Taylor Swift will perform at the CMA Awards on Nov. 18, her first time on that stage in 13 years. Here is the time, the channel and what is still unannounced.
Taylor Swift will perform at the 60th Annual CMA Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 18, the Country Music Association and ABC announced on Friday, Nov. 13. It will be her first CMA Awards performance in 13 years. The show airs live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville from 8 to 11 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with next-day streaming on Hulu, according to Pollstar's report on the announcement.
When and where can you watch Taylor Swift at the CMA Awards?
You can watch on ABC or stream live on Disney+ on Nov. 18, starting at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. in Nashville). Anyone who misses it can catch the show on Hulu the next day. Lainey Wilson is hosting for a third year in a row, per the announcement, and Pollstar notes that a limited number of tickets are still available for the arena show.
Swift's own return was already known in part. Backstage Country reported in September that she said on Instagram she would be at the ceremony after learning of her nomination, thanking the CMA in a playful post that ended with "See you there Nov. 18." What changed on Friday is the word "perform."
What is Swift nominated for?
She is up for Single of the Year with "I Knew It, I Knew You," which Just Jared and Backstage Country both describe as her Toy Story 5 song. Pollstar counts it as her 26th career CMA nomination. Backstage Country says the track recently hit No. 1 on U.S. country radio, her first country radio chart-topper in more than a decade.
The competition in that category, per Backstage Country, is Ella Langley's "Be Her" and "Choosin' Texas," Lainey Wilson's "Somewhere Over Laredo" and Cody Johnson's "The Fall." Langley leads this year's field with nine nominations overall, followed by Miranda Lambert with seven.
What do we know about the performance itself?
Very little, and it's worth saying so plainly. Neither the CMA nor ABC has said which song Swift will sing, whether she will perform alone or with guests, or when in the three-hour broadcast she will appear.
One rumor is circulating. Just Jared relayed an item from the gossip account DeuxMoi, which said it was hearing Swift "may be among the performers" in a special Dolly Parton tribute at the show. Just Jared itself noted that this has not been confirmed. We are treating it as a rumor, and nothing in the official announcement mentions a tribute segment.
Why does this one matter?
Swift's history with the CMAs runs back to 2006. She won the Horizon Award in 2007 and became the youngest Entertainer of the Year winner in 2009, a record Pollstar says she still holds. Her last time on that stage was 2013, when she received the Pinnacle Award and performed "Red" with Vince Gill and Alison Krauss.
Her last appearance at the show overall was 10 years ago, so this is a double return: back in the room and back at the microphone.
Our take
Awards shows live and die on a few moments people actually talk about the next morning, and a Swift performance at a country ceremony is one of them. If she wins Single of the Year, it would also be a tidy bookend, given Backstage Country says she has 12 CMA trophies so far. That is a big "if" in a category with Langley and Wilson in it.
If you plan to watch live, the practical advice is simple: the performance slot has not been announced, so expect to stay tuned for a while. We will update this story when the CMA shares a set list or running order.
Related reading
Picture credit: Photo: Ronald Woan (CC BY-SA 2.0)
