Keith Urban sure had his plate full at the CMA Awards this year!
Poised to be one of the big winners of the night, Urban was nominated in a total of four categories: Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year (for “Blue Ain’t Your Color”), and Music Video of the Year (for “Blue Ain’t Your Color”).
In addition to being nominated for four awards, Urban performed not once, but twice during the course of the ceremony. He first had the honor of opening the show in an all-star number alongside Darius Rucker, Eric Church, and Lady Antebellum.
A little later on, Urban took to the stage again for his solo performance. Leading up to the CMA Awards, Urban started teasing something big to come on November 8. The biggest hint came on Tuesday (November 7) when Urban shared a snippet of what seems to be a new song. After the clip played, the word “Female” appeared across the screen.
It was pretty easy to figure out from that clip that Urban was hinting toward releasing a new song, and he did just that! The official audio for “Female” debuted mere hours before Urban performed the song live for the first time at the CMA Awards.
Thank you, @KeithUrban. #Female #CMAawards pic.twitter.com/5SN9KZ6rHS
— CMT (@CMT) November 9, 2017
Written by Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman, and Nicolle Galyon, “Female” directly tackles issues pertaining to sexism and mistreatment of women. In light of recent allegations regarding sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry, the song strikes a powerful and relevant chord.
This song … this performance … Just WOW! #Female @KeithUrban #CMAawards pic.twitter.com/pGSDeMXi17
— Grand Ole Opry (@opry) November 9, 2017
Urban brought that same sense of power to his performance of “Female” at the CMA Awards. His passion for the song showed through his performance, and it’s clear that he left everything he had out there on the stage.
By the end of the performance, Urban had the entire room on their feet in a well-earned standing ovation.
You can catch the video of part of Urban’s CMA Awards performance below! It was definitely a highlight of the night!