What makes the 2025 CMA Awards nominees unique?

The 2025 CMA Awards nominees include artists like Shaboozey, Stephen Wilson Jr., and The War and Treaty who bring eclectic sounds and styles that push the boundaries of country music.

How are country artists using innovative marketing and visuals?

Nominees like Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson are employing unique marketing strategies and creating surreal music videos to stand out in the genre.

How is the country music industry adapting to these changes?

The industry is embracing the experimental and edgy approach to country music, with executives and the creative class becoming more educated and strategic in supporting these boundary-pushing artists.

Home / Arts and Entertainment / Country Music's Unconventional Rebels Shake Up the CMA Awards

Country Music's Unconventional Rebels Shake Up the CMA Awards

17 Nov

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Summary

Diverse array of artists and projects nominated for 2025 CMA Awards
Nominees challenge country music norms with unique sounds and styles
Industry embracing more experimental and boundary-pushing country music

Country Music's Unconventional Rebels Shake Up the CMA Awards

As the country music industry prepares for the 59th annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards on November 19, 2025, the event is shaping up to be a showcase of the genre's most unconventional and boundary-pushing artists.

The 2025 CMA Awards ballot is filled with a diverse array of nominees that challenge the traditional norms of country music. New artist of the year contender Shaboozey has shifted from an R&B-influenced outlier to a major country act over the past year. Fellow new artist nominee Stephen Wilson Jr. brings a rough-cut blues-rock sound, while the vocal duo The War and Treaty represents the Americana genre. Even pop artist Post Malone has an album of the year nomination for his country-influenced project F-1 Trillion.

These artists and their nominated projects are operating as "satellites" around the core of country music, each tugging against the center from a different point in the genre's orbit. This has resulted in a remarkable sonic balance, with country music becoming increasingly diverse in sound over the past few years.