Taylor Swift famously went full pop in 2014 with her stadium-ready fifth album 1989. Her country days were behind her then. She gave them an unofficial farewell in 2013, when she performed the title track from her fourth album Red at the CMA Awards. But she never closed the door completely. This year, Swift released the country ballad “I Knew It, I Knew You” for Toy Story 5. Just like old times, she’ll take the stage at the CMA Awards next week for her first performance at the show since the Red era.
The CMA Awards will air live from Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Swift is nominated at this year’s show in the Single of the Year category for “I Knew It, I Knew You.” The nod marks her 26th nomination. Swift won her first nomination at the show — the Horizon Award, now known more plainly as New Artist of the Year — back in 2007. She’s taken home 11 more CMA awards since then.
Swift joins the CMA Awards performance lineup alongside host Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Megan Moroney, Miranda Lambert, the Red Clay Strays, Tim McGraw, Tucker Wetmore, Vince Gill, and Zach Top. There are two collaborative performances set for the stage, one honoring the late Dolly Parton and the other celebrating Brooks & Dunn, recipients of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Brothers Osborne, Hardy, Luke Bryan, Marcus King, and Halestorm are set for the Brooks & Dunn performance, but the lineup for the special tribute to Parton has not yet been unveiled. Rumors suggested Swift might make an appearance during that particular set, but Rolling Stone has confirmed that Swift is not a part of that.
Swift has been spending more time in Nashville lately. Last month, the singer-songwriter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame by Brad Paisley at a ceremony in the city. “I’ve been very fortunate I’ve gotten to genre hop and travel the world and write with so many different people and in so many different ways,” she said in her acceptance speech. “And the only reason that I’ve been able to have that kind of dexterity in my creative process is because of the fundamentals and the foundation that I learned here in Nashville.”
She added, “It’s not lost on me how crazy this is. I will cherish it forever because Nashville is the place that honed and polished the thing about myself and the thing about my life that I am the most proud of and the most passionate about.”
