This second installment of predicitons includes three more categories of nominations, Vocal Event of the Year, the Video of the Year and New Artist of the Year. We discuss our thoughts on who will likely win the category this year.
We shared with y’all the first part of our Academy of Country Music Preview a couple of days ago and now we’re going to share with y’all Part II of this preview. Part I included the preview for single, song, and album of the year categories and Part II includes our look at Video of the Year, New Artist of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year. We had intended to talk about the Songwriter of the Year category (new this year) but it was already awarded this week.
Click here to see Part I of the 2012 ACM Awards Preview series.
Video of the Year Nominees:
Eric Church - “Homeboy”
Lady Antebellum - “Just A Kiss”
Taylor Swift - “Mean”
Toby Keith - “Red Solo Cup”
Jason Aldean - “Tattoos On This Town”
You know, if there was ever a right place to award Toby Keith for the huge success of “Red Solo Cup,” it is most definitely the Video of the Year category. While Swift’s “Mean” continues her streak of creative videos and that makes her Toby’s biggest competition for this award in my eyes. Then again, 2011/2012 has been Aldean’s ‘era,’ where he is the story (with 12/13 looking like Eric Church’s and 2010/2011 Lady A’s). So, that leaves us with this: Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup” is the most likely to win here, it’s a song that started off as a viral video hit, has had millions upon millions of views on YouTube, Vevo, and CMT and that alone made the song a cultural phenomenon worthy of getting the Video of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music.
Vocal Event of the Year Nominees
Aaron Lewis Featuring George Jones and Charlie Daniels - “Country Boy”
Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson - “Don’t You Wanna Stay”
Brad Paisley featuring Alabama - “Old Alabama”
Brad Paisley duet with Carrie Underwood - “Remind Me”
Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter - “You and Tequila”
History tells us that Brad Paisley’s two nominations likely cancel each other out but we can’t use logic this year for these nominees because Brad Paisley’s two songs feature beloved artists in Alabama and Carrie Underwood and if the older group of ACM members wishes to give Alabama yet another award, they may just do it here with this category (the same logic would apply for Aaron Lewis’ Gold-selling single which is the only one here NOT a #1 single). Still, we think of the Paisley nominations, the one with Carrie Underwood is likely to get the love. It’s a sweetly romantic song and one that finds both performers in fine voice. The other two songs not mentioned yet, Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter’s “You and Tequila” and The Aldean/Clarkson mega duet “Don’t You Wanna Stay,” are both strong contenders as well. In fact they’re in the Top 3 of this category in my mind. Aldean and Clarkson’s duet was such a hit (and still gets loads of recurrent airplay) that it really feels like the song to beat but there’s also something really cool about “You And Tequila.” In the end, though, my gut says to go with “Don’t You Wanna Stay” and that’s exactly what I’m doing here!
New Artist of the Year Nominees
Hunter Hayes
Brantley Gilbert
Scotty McCreery
This is an interesting category as it shows the power that each artist has with their fans to get the vote out as they edged Thompson Square, David Nail, JT Hodges, Jerrod Niemann and Justin Moore in the semifinals to earn their shot at taking home the big trophy (last year there was a group/duo, male and female breakdown that gave each an ACM, this year that was removed). As we break this down, we cannot help but believe that despite their respective talents, that Hunter Hayes and Brantley Gilbert have not a shot at taking home this award. Scotty just has too many fans who will vote for him, thanks to his massive exposure on American Idol. Brantley’s Halfway To Heaven album is now Gold and in an industry only vote, he might stand a bigger chance, as would the ‘newest’ of the nominees here, Hunter Hayes. It feels slightly early for Hunter to be voted here and while he’s easily my favorite artist nominated here, he’s likely to be better positioned to win this award (if he’s allowed to be nominated again) next year. So, that means we think Scotty’s gonna win, in a run-away vote.
Well, there you have it folks, part II of our 2012 ACM Awards Predictions. On Wednesday, March 28, we will share our thoughts on the Female Vocalist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Top Duo and Top Group categories along with the fan-voted Entertainer of the Year category.
We look forward to seeing y’all there and encourage you to leave comments about your predictions for these categories listed here. Do you agree or disagree with us?
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