Carrie Underwood with CeCe Winans, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett and Gabby Barrett were among the performers at the 56th Academy of Country Music Awards, which took place at the Grand Ole Opry House, Ryman Auditorium and the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee last Sunday (April 18th). Watch the star-studded performances beneath:

Miranda Lambert & Elle King - "Drunk"



Chris Young & Kane Brown - "Famous Friends"



Thomas Rhett - "Country Again / What's Your Country Song"



Chris Stapleton & Miranda Lambert - "Maggie's Song"



Maren Morris & Ryan Hurd - "Chasing After You"



Lady A - "Like A Lady"



Gabby Barrett - "The Good Ones"



Dierks Bentley - "Pride (In The Name Of Love)"



Carrie Underwood with CeCe Winans - "Amazing Grace", "Great Is Thy Faithfullness", "Old Rugged Cross" & "How Great Thou Art"



Eric Church - "Bunch of Nothing"



Luke Combs - "Forever After All"



Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall -
In His Arms"



Kelsea Ballerini with Kenny Chesney - "Half of My Hometown"



Little Big Town - "Wine, Beer, Whiskey"



Alan Jackson - "Drive By/You Will Always Be My Baby"

Grammy winners Carrie Underwood and John Legend put us in the Christmas spirit in the glorious video for "Hallelujah", taken from the country superstar's first holiday album 'My Gift', which debuted at No.8 on the Billboard 200 and No.1 on the Billboard's Top Country Albums chart.

Nominated for Entertainer of the Year, stunning songstress Carrie Underwood, who is slated to co-host for the twelfth consecutive year - this time with Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, was picture-perfect as she posed with her co-hosts at the 2019 Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on November 13th.

Some of the other celebrities that hit the red carpet for the 53rd annual event include: Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Maren Morris, Lil Nas X and more.

Nobody owned 2018 as much as Cardi B and the hip-hop's newest queen tops our annual list of the Top 10 Albums of 2018, which also features albums from Kacey Musgraves, The Carters, Ariana Grande, Janelle Monae and J. Cole. See the complete list beneath:

CELEBRITY BUG'S TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2018

Cardi B, 'Invasion of Privacy' - Best Album Of 2018
Ariana Grande, 'Sweetner'
Camila Cabello, 'Camila'
Carrie Underwood, 'Cry Pretty'
J. Cole, 'KOD'
Janelle Monae, 'Dirty Computer'
Kacey Musgrave, 'Golden Hour'
Mariah Carey, 'Caution'
The Carters, 'Everything Is Love'
Toni Braxton, 'Sex & Cigarettes'

The 52nd Annual Country Music Association Awards were held in Nashville, Tennessee last night (November 14th) and as usual, country's biggest night featured an all-star cast of superstars appearing, present and performing on the music genre's biggest stage.

With Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood returning as hosts for the eleventh consecutive year, some of the performers include the two hosts, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, Garth Brooks, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini and more. Watch them all in action beneath:


Carrie Underwood - "Love Wins"



Dierks Bentley & Brothers Osborne - "Burning Man"



Keith Urban - "Never Coming Down"



Chris Stapleton, Maren Morris & Mavis Staples - "Friendship, I'll Take You There"



Jason Aldean & Miranda Lambert - "Drowns The Wiskey"



Midland - "Eastbound & Down"



Old Dominion - "Hotel Key"



Brad Paisley - "Bucked Off"



Luke Combs - "She Got The Best Of Me"



Thomas Rhett - "Life Changes"



Ricky Skaggs - "Black Eyed Suzie, Highway 40 Blues, Country Boy"



Pistol Annies - "Got My Name Changed Back"



Eric Church - "Desperate Man"



Dan + Shay - "Tequila"



Kelsea Ballerini - "Miss Me More"



Kacey Musgraves - "Slow Burn"

Nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, stunning songstress Carrie Underwood, who is slated to co-host with Brad Paisley for the eleventh consecutive year and will perform during the show, was glowing as she showed off her baby bump arriving at the 2018 Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on November 8th.

Some of the other celebrities that hit the red carpet for the 52nd annual event include: Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Maren Morris, Luke Bryan and more.

For the first time in its eight-year history, the CMT Artists of the Year special was dedicated entirely to honoring country music’s women as Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman, and Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott were the honored.

Watch some of the night's biggest and best performances, which aired on CMT, below:

With her new album 'Cry Pretty' scoring the largest first-week sales of the year for a female artist (surpassing the mark set by Cardi B), country titan Carrie Underwood earns the honor of becoming Featured Artist of the Month for October.

The album is preceded by the single "Cry Pretty" and in support of the project, she will embark on the 'Cry Pretty 360 Tour', which will launch next year on May 1st.

It took thirteen years, but Carrie Underwood is finally on the verge of the artistic breakthrough that we have been waiting for since her career began with her ‘American Idol’ victory in 2005.

On her sixth studio album, ‘Cry Pretty’, her first release in three years, the 35-year-old superstar took some bold chances starting with her decision to leave her longtime label Arista Nashville after 5 platinum or multi-platinum studio albums (plus a platinum hits compilation), 7 Grammy Awards and 26 chart-toppers in search of a bigger global push.

It is hard to imagine the woman who has basically ruled the genre for more than a decade potentially expanding her reach, but that seems to be the goal and with the freedom provided by her new label, Universal Music Group Nashville, she taps into herself in a way that she never has before by writing 9 of the album’s 13 tracks and co-producing the project with David Garcia ("Meant to Be" by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line).

“I’m sorry, but I am just a girl. Not usually the kind to show my heart to the world”, she sings on the resilient title track that sees her acknowledging that she has held her cards close to her vest - a pretty accurate description of a catalog that has mostly been told in third person.

This time around there is more “I” and “we” than “he” or “she”, and because of that there is an emotional connection present that has often evaded her music. Whether she is getting over an ex by listening to the country greats of yesterday (“Ghosts on the Stereo”), reminiscing on old escapades (“That Song That We Used To Make Love Too”), making love in the backseat (“End Up With You”) or sipping on two-for-one margaritas (“Southbound”), it is all experimental and most importantly, it is all her.

However, the real magic happens when she teams with co-producer Garcia and her go-to-girl Hillary Lindsey, who has been a main fixture in her writing credits since her Grammy-winning debut “Jesus, Take the Wheel”. Aside from penning “Backsliding”, the Sam Hunt-tinged stunner about an impromptu rendezvous with an ex, the trio also craft the striking beautiful “Low” and the tear-jerking “Spinning Bottles”.

The latter is piano-laced cut about the downfalls of alcoholism (“He’d quit if he could.”), while the former is building heartbreaker that unfolds gorgeously (“Like a cigarette without a light.”) and features a dynamic vocal performance that starts subtle and ends with palpable force. Underwood has long been the best singer in country music and the most consistent in any genre of music, and the unparalleled range that is shown here and on the soulful “Drinking Alone”, only reinforces her prowess as a vocalist.

The riskiest (and bravest) moments form with two songs about gun violence. True to form, she tries her hardest to enlighten and not offend, but it’s a controversial issue regardless of what side of the political aisle you are on and she deserves credit for going anywhere near a subject that her peers have answered with silence.

Co-written with Garcia and Brett James, “Love Wins” begins with a stray bullet that leaves a mother in tears and builds into a romping celebration of love that is at times cliché, but always effective. She openly embraces love over hate by celebrating the differences that make us “sisters and brothers”, while simultaneously acknowledging the current state of the world (“Politics and prejudice, how the hell’d it ever come to this?”).

The impact is felt, and it only gets stronger with “The Bullet”, a sweeping tale about the unstoppable damage and sting that a single bullet has through several generations, long after it has been fired. Still, none of those moments feels as authentically real for Carrie Underwood (the person, not the persona) as “Kingdom”, the closing track that sees her singing about the highs and lows of a family that is “perfectly imperfect”.

Final Verdict
‘Cry Pretty’ is brave, emotional, vulnerable, soulful, experimental and unshakably real, and although you can tell that Underwood hasn’t completely let her guard down, she pivots into new directions with pop and R&B influences and is more open than she has ever been.

By the end of the twelve tracks (thirteen with the Ludacris-assisted bonus “The Champion”), the picture is still pretty perfect, but you can finally see some cracks and as a listener, you only hope that she continues to expand and lift the veil on the struggles of real life.



Celebrity Bug’s Key Tracks
“Low”
“Backsliding”
“That Song That We Used To Make Love To”
“Spinning Bottles”
“Kingdom”

Country superstar Carrie Underwood promotes love and unity in the Shane Drake-directed music video for "Love Wins", the official second single from her new 'Cry Pretty' album, which hits stores tomorrow on September 14th. Watch the colorful treat beneath:

Carrie Underwood cries a river in the official music video "Cry Pretty", the lead single and title track from her forthcoming sixth studio album, which hits stores September 14th.

After taking a nasty fall last year that ended with over 40 stitches in her face, country superstar Carrie Underwood rebounds nicely on "Cry Pretty", the emotional first single co-written with the Love Junkies from her forthcoming studio album. Listen beneath:

Carrie Underwood is Super Bowl ready!!! The country superstar teams up with hip-hop star Ludacris for the inspirational anthem "The Champion", which hit No.1 on iTunes shortly after its release on Friday and currently remains there.

The song, which is sure to be a staple at sporting events for years to come, was written specifically to open the Super Bowl and will also be featured in the Olympics.

The 51st Annual Country Music Association Awards are currently in the process in Nashville, Tennessee and as usual, country's biggest night featured an all-star cast of superstars appearing, present and performing on the music genre's biggest stage.

With Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood returning as hosts for the tenth consecutive year, some of the performers include the two hosts, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Garth Brooks, Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini and more. Watch them all in action beneath:


Miranda Lambert - "To Learn Her"



Tim McGraw & Faith Hill - "The Rest Of Our Lives"



Pink - "Barbies"



Carrie Underwood - "Softly And Tenderly"



Keith Urban - "Female"

Nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, stunning songstress Carrie Underwood, who is slated to co-host with Brad Paisley for the tenth consecutive year and will perform during the show, and her husband Mike Fisher were picture perfect arriving at the 2017 Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on November 8th.

Some of the other celebrities that hit the red carpet for the 51st annual event include: Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum, Jessie James Decker and more.

The Country Music Association Awards are set to take place on Wednesday, November 8th, and country superstar Carrie Underwood, who is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, was announced as part of the first round of performers.

Our sources tell us that the 34-year-old will use country's biggest night to debut her brand new single (reportedly entitled "Paint"). The record will serve as the first single from her sixth studio album and her debut under Capitol Records Nashville.

Underwood's team remain tight-lipped and haven't confirmed any of the details, because they want this to be a surprise for her fans. Sorry, we couldn't help spilling the beans!

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of her debut at the Grand Ole Opry, country icon Reba McEntire reminisced on her storied career with help from Vince Gill, Dolly Parton and Carrie Underwood, who joined her onstage for a rousing duet of "Does He Love You".

Underwood, who is rumored to be expecting her second child with husband Mike Fisher, is still music's most consistent vocalist and does not seem to be slowing down as she continues to record her sixth album for release in 2018. Watch their duet beneath:

Sony just lost a major player!!! After 12 years with the label's Arista Nashville imprint, Carrie Underwood, who collected seven Grammy Awards since her 'American Idol' win in 2005, has departed the label and signed a new worldwide record deal with Universal Music Group.

Under the new deal and global partnership, Underwood's label home will be Capitol Records Nashville with many music experts expecting the label to rush the 34-year-old into the studio to begin work on her sixth studio album for a release date later this fall.

Aside from Capitol Records Nashville, the UMG family of country labels includes EMI Records Nashville, MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville. Underwood's new label group mates include such fellow superstars as Dierks Bentley, George Strait, Chris Stapleton, Luke Bryan and Lady Antebellum, to name a few. Read more details about her surprising move beneath:

Carrie Underwood Signs With Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group (UMG) has inked a new worldwide recording agreement with seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner and two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year, Carrie Underwood. Underwood’s label home will be Capitol Records Nashville, one of four labels that form Universal Music Group Nashville. Underwood was previously signed with Sony Music Nashville’s Arista Nashville imprint.

Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group said, “I’m so thrilled that Carrie has decided to make Capitol Records Nashville and UMG her home globally. As a talented writer, recording artist, performer and actor, Carrie is that exceptionally rare artist who can do it all. I know I speak on behalf of our teams around the world when I say that we look forward to executing her creative vision and bringing her musical career to the next level.”

Mike Dungan, Universal Music Group Nashville Chairman and CEO shares, “Already a top tier force in country music, Carrie’s vast talents and creative bravery show that she is an artist who is prepared to take on a wide range of artistic challenges. We are excited for the future, and honored by her decision to make Universal Music Group her label partner in representing this worldwide superstar in the next phase of her career.”

UMG Nashville President, Cindy Mabe was part of the team who launched Carrie’s first album, the eight times platinum, Some Hearts. “When I decided to take my position with Capitol Records in 2007, personally one of the hardest people for me to leave behind was Carrie Underwood,” explains Mabe. “We were a team and I had the opportunity to watch her leave American Idol as a kid and mature into one of the most important artists with the most powerful voice in music. It was amazing to be a small part of that ride. I am so proud and humbled that she has chosen to sign with Universal Music Group Nashville and that we will once again join forces as she writes the next chapter of her soaring career as a global superstar of enormous integrity and talent.”

Underwood states, “It’s so inspiring to me as an artist to feel this excited about the future. The incredible team at UMG shares the heart and passion I have for music as well as the drive, and their innovative spirit has shown that together the possibilities are endless.”

“I also want to be sure to thank every single person who has played a part in my recording career so far. I will be forever grateful to them for all we achieved together,” adds Underwood.

Universal Music Group Nashville consists of Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville, MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville. Reading like a “who’s who” of Music Row, the combined rosters include Alan Jackson, Billy Currington, Brandon Lay, Brothers Osborne, Canaan Smith, Chris Stapleton, Clare Dunn, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Easton Corbin, Eric Church, Eric Paslay, Gary Allan, George Strait, Haley Georgia, Jon Pardi, Jordan Davis, Josh Turner, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kip Moore, Lady Antebellum, Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Mickey Guyton, Sam Hunt, Shania Twain, Sugarland, The Band Perry and Vince Gill.