Megan Moroney And Old Dominion To Join Forces For TV Debut Of ‘Can’t Break Up Now’ At 2023 CMA Awards

Megan Moroney and Old Dominion will come together during the 57th Annual CMA Awards to deliver a live, collaborative performance of their song, “Can’t Break Up Now.”

The Country Music Association recently announced the first round of performers for “Country Music’s Biggest Night,” which revealed that Moroney and the five-piece band are among this year’s star-studded lineup.

Once the news dropped, Old Dominion took to Twitter to share in the excitement with their followers. 

Their caption read, “Can’t wait to perform “Can’t Break Up Now” live with @megmoroney November 8th on the #CMAawards. Tune in!”

Can’t wait to perform “Can’t Break Up Now” live with @_megmoroney November 8th on the #CMAawards. Tune in! #CBUN pic.twitter.com/I5F4nhc9xJ

— Old Dominion (@OldDominion) October 25, 2023

What Is The Story Behind “Can’t Breakup Now”?

Co-written by members Matthew Ramsey and Trevor Rosen with songwriters Emily Weisband and Tofer Brown, “Can’t Break Up Now” features Moroney echoing the group’s warm tone as she showcases the emotions of pain and uncertainty behind the relationship at hand. 

With the addition of her feathered vocals, the country stars act out the struggles of two people debating with themselves on whether or not it’s easier to stay in the relationship instead of calling it quits and having to unravel the life they’ve created together. 

“Yeah, I’ll battle this out all night till we fix it / If the ship’s going down, I’m going down with it / Your friends are my friends / I start where you end / We’ve got too much history / So we / Can’t break up now / No, we Can’t break up now / We’ve come too far and we’re in too deep / We love too hard just to let it go / So we / Can’t break up now,” Moroney and Old Dominion sing on the chorus. 

The band shipped the relatable song to country radio on August 18, and upon its impact to airwaves became No. 1 most added with 52 first-week stations. They followed up the release with an accompanying music video directed by Mason Allen and Nicki Fletcher that brings the tune’s tension-filled narrative to life.  

Music Video

Ramsey recently explained that instead of acting out the literal storyline in the music video, they decided to film it from the perspective of two artists struggling to make a relationship work while also living out the time-consuming lifestyle on the road. 

“We didn’t want to be literal,” Ramsey shared in a statement, “but we also didn’t want to throw away the obvious part of the song: these two people share way too much to just walk away from it. They love the music, the performing, but the exhaustion of the traveling and loneliness of the road makes them need to remember.”

“It’s why we thought it would be cool to bring in Nicki,” he added of the video’s female director. “She understands the woman’s perspective, so she could create those moments for Megan where you see how isolated she is, how much she gives up to be out there, doing it.”

The new music video comes hot on the heels of the release of Old Dominion’s new Memory Lane album as well as the deluxe version of Moroney’s debut studio album, Lucky.

Megan Moroney To Experience Full-Circle Moment At CMA Awards

Megan Moroney’s attendance at the upcoming CMA Awards will serve as a milestone for her career. Just one year ago, the “I’m Not Pretty” singer was preparing to make her CMA red carpet debut as a guest host for Country Now and this year, she will walking the red carpet as both a performer and a first-time CMA nominee in the categories of New Artist and Song of the Year (“Tennessee Orange”).

Old Dominion are also vying for their own titles as they are nominated for CMA Vocal Group and Music Video of the Year. 

The CMA Awards will also feature performances by Luke Bryan, Little Big Town, Megan Moroney, Old Dominion, Jelly Roll, Tanya Tucker, and Lainey Wilson. 

Hosted by Bryan and Peyton Manning, Country Music’s Biggest Night™ broadcasts live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, on Wednesday, Nov. 8 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on ABC and available next day on Hulu.