Reba McEntire Surprises Lainey Wilson With Grand Ole Opry Invite To 'The Voice' Finale

Asher HaVon didn't have the only big surprise in Tuesday night's finale The voice season 25.

Lainey Wilson got a lot more than she bargained for when she performed live the night Reba McEntire invited her to join the Grand Ole Opry.

“Lainey, I'm so proud of you,” McEntire remarked, after Wilson, The billboard The recent cover star performed her new single “Hang Tight Honey”. “You did a great job. And I've heard that I've inspired you and everything you've done so far. I'm excited to have had something to do with your career because you're blowing it up.”

And with that, McEntire made it official.

A native of Baskin, Los Angeles, Wilson kicked off the recent 2024 ACM Awards with a mini-medley performance (including her hit “Hang Tight Honey”) and won female artist of the year, one of her five nominations on the night.

“I was so proud of you at the ACMs the other night,” McEntire continued, “and I couldn't be more proud to be the one to help you continue to bridge the gap between our generations and keep them all together.” Wilson will be inducted during a ceremony in Nashville on June 7.

The 32-year-old recounted visiting the Opry with her family at age 9. “I knew I wanted to play there. I wanted to do it. It's so crazy that you're asking me to join because I've been waiting for you for so long.”

Watch the moment below on NBC The voice.

Wilson, a Record Breaker Award winner on Billboard's Country Power Players, has carved her own path in country music in recent years.

“Save Me,” her duet with Jelly Roll, hit No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart in December, just after her coming-of-age song “Watermelon Moonshine” had topped the chart — for the move between No. 1 for a female artist in the chart's 34-year history.

“Watermelon Moonshine” won both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and Country Music Association awards for album of the year, as well as the Grammy for best country album — only the ninth record to complete that trifecta. And at November's CMA Awards, Wilson became the first woman to win artist of the year since Taylor Swift in 2011 and the first artist since Garth Brooks in 1991 to win best new artist in the same year and female artist of the year in next.

The good times continue when Wilson opens her Bell Bottoms Up Bar, located at 120 South 3rd Ave., on May 31. On the same day, the rising country star launches it Country's Cool Again tour with two headliners at Nashville's Ascend Amphitheater.