Re-Live NEEDTOBREATHE and Carrie Underwood’s Powerful CMT Music Awards Performance

NEEDTOBREATHE and Carrie Underwood joined forces for an epic performance during the 2021 CMT Music Awards on Wednesday (June 9). …

Lauren Jo Black

| Posted on

June 10, 2021

11:37 am

Carrie Underwood; Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images

NEEDTOBREATHE and Carrie Underwood joined forces for an epic performance during the 2021 CMT Music Awards on Wednesday (June 9).

Live from the Bonnaroo Farms, the Christian rock band and country superstar performed their latest collaboration, “I Wanna Remember.”

“It’s just a very inspired song. It just kind of gives you all the feels and whenever I heard it, I felt like I could automatically just hear myself on it and I already knew we sounded great together,” Underwood explained ahead of the performance. “It’s just such a great collab and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Underwood later added, “It’s always such a fun show to be a part of and the performances just end up looking and sounding so amazing and we just had recorded this song and I was like why not? I don’t get to collaborate too much with other people on stage and doing something like this. It’s fun to be able to just be on stage with friends and perform and just feed off that energy with each other and I do love the song so much, so it just felt right.”

https://youtu.be/Pof8LfoTnbI

Co-hosted by superstars Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown, the 2021 CMT Music Awards aired on Wednesday, June 9 and featured performances from Ballerini with Paul Klein from LANY and Brown with Chris Young.

Additionally, the two-hour event included collaborations from BRELAND and Mickey Guyton, Brothers Osborne and Dierks Bentley, H.E.R. and Chris Stapleton, Ingrid Andress and JP Saxe, Lady A with Carly Pearce and Lindsay Ell, Lauren Alaina and Jon Pardi, Mickey Guyton and Gladys Knight, Miranda Lambert, & Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.

Chris Stapleton, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett also performed while Blanco Brown, Dylan Scott, Hailey Whitters, Lainey Wilson, Niko Moon and Tenille Arts appeared on the Ram Trucks Side Stage.

Presenters included Anthony Mackie, Brett Young, Busy Philipps, Carly Pearce, Dylan Scott, Gladys Knight, Iliza Shlesinger, Little Big Town, Michael Strahan, Mickey Guyton, Restless Road, Tennessee Titans’ Taylor Lewan and Trace Adkins, as well as CMT Hot 20 Countdown hosts Cody Alan, Katie Cook and Ashley ShahAhmadi.

Carrie Underwood took home the evening’s top prize, Video of the Year. She remains the most-awarded artist in CMT history with 23 career wins.

Written by

Lauren Jo Black

Lauren Jo Black, a University of Central Florida graduate, has immersed herself in the world of country music for over 15 years. In 2008, she co-founded CountryMusicIsLove, eventually selling it to a major record label in 2015. Following the rebranding of the website to Sounds Like Nashville, Black served as Editor-in-Chief for two and a half years. Currently, she assumes the role of Editor-in-Chief at Country Now and oversees Country Now’s content and digital footprint. Her extensive experience also encompasses her previous role as a Country Music Expert Writer for Answers.com and her work being featured on Forbes.com. She’s been spotlighted among Country Aircheck’s Women of Influence and received the 2012 Rising Star Award from the University of Central Florida. Black also spent time in front of the camera as host of Country Now Live, which brought live music directly to fans in 2021 when the majority of concerts were halted due to the pandemic. During this time, she hosted 24 weeks of live concerts via Country Now Live on Twitch with special guests such as Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Jordan Davis, Brett Young, and Jon Pardi. Over the course of her career, she has had the privilege of conducting interviews with some of the industry’s most prominent stars, including Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and many others. Lauren Jo Black is a longtime member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.