performance of "Temporary Home" for the network. Kellie Pickler, on the other hand, could win in the Collaborative Video of the Year category as a result of her teaming up with friend Taylor Swift on the "Best Days of Your Life" video.

Read my predictions for how things will go tonight below (predicted winners are in bold):

Video of the Year
Kenny Chesney – "Out Last Night"
Brad Paisley – "Welcome to the Future"
Jason Aldean – "The Truth"
Lady Antebellum – "Need You Now"
Miranda Lambert – "White Liar"
Zac Brown Band – "Toes"
Carrie Underwood – "Cowboy Casanova"
Taylor Swift – "You Belong With Me"Toby Keith – "American Ride"
Keith Urban – '"Til Summer Comes Around"

Female Video of the Year
Miranda Lambert – "White Liar"
Taylor Swift – "You Belong With Me"
Reba McEntire – "Consider Me Gone"
Carrie Underwood – "Cowboy Casanova"

Collaborative Video of the Year
Blake Shelton featuring Trace Adkins – "Hillbilly Bone"
Jason Aldean and Bryan Adams – "Heaven' from 'CMT Crossroads"
Kellie Pickler featuring Taylor Swift – "Best Days of Your Life"
Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews – "I'm Alive"

CMT Performance of the Year
Carrie Underwood – "Temporary Home" from Invitation Only: Carrie Underwood
Lady Antebellum – "Lookin' For A Good Time" from the 2009 CMT Music Awards
Tim McGraw – "Southern Voice" from Invitation Only: Tim McGraw
Reba McEntire – "Consider Me Gone" from Invitation Only: Reba
Brad Paisley – "Then" from the 2009 CMT Music Awards

No real surprises here. Hopefully Carrie does pull through and wins the CMT Performance of the Year, because that is probably where her competition is the weakest for this type of awards show. Watch "Cowboy Casanova" and "Best Days of Your Life" below:

"Cowboy Casanova"

Carrie Underwood   More CMT Music   More CMT Music Videos

"Best Days of Your Life"


The CMT Music Awards will be hosted by Kid Rock and will be broadcast live on CMT at 8 p.m. ET.

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Carrie Underwood's "Cowboy Casanova" music video leaks

An unexpected thing happened today: Carrie Underwood's latest music video for her new single, "Cowboy Casanova," leaked. The even more perplexing thing is that the source of the leak is none other than CMT.com. Watch Carrie's smokin' new performance (and never before seen choreography) below before Arista Nashville flexes its removal power:

So why is this video so good? Many fans are attributing it to the fact that Roman White is not the director. White, who has directed every single video of Carrie's prior to this one, was often criticized as being uninspiring and boring with the way Carrie was used in her videos.

This time around, Carrie chose to team up with Director Theresa Wingert. Although White has got a lot of flack over the years, he really is not a bad director. Having said that, Wingert has demonstrated that she can make a seemingly boring setting appear exciting with a little help from Carrie's involvement in the process.

CMT was supposed to premiere the video on the weekend of Oct. 2, billed as the network's "Big New Music Weekend." There are really only two explanations for what happened here: 1) Someone at CMT is going to be fired over this, or 2) the leak was intentional in an effort to gain even more buzz for the single, which has a chance to debut extremely high up on Billboard' Hot 100 chart come Wednesday. My gut is telling me the latter is more plausible.

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Carrie Underwood earns two CMA Awards noms

If you consider yourself a country artist, you were a finalist at some point on Idol and your name is not Carrie Underwood, you're out of luck at the 43rd annual CMA Awards.

In announcements made earlier this morning on ABC's Good Morning America and CMT's Insider Special Edition: 2009 CMA Awards Nominations, it was revealed that Carrie received two nominations for this year's awards show, one for "Female Vocalist" and one for "Musical Event" for her single "I Told You So" featuring Randy Travis. Other than that, there were no noms doled out for any other Idol alums.

Below are the categories in which Carrie is nominated and thus what her competition will be:

Female Vocalist

Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Musical Event
(Award goes to each artist.)

"Cowgirls Don't Cry"
Brooks & Dunn featuring Reba McEntire
Arista Nashville

"Down the Road"
Kenny Chesney (with Mac McAnally)
Blue Chair Records, BNA Records

"Everything But Quits"
Lee Ann Womack (duet with George Strait)
MCA Records

"I Told You So"
Carrie Underwood featuring Randy Travis
19 Recordings/Arista

"Old Enough"
The Raconteurs featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe
Third Man Records, Warner Bros. Records

An interesting observation is the fact that Taylor Swift, who has had a very big year, was the first female to be nominated for Entertainer of the Year since 2000, something Carrie has never had the honor of receiving. Carrie did, however, receive a nomination and win in the category at the Academy of Country Music Awards earlier this year.

The CMA Awards will air on ABC on Wed., Nov. 11, at 8 p.m. ET, being held live at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn. Carrie will once again fulfill hosting duties alongside Brad Paisley.

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CMT Awards wrap-up: Kellie performs "Best Days of Your Life"

The 2009 CMT Music Awards were a little lackluster this year thanks to a familiar face at these kinds of events skipping out on the festivities, as Carrie Underwood opted to join her mother on a mini-vacation rather than attend the show. But there was still plenty of Idol to go around at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Although she came up empty handed in the "Female Video of the Year" for her "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" music video, Kellie Pickler was quite a presence at the awards show. After appearing onstage with Randy Jackson to present the award for "USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year," Kellie returned to perform her current hit single "Best Days of Your Life." Watch the performance below:

Before the show even started, though, Kellie turned up in the opening pre-taped sketch between host Bill Engvall and Taylor Swift, which involved Swift and Kellie colliding in the hallway before the show and landing on the floor. Watch the bit below:



The biggest honor of the night, "Video of the Year," went to Swift's "Love Story."

Also in attendance was Bucky Covington, but he was merely a spectator this time around. The awards show was broadcast live concurrently on CMT and CMT.com.

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'Idol' odds 'n ends: Jennifer performs on 'Oprah'

The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:

>Jennifer Hudson was a featured guest on today's episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which she talked with Oprah about her big win at the Grammys and singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl among other things. She also performed her new single, "If This Isn't Love," which can be viewed below:

>Following her big performance in front of some fewer than 20 million last night, Brooke White's new single, "Hold Up My Heart," has shot all the way up to #9 on iTunes' Top 100 Overall Songs chart. If it continues to inch up a bit over the next few days, it could have an outside shot of debuting in the Top 20 of Billboard's Hot 100 chart next week.

>One of Chris Daughtry's recent collaborations with another band will be getting a single release. According to AllAccess.com, "Slow Down," which Chris recorded with the band Third Day, will hit Hot Adult Contemporary radio on March 9. Watch a clip of Chris lending his vocals to the track in the studio below:



>Jordin Sparks received a nomination for the 2009 MTV Australia Awards presented by Vodafone for her duet of "No Air" with Chris Brown in the Best Collaboration category. The awards show will take place in Sydney on Fri., March 27. Fans can vote by visiting here.

>Mikalah Gordon is taking her new-found fame following her appearance on the second season of CMT's Gone Country and filming a reality series about how life after Idol is not always fun and games. She spoke with Maximo TV a few weeks ago about the show on the red carpet of the premiere of Afro Sumarai:



The series will be produced by Renegade Productions, the same people responsible for Gone Country. No word yet on which network(s) is/are interested in the series.

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Chris Sligh writes Rascal Flatts' "Here Comes Goodbye"

Chris Sligh is expanding his credentials by writing for artists other than himself. The sixth season's 10th-place finalist had a hand in writing the Rascal Flatts' current single "Here Comes Goodbye," which went for adds at country radio on Jan. 20. Listen to the single below:

Chris talked with Alison Bonaguro of CMT.com earlier this week about the single, showing surprise and excitement upon hearing the news that it was a go:

"After [co-writer Clint Lagerberg] and I turned that song in last April, our publisher called the next day and was squealing 'You got a Rascal Flatts hold.' I didn't even know what that meant," Sligh said. "But then when Dann called in November, I was just freaking out."

"Here Comes Goodbye" is the lead single off of the group's upcoming release Unstoppable, which will be out Tues., April 7.

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'Idol' odds 'n ends: Diana, Eric the Midget & Stern unite!

The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:

>It was a grand ol' time when Diana DeGarmo, Eric the Midget and Howard Stern all met together in Stern's studio on his Sirius satellite radio program on Mon., Nov. 3. This was the first meeting of the three all in person, and the first time Diana was able to respond to the incessant talk about her between Eric and Stern and his crew that has carried on for the past two years. Watch a clip of the exchange on HowardTV.

>It was announced this week that the two-hour premiere of the eighth season of Idol (already?) will be Tues., Jan 13 at 8 p.m. ET. Can't wait.

>Carrie Underwood made the cover of Elle magazine for the Dec. 2008 issue. In the issue, Carrie apologizes for the comments she made about ex-boyfriend Tony Romo, saying she's "just not about drama...at all." Not to be outdone, Carly Smithson and Michael Johns had a photo shoot in the same issue.

>Justin Guarini will fulfill the token Idol alum on the third season of CMT's Gone Country. Following the shadow of Diana DeGarmo (Season 1) and Mikalah Gordon (Season 2), Justin will appear with such has-beens as Taylor Dayne, former Miss USA Tara Connor and George Clinton. The season premieres in January 2009.

>Chris Daughtry will be one of many celebrities to appear at Alicia Keys' annual Black Ball fund-raiser in New York City on Thurs., Nov. 13. The benefit will raise money for the Keep a Child Alive foundation.

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Kristy Lee: "15 Minutes of Shame" video

Kristy Lee Cook's music video for her debut single "15 Minutes of Shame" premiered on CMT.com yesterday. The video is surprisingly good, it's just too bad that it was released 15 weeks too late. Watch it below:

It come across as very "Before He Cheats" / "Last Name," but that's to be expected considering Kristy Lee is on the same record label as Carrie Underwood. There are also a few Taylor Swift similarities in there. Hopefully this will be enough to salvage her career.

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Carrie's "Just a Dream" video premieres

After an extremely long wait, Carrie Underwood's video for "Just a Dream" is finally here. The video, which was once again directed by Roman White, premiered tonight on CMT.com and can be watched below:


In the video, Carrie transitions from a wedding to a funeral after receiving word that her fiance was killed while serving in the armed forces. Roman uses a few special effects in the video, such as the change of color from white to black of Carrie's dress and the upward floating black petals once the funeral setting is reached.

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Kellie's video for "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" premieres

Kellie Pickler's video for her new single "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" premiered on CMT.com earlier today. The video finds Kellie having fun with friends at a rollerskating park and at a sleepover, while montages of "regular girls" having fun. Watch the video here, or below:



While it is nice to have Kellie's video out, the release is being overshadowed by a certain other Idol alum-turned-country music star's impending video release - Carrie Underwood's video for "Just a Dream" - and "Beautiful" seems to be just the calm before the storm that will surely erupt when it finally does premiere.

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Keeping up with Mikalah Gordon

Mikalah Gordon, the memorable 11th-place finalist from Season 4, has pursued more of an acting career since closing the door on her Idol experience, but that does not mean she has left singing behind. The peppy Fran Drescher-like 20-year-old currently has a new single out called "Baby," which can be heard on her official music MySpace page and is also now charting on online radio station Idol Waves' Top 20 Countdown, where it is #5 for the chart's latest edition.

Mikalah will also try to hone her skills in the country music arena when she stars in the second season of CMT's Gone Country, on which she will compete for a single to be produced and released by John Rich alongside celebrities such as Jermaine Jackson and NSYNC's Chris Kirkpatrick. The series has already wrapped filming and will debut in August.

After starring as a country singer over in Iraq on CBS' The Unit last October, Mikalah returned to the small screen in May when she hosted David Cook's hometown viewing party at the Kansas City Live! stage in downtown Blue Springs, Mo., Cook's hometown, during the finale of the seventh season of Idol.

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Cardin McKinney in new Jimmy Wayne music video

Season 7 Top 50 finalist Cardin McKinney has been keeping busy since failing to make the Top 24. In her latest project, Cardin stars as the lead role in country music singer Jimmy Wayne's new music video for "Do You Believe Me Now." The video premiered on CMT.com and can be viewed here.

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Keeping up with Phil Stacey

After receiving a free pass to an eighth week in the finals thanks to "Idol Gives Back" last season only to be eliminated the following week along with Chris Richardson, Phil Stacey has been actively pursuing a career in country music. The music video for the sixth=place finisher's debut single "If You Didn't Love Me" premiered on CMT.com on March 11, and the single is currently on its way up the country charts. You can watch the video below.



Stacey, who is signed to Lyric Street Records, is working on his debut self-titled album, and expects it to be released in April. You can listen to his single on his MySpace page.

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Diana DeGarmo loses Gone Country

Diana DeGarmo, runner-up on the third season of American Idol, was not named the winner of CMT's Gone Country, a reality series hosted by John Rich in which seven musicians competed to have a song produced by Rich in an attempt to take a shot at country music. Julio Iglesias, Jr. was instead chosen as the winner.

Diana's live performance of "Right Back Where We Ended," the song she co-wrote with Shanna Crooks, is available to watch on CMT.com. Video and audio downloads of the performance are also available on DianaMedia.net.

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