53rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards (2018 TV Special) User Reviews

A country music event, but hardly an awards show anymore

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 25 September 2019]

Here we have another relatively recent awards ceremony, namely the "53rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" and the title of this 2018 event is relatively self-explanatory. The man in charge behind the camera was highly prolific awards show director Glenn Weiss (not just him) and the entire thing here ran for slightly over 2 hours not counting commercial breaks, so probably between 2,5 hours and 3 hours with these breaks. The host was once again Reba McEntire and she is always there for this ceremony it seems. Well I am not sure if and how much I like her, I don't think too much, but the country music scene seems to adore her and at least she is there for a reason as she clearly belongs to it and also performs there which you cannot say about the likes of Kimmel, Fallon and others for big movies awards shows. But nonetheless, there is not too much positive I can say about this ceremony. Literally, it really does not deserve the name awards show anymore. I believe many awards were not give out during the broadcast, not even mentioned there, which is always a negative deal breaker basically. If I want to see a concert show, I watch a DVD or live recording from a concert involving one of the artists here. But this is what it was basically. It is always a bad sign if one performance ends and we hear an announcer (not even see him, let alone have the host take care of that) announce the next song that is performed live on stage. The fact that this is a general problem for defining music awards shows these days, such as the Grammys and American Music Awards too, is not a valid excuse by any means. On the contrary, with better and more appropriate execution here, they could have set themselves apart from the other shows. Maybe it was nice for the people there who saw the live action and singing, but it is not for the audience at home, if maybe 30 minutes max are awards-related in something that calls itself "Music Awards". Now away from my general criticism admittedly the music was not too bad luckily. I enjoyed some of the songs. Rocketman is of course always nice, even as a country version. Admittedly the guy singing the song way way better. The female voice did not fit it at all. Not gonna go much into detail about other songs and performance, but none were really bad or really great. The song near the end about humans being mostly good and the singer believing in that was among the better parts of the night. But even there you find valid criticisms like come on? Elevate every single mother into sainthood, what? I know the family aspect is still more dominant in country music than in pop and RnB for example, but that is still pretty ridiculous and would mean being a saint these days is nothing special anymore. What else, let me think? Ah yes, I found it strange that key awards were handed out really early and judging from the title those were far more important than for example the Supporting Actor/Actress (yes there is nothing wrong with being called an actress in 2019) trophies at the Oscars. However, I guess that is just an inevitable consequence if you include so few awards here that those that actually do get included are important. Like really important from what they sound. Another thing I do not really like and that kidna makes me question the whole event is that it feels like literally every year it is the exact same guys there for years, if not decades. It's really not just Keith Urban (with Nicole Kidman next to him as always in the crowd). Yeah well, maybe the winners are not the same each year and some people will like the familiarity of it all, but it honestly does not say too much positive about the country genre, which is one I overall do not dislike, but it clearly seems to lack fresh air and inspiration there. Exhibits are not just the host, but also Lambert, Clarkson, Shelton, Underwood, the aformenetioned Urban and Jason Aldean, probably others too. I am really not an expert I will admit. Like there is no techno music awards show either each year. Or I have no heard specifically about something that defines itself as RnB awards or so, even if maybe some awards shows that are not even hiding the preference for the color Black in their title are unoffical RnB (and hip hop) awards shows. All in all: Even if I love awards shows, I overall did not like this one, maybe caused by what I explained earlier that it barely feels like one and also very random selection of awards presenters at times honestly. No clue what some people were doing there who had/have no connection to the country music scene at all. So I don't think i really have to give aou a recommendation here because you most likely have seen older editions and should be able to make up your mind yourself if this one is up your alley, but if I had to I'd say I give it a thumbs-down. Don't watch and just listen to a record or dvd of your favorite (country) singer instead. Not recommended.