Backstage at the 2024 CMT Music Awards: Carly Pearce’s hot take, Warren Zeiders fights tears, and Jelly Rolls on

Backstage at the 2024 CMT Music Awards: Carly Pearce’s hot take, Warren Zeiders fights tears, and Jelly Rolls on
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for CMT

For the second year in a row, Jelly Roll made a major impact at the CMT Music Awards, taking home three trophies, including the big one for Music Video of the Year for “Need a Favor.” Backstage, he reminisced about not knowing anyone in the room in 2023, fast-forwarding to feeling like he’s with “a bunch of friends” this year.

Lainey Wilson continued her incredible streak, locking in Female Video of the Year for “Watermelon Moonshine.”

“When it comes to something like this, where it’s fan-voted, it really does make me feel like, ‘All right, you know, when the fans speak, you listen.’ And it means a lot to me,” the CMA Entertainer of the Year said. 

Carly Pearce revealed her Collaborative Video of the Year for “We Don’t Fight Anymore” with Chris Stapleton was quite literally a hot take, revealing her candle scene clocked in at a sweltering 98 degrees.

“Fun fact, I had a little fan in my dress during the performance,” she quipped.

Newcomer Warren Zeiders admitted feeling “Nerves, happiness, [and] trying to hold back tears,” as he accepted Breakthrough Male Video of the Year for his chart-topping “Pretty Little Poison.” 

While Warren was particularly proud his dad could be there to witness his win, Ashley Cooke was happy it was her friends Megan Moroney and Fire Country star Max Thieriot who presented her the trophy for Breakthrough Female Video for her current hit, ‘your place.” 

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