Shaboozey proved there are a lot more colors to his musical palette than “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” when he took the stage at the 2024 Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday (November 20). The singer, whose signature song has topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 18 weeks so far – claiming the title of longest-running No. 1 on the chart this decade and number two of all time – he dipped into his bag for the brooding “Highway,” the latest single from his smash hit Where I've been is not where I'm going LP.
Perched on a stool in a smoke-shrouded set made to look like the outside of a country honky tonk, the singer cut a striking figure in jeans and a lime green fringed jacket with sparkly lapels and accents. “I see dead ends, but we're still going strong/ Heading down a one-way street, but I feel it's wrong/ Moving like a freight train, I'm sick of chugging along alone, Sung over acoustic guitars and a lonely violin.
As he leaned into the foreboding chorus — “I might die on the freeway/ With all my regrets/ Driving for miles and miles and miles, I can't see where it ends” — the singer, who was up for New Artist of the Year and single of the year for “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” he gave the crowd what they wanted midway through the song when he took a hard turn on his hit.
“CMAs can we turn this place into the greatest dive bar in the world tonight?” he asked as the crowd began clapping and singing along, with many jumping to their feet as a group of dancers filled the stage and the ubiquitous chorus came around. Keith Urban was not immune as the cameras caught him talking about the party on Fifth Street.
The celebration continued to ramp up, with a cowboy doing impressive moves with his lariat and a dancer doing a back round-off as the song drew to a close, and the crowd at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena couldn't help but raise their glasses to one of the genre's rising superstars.
Shaboozey was also nominated for Best Country Song, Best Country Solo Performance for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Best Rap Melodic Performance for his performance on Beyoncé's “Spaghettii.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/shaboozey-a-bar-song-tipsy-highway-cma-awards-1235834902/
