CMA New Artist of the Year nominee, Bailey Zimmerman, rocked the CMA Awards with a rowdy performance of his single, “New To Country.”
Bailey Zimmerman is celebrating his first-ever (and arguably overdue) CMA Award nomination with a performance during Wednesday night’s annual awards show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The appearance comes two years after Zimmerman, 24, burst onto the country music scene after sending two singles, “Fall In Love” and “Rock and a Hard Place,” to the top of the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2022.
Zimmerman is one of many artists who first found success on TikTok and other social media platforms. His unprecedented success caught the attention of record company execs and earned him a record deal. He made his Grand Ole Opry debut shortly after and was recruited by Morgan Wallen to serve as an opening act on his One Night At A Time World Tour.
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Bailey Zimmerman said receiving his first CMA Award nomination felt “super weird.”
In an interview with ABC, the singer recalled his reaction to learning he had been nominated for New Artist of the Year. He told the outlet, “It’s something that I’ve never felt before. It was super weird. It didn’t feel like real life.”
He added that win or lose, he’s happy with knowing that all of his hard work was noticed.
“It’s like, you just remember and flash back to all the work that’s been put into it and all the people that have really cared about what we’re doing and put so much love and effort into it.”
Bailey made his CMA Awards show debut Wednesday night (November 20) with a performance of his latest single, “New To Country.”
The “raucous” tune was released in June and serves as a response to accusations that Zimmerman isn’t country. Ahead of its release, he teased the song saying:
“Being country is about way more than wearing a cowboy hat on your head and wearing boots on your feet. I grew up country … and I still ain’t changed, so I wrote a song about it for everybody that makes fun of me and tells me that I’m not country because I wear Air Force Ones.”
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Watch Bailey Zimmerman perform “New To Country” at the CMA Awards in the video below.