H.E.R. is set to make her country awards show debut this week.
The Bay Area R&B superstar performs with country music talent Chris Stapleton at the 2021 CMT Music Awards, which airs at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday on multiple networks (including CMT, MTV, MTV2, Logo, Paramount Network and TV Land).
Other performers scheduled for the two-and-a-half-hour show include Breland, Mickey Guyton, Brothers Osborne, Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood, Needtobreathe, Chris Young, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Paul Klein (from LANY), Lady A, Carly Pearce, Lindsay Ell, Lauren Alaina, Jon Pardi, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Gladys Knight, Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall, Thomas Rhett. Blanco Brown, Dylan Scott, Hailey Whitters, Lainey Wilson, Niko Moon and Tenille Arts.
The show is hosted by Ballerini and Brown.
The CMT appearance is yet another big moment for what has already been an incredibly big year for H.E.R.
Honestly, recapping her year thus far will leave one a bit dizzy. Her first big moment in the spotlight in 2021 came in February when the artist — born Gabriella Wilson — delivered a stupendous version of “America the Beautiful” before Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Super Bowl Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
From there, H.E.R. and co-writers Dernst Emile II (“D’Mile”) and Tiara Thomas were up for a Golden Globe for best song for a motion picture with “Fight for You” (from the film “Judas and the Black Messiah”). But it was “Io Si (Seen)” — from the film “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)” — that ended up winning.
Yet, “Fight for You” would win the even more high-profile rematch, topping “Io Si (Seen)” and other nominees to to be named best original song at the 93rd annual Academy Awards in April.
Nestled in between the Golden Globes and Oscars were the Grammy Awards, where the Vallejo, California, native — whose platinum-selling self-titled debut was released in 2017 — toppled such industry heavyweights (and supposed favorites) as Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Billie Eilish and Post Malone to win song of the year with “I Can’t Breathe.”
The victory surprised many since “I Can’t Breathe” wasn’t a big commercial hit like some of the nominees — especially Swift’s and Malone’s massive chart toppers — and only reached No. 20 on the R&B charts.
