Tennessee-based singer-songwriter Mickey Guyton made history at last night’s American Country Music awards. She became the first Black female artist to perform her own music at the ACM awards.
Guyton performed her latest single “What Are You Going to Tell Her?” a heartbreaking ballad that touches on the racism, sexism, and homophobia in the industry at large. That made her historic moment at the ACM Awards all the more poignant. Australian country music star Keith Urban played the piano during her performance.
“What Are You Going to Tell Her?” performance:
“I’m overwhelmed,” Guyton said in a video following the performance. “I’m hormonal. I’m so blessed and so excited and so thankful for the country music community for embracing me and giving me this opportunity. I love you guys so much!”
Guyton has been pushing to make the country music scene more inclusive. “Country music is for everyone,” she said in an interview with NBC News. “It’s for LGBTQ communities, Latino communities. It’s so important that people of color, Black, brown, whatever color you are, are seen within this industry.”
“What Are You Going to Tell Her?” is from Guyton’s new EP Bridges. That EP title is pretty symbolic considering the bridges that she’s building so that more folks can have access into country music.