Las Vegas. Taylor Swift might not be able to count on the men in her life, but her fans have yet to let her down. And on Sunday, they rewarded her with one of the biggest prizes in country music: The Academy of Country Music’s entertainer of the year award.
A record of nearly 600,000 voters participated in selecting this year’s winner of the academy’s most prestigious award, the only major award determined by fans. Swift’s crew came through for her on a night when the industry and her peers rewarded firecracker Miranda Lambert with four trophies.
“I feel like of all that has happened to me in my life, that’s the best thing I’ve ever gotten to have” – the 21-year-old Swift said after the show. “My relationship with them is everything to me.”
Fans could vote during the show and her spirited performance of ‘Mean,’ a rebuke to her critics on which she played banjo and nailed the vocal performance, probably led to a spike in voting. Swift, known for detailing her broken romances and the men who have wronged her, credited a quartet of men who have done her right. She thanked Brad Paisley and Keith Urban (who were among the five other nominees in the category) along with four-time winner Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw for taking her on the road before she became an international sensation and showed her how to do it.
