Country singer Mickey Guyton made history on Wednesday night (Sept. 16) at the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM Awards) when she became the first Black woman to perform her own material on the broadcast.
Show host Keith Urban played piano as Guyton delivered a moving performance of "What Are You Gonna Tell Her?" from the Grand Ole Opry House.
On one hand, it was exciting to watch Guyton on prime time TV, after the year she's had with "Black Like Me" and other awards show nominee-worthy songs. It's also maddening to think about that particular first coming in 2020.
"Now... what is going to be done to ensure that Mickey isn't the only one for another 20 years?," wrote Rissi Palmer, the host of Color Me Country Radio, on social media. "The real work begins now. If you look around your board room/staff meeting/studio session/band rehearsal and EVERYBODY looks like you, you're doing this wrong."
"What Are You Gonna Tell Her?" appears on Guyton's recent EP, Bridges.
Other noteworthy happenings on the broadcast included Carrie Underwood and Thomas Rhett's surprise sharing of the Entertainer of the Year prize; Taylor Swift's rendition of "Betty," which was her first ACM Awards performance in seven years; Eric Church's homage to Johnny Cash; and Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani's green-screen version of the Bluebird Cafe.
The event was moved from Las Vegas in the spring to Nashville in September because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It was hosted this year from three venues: the Grand Ole Opry House, the Ryman Auditorium and the Bluebird Cafe.
"What Are You Gonna Tell Her" Lyrics
She thinks life is fair and
God hears every prayer
And everyone gets their ever after
She thinks love is love and if
You work hard, that's enough
Skin's just skin and it doesn't matterAnd that her friend's older brother's gonna keep his hands to himself
And that somebody's gon' believe her when she tells
But what are you gonna tell her
When she's wrong?
Will you just shrug and say it's been that way all along?
What are you gonna tell her
When she figures out
That all this time you built her up just so the world could let her down?
Yeah, what do you tell her?
What are you gonna tell her?
Do you just let her pretend
That she could be the president?
Would it help us get there any faster?
Do you let her think the deck's not stacked?
And gay or straight or white or black
You just dream and anything can happen
What are you gonna tell her
When she's wrong?
Will you just shrug and say it's been that way all along?
What are you gonna tell her
When she figures out
That all this time you built her up just so the world could let her down?
Yeah, what do you tell her? Mmm
What are you gonna tell her?
Do you tell her not to fight?
Is it worth the sacrifice?
Can you look her in the face
And promise her that things'll change?
What are you gonna tell her?
Maybe you can't
'Cause there ain't no way, you can't explain what you don't understand
What the hell do you tell her?
What the hell do you tell her? Oh
What are you gonna tell her?
What are you gonna tell her?
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