Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

CMA Awards: prognostication continues (part 4) - female vocalist

Jeffrey Remz  |  November 10, 2010

Forget about all the recent hoopla surrounding Taylor Swift and the big sales and marketing push behind "Speak Now." That will not make any difference, of course, when it comes to whether she wins a Country Music Association award tonight.

But Swift has enjoyed a lot of success in the past year as well with touring and more hit singles and being a presence. Therefore, I would suspect she's going to take home the female vocalist honor tonight over Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride and Reba McEntire.

McBride seems to be the darkest of horses in this race. She remains a vibrant singer, but she has not enjoyed the relative, recent success of the others. Reba also doesn't seem to warrant consideration in comparison. She's always there with her twangy strong voice, but hasn't done enough when it comes to award competitions.

Lambert poses Swift's toughest competition. Her star seems to be shining a lot brighter with her "Revolution" CD. Getting played on radio is probably a lot easier now for Lambert, and she is headlining shows. Perhaps how Lambert does earlier in the evening in other categories will give an idea of whether she could win this award. Underwood, who is co-hosting the CMAs, has had a lot of hit singles off of "Play On," and she continues touring off the album as well, but I just don't see her winning over Swift or Lambert.

Swift received only one nomination from the CMAs. She won't even be able to defend her entertainer of the year award. That would seem to only increase the likelihood of her taking home this honor. Swift, of course, is winning everything else these days it seems like, so why not this as well?

But wouldn't it be something if she didn't considering everything else going so great for her these days?

Please send comments to countryst@gmail.com