Brett Young is nominated for New Artist at this year’s CMA Awards, and at the risk of sounding cliché, he really is honored just to be nominated. He says, “Once you find yourself in a category like this, everybody deserves it at that point, in my opinion. So actually winning … it’s so flattering, it’s incredible, but I don’t think any more or less than getting down to that final five where you’re in incredible company.”
Brett also says getting nominated for a CMA Award reminds him that there’s a whole country music family in Nashville that supports him as an artist. “It took a while for me to figure out the difference because we spent so much time writing the record and recording the record and booking the tour and we’re doing all that for our fan base,” says Brett. “Getting that validation from your fan base is 90 percent of your life as an artist.”
But when Brett thinks back to the first time he attended an awards show, he says, “I remember my first awards show two and a half years ago, freaking out, going, ‘What am I doing here? I don’t belong here. I don’t know anybody and nobody knows me,’ to two and a half years later being on a ballot like this. It’s flattering in a completely different kind of way, validating in a different way, and it’s just really special. It feels really good.”
Brett, who recently released his latest single, “Here Tonight,” will be a performer on the CMA Awards, Wednesday, November 14th on ABC.
Brett Young – CMA nomination :37
“It took a while for me to figure out the difference because we spent so much time writing the record and recording the record and booking the tour and we’re doing all that for our fan base. And so getting that validation from your fan base is 90 percent of your life as an artist. You forget that there’s this whole country music family here in Nashville because you’re never home. So to come home and to get that news and to get what I would call the nod from the country music family—it’s a real kind of a coming-of-age thing for me. I remember my first awards show two and a half years ago, freaking out, going, ‘What am I doing here? I don’t belong here. I don’t know anybody and nobody knows me,’ to two and a half years later being on a ballot like this. It’s flattering in a completely different kind of way, validating in a different way, and it’s just really special. It feels really good.”
Brett Young – new artist nomination :19
“This probably is going to sound a little bit cliché, but it’s from the bottom of my heart. The most important part is the nomination in all honesty. Once you find yourself in a category like this, everybody deserves it at that point, in my opinion. So actually winning…it’s so flattering, it’s incredible, but I don’t think any more or less than getting down to that final five where you’re in incredible company.”