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CMT Awards 2021: Gabby Barrett Wins Female Video of the Year

On Wednesday night, Gabby Barrett won CMT’s Female Video of the Year Award.

Gladys Knight presented the award, but Barrett was unfortunately unable to attend this year’s CMT Awards.

The nominees for the award were Carly Pearce for “Next Girl,” Gabby Barrett for “The Good Ones,” Kelsea Ballerini for “Hole in the Bottle,” Maren Morris for “To Hell & Back,” Mickey Guyton for “Heaven Down Here” and Miranda Lambert for “Settling Down.”

Barrett was up against some stiff competition, as the videos of her fellow nominees clearly demonstrate.

Carly Pearce’s ‘Next Girl’ Features Creepy Guy Types

Pearce reportedly wrote “Next Girl” with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne after “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” her duet with Lee Brice. According to Rolling Stone, the song itself was inspired by Patty Loveless, and it boasts bluegrass undertones and lean production. Meanwhile, the music video features a parade of sketchy guys that most women will find all too familiar. “I bet you probably met him at a bar/let him walk you to your car/I bet he said he never falls this hard/Yeah, I remember that part,” Pearce sang.

Watch Pearce’s music video here:

Gabby Barrett’s ‘The Good Ones’ Celebrates Devotion

“The Good Ones” drew its inspiration from Barrett’s relationship with her fiancée, and now husband, Cade Foehner. Both are “American Idol” alums and big fans of Texas, where Foehner is from. Starring in the music video is 2017’s Miss Wheelchair USA, Madeline Delp. In the video, a story slowly unfurls about a woman in a wheelchair and her beloved, who is building her a harness so she can dance with him. “We had so much fun getting to shoot this,” Barrett told People in 2019. “I hope everyone loves the video and the song as much as I do!”

Watch Barrett’s CMT Award winning music video here:

Kelsea Ballerini’s ‘Hole in the Bottle’ Embraces Drinking With Abandon

Ballerini’s “Hole in the Bottle” is a song about a lush who loses track of time and wine while drowning her sorrows over a departed lover. Its co-writers are Ballerini, Jesse Frasure, Hillary Lindsey, Ashley Gorley and Steph Jones. The music video starts out black-and-white before transitioning to full color as Ballerini hits the chorus. It’s off the album Kelsea. “The album, even all the bops of the album, they have a lot of heart, truth and self-discovery in them,” Ballerini told iHeartRadio. “So it felt like the album that kind of put me on a first name basis with whoever listens to it.”

Watch Ballerini’s music video here:

Maren Morris’s ‘To Hell & Back’ Explores a Fresh Start

The Female Video of the Year nod was just one of four nominations Morris received at this year’s CMT Awards. Her song “To Hell & Back” serenades a relationship between a jaded woman and her accepting boyfriend. Morris wrote it with Jessie Jo Dillon and Laura Veltz. “This song came out of a time when I was ending a relationship and I was in a really dark place,” Morris said in a behind-the-scenes video. “I had kinda started growing deeper feelings for this guy, this new guy, and he was so accepting and nonjudgmental of my process of healing from that other relationship… and I thought that was such a pure kind of love.” As for the music video, it opens with Morris and another musician singing and playing guitars in a simple wood cabin, and ends on the same note.

Watch Morris’s music video here:

Mickey Guyton’s ‘Heaven Down Here’ Aims to Uplift

Guyton’s “Heaven Down Here” is a worried plea to God to send down “a little more Heaven” to Earth. The music video was directed by Sarah McColgan. It was a moving experience for Guyton. “When I walked up and saw the set I almost started crying because it was so cool and I was overwhelmed that it was actually happening,” the singer told CMT last year. But she hoped that viewers took away an uplifting sentiment from the finished product. “I really hope my fans feel hope. The world is crazy right now. There is so much going on, I hope this video gives them the feeling that everything will be ok,” she said.

Watch Guyton’s music video here:

Miranda Lambert’s ‘Settling Down’ Features Her Real-Life Husband

Lambert’s “Settling Down” is an ode to settling down after a wild youth. The music video features Lambert with her husband, Brendan McLoughlin, and takes place, Lambert said, “at my magical happy place an hour away from Nashville.” Lambert said this is her first music video ever shot with a real-life love interest. “I’m like, ‘You’re cute, you’re here and you’re free,’” she said of choosing her husband as a co-star for music video.

Watch Lambert’s music video here: