Pop meets country at ACM Awards
For Christina Aguilera, a duet with Rascal Flatts on Sunday’s 50th Academy of Country Music Awards will be a chance to introduce a new song.
For Rascal Flatts, it’s a chance for redemption.
The two acts will perform Aguilera’s Shotgun and Flatts’ current single, Riot, for the awards ceremony. “We’re going to do some of her song, then go into Riot,” Flatts bassist Jay DeMarcus says. “It’s going to be a nice, seamless transition and a really powerful performance.”
Shotgun was written for Aguilera’s character on the ABC series Nashville, where she plays Jade St. John, a pop star.
“We’re putting a different spin on the song for the awards,” she says, “but it’s a quiet, beautiful song about true love that lasts a lifetime.”
Flatts, who are up for top vocal group for the first time since 2012, view the performance as a way to rebuild their reputation after being caught lip-syncing their song Rewind during last year’s show. Lead singer Gary LeVox had lost his voice shortly before the ceremony.
“It’s the only time we’ve ever tried it,” DeMarcus says. “We’re still getting asked about it.” This year is “a chance to redeem ourselves, to show everybody we have a wonderfully gifted singer in Gary and a wonderful partnership with Christina.”
DeMarcus says the group jumped at the chance to perform with Aguilera.
“When you make a list of people you want to collaborate with, over the years that list gets shorter,” he says. “Christina was one of those names that’s always been at the top of the list, but we’d never had the chance to work with her.”
It happened this way: Aguilera has become friends with ACM cohost Blake Shelton and his wife, Miranda Lambert, through working with Shelton on NBC’s The Voice. Though she has yet to meet the Rascal Flatts trio, she says, “I really love the rich tone of (LeVox’s) voice. He has a sound that fans recognize immediately.”
Aguilera is not the only pop star appearing on Sunday’s show: Nick Jonas is set to sing with country duo Dan + Shay. Other entertainers include Jason Aldean, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Florida Georgia Line and George Strait. A reunited Brooks & Dunn will give their first TV performance since 2010.
The Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Shelton and Luke Bryan, airs live from AT&T Stadium on Sunday in Arlington, Texas (CBS, 8 ET/PT).