The CMAs Let Down Fans In A Frustratingly Predictable Way

The 55th Annual CMA Awards went ahead with Luke Bryan at the helm on November 10, bringing out the biggest stars of the genre. Though Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley were no longer CMA Awards hosts after more than a decade of jokes that ended in 2018, the line-up was still pretty star-studded.

Underwood returned to the awards to perform her huge hit duet with Jason Aldean, "If I Didn't Love You," while other notable performances came in the shape of Miranda Lambert's "If I Was a Cowboy," Blake Shelton's "Come Back as a Country Boy," and Keith Urban's "Wild Hearts."

Then, there were the awards, of course. Chris Stapleton won the prestigious Album of the Year award for "Starting Over," as well as taking home the gong for Male Vocalist of the Year. As for Female Vocalist of the Year, well that saw a somewhat surprising moment when Carly Pearce beat out the likes of country stalwarts like Lambert and Maren Morris for her first win in the category.

But it wasn't that category that had some fans up in arms. Underwood and Lambert were also nominated for the biggest award of the 2021 CMAs, Entertainer of the Year, where they went up against eventual winner Luke Combs, Eric Church, and Stapleton — And it's safe to say not everyone was happy with how things went down.

Another year, another male Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards. Though there's no doubting Luke Combs was a deserving winner of the prestigious award, many fans hit out at the association on social media for, once again, failing to recognize a female artist.

"Why do y'all continuously nominate the artist who clearly deserve the EOTY award and then just hand it off to a man? Why with the sexism?" one person tweeted. "Why is it so hard for y'all to give the award to a woman?... FIX YOURSELF." Another wrote, "Well folks, I feel like the moment has passed, if the CMAs haven't awarded Miranda EOTY (or any female for that matter, not since 2011) by now, it ain't happening... I guess nothing has truly changed, it's still a good ol' boys club."

The recipient of the award, as well as female representation in the genre, has been a hot topic for a while now. The last women to take home the EOTY award was Taylor Swift all the way back in 2011. She also won in 2009, but it was nine years before that when women were last recognized, as The Chicks won in 2000.

Underwood and Lambert have both spoken out about the issues women in the genre face on multiple occasions, with the latter even vehemently throwing her support behind Underwood to win EOTY in 2019 with an impassioned Instagram post. Garth Brooks was eventually crowned the winner.