Lainey Wilson Wins 2022 ACM Award for New Female Artist of the Year
Lainey Wilson was not expecting Miranda Lambert to turn up on her video conference call, and she was definitely not expecting the news the multi-time ACM Award winner had to share.
The "Things a Man Oughta Know" singer just won the ACM for New Female Artist of the Year, an award Lambert won in 2007. The Academy of Country Music shared the news on Friday (March 4) with a social video that finds the two chatting via video call. Upon hearing the news, Wilson drops her head so you can only see the top of her hat. When she lifts it there are tears in her eyes. Expletives were used.
"If there's anybody that understands the freakin' blood sweat and tears, it's you," Wilson tells Lambert, who by this point is also tearing up. It's a beautiful moment between two friends.
"You so deserve it," Lambert says. "You're my favorite."
Wilson's journey to this point was arduous but steady. After spending her teen years trying to squeeze original songs into her setlist as a Hannah Montana impersonator, the Louisiana native began to gain national recognition during Song Suffragettes shows in Nashville in 2016 and 2017. She signed with Broken Bow Records in 2019, but her debut single "Dirty Looks" missed at country radio.
"Things a Man Oughta Know" started slowly at country radio as well, until Wilson was chosen as an iHeartRadio On the Verge artist. It'd go on to reach No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart in September 2021, over a year after its release. The heartbreaker has since gone on to be nominated in the Song of the Year category for the 2022 ACM Awards, and Wilson has picked up additional accolades. Just last week she was one of the highlights of the annual CRS New Faces of Country Music show in Nashville. Her debut album Sayin' What I'm Thinkin' was hailed by critics and made Taste of Country's list of the Top 11 Albums of 2021.
The winner of the ACM's New Male Artist of the Year was also named on Friday. Lambert surprised Parker McCollum with a video conference call. The moment between these two Texans was just as special, if not as emotional.
The 2022 ACM Awards air on Monday (March 7) at 8PM ET on Amazon Prime.
Remember: The best way to watch the 2022 ACMs is on TV, with ToC on your phone!