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Shane Anthony Sinclair / Stringer via Getty Images and Terry Wyatt / Stringer via Getty Images
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Shaboozey performs during day five of Glastonbury festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton and BigXthaPlug performs for the Apple Music Live: BigXThaPlug show alongside special guests at the historic Ryman Auditorium
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Key Takeaways:
- BigXthaPlug will perform “Pray Hard” with Luke Combs at the 2025 CMA Awards.
- Shaboozey is nominated for New Artist of the Year and will perform “Took a Walk” with Stephen Wilson Jr.
- The 2025 CMA lineup reflects a growing trend of genre-blending performances and broader cultural inclusion.
The 2025 CMA Awards already look promising based on the performance lineup. On Thursday (Nov. 6), organizers announced that Shaboozey and BigXthaPlug will take the stage at this year’s event, alongside leading nominees Lainey Wilson, Megan Moroney, and Ella Langley.
Set to air live Nov. 19 from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on ABC, the ceremony will see BigX team up with Luke Combs for a live rendition of “Pray Hard.” The song originally appeared on August’s I Hope You’re Happy. Unfortunately, the Dallas rapper isn’t vying for any awards, but perhaps he’ll have better luck at the 2026 Grammy Awards in February.
Shaboozey, on the other hand, is competing for New Artist of the Year. He’s up against Langley, Zach Top, Tucker Wetmore, and Stephen Wilson Jr. Hopefully, he’ll fare better this time around after losing to Moroney in 2024. Fans still got to see the Virginia phenomenon perform “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” at last year’s 58th annual show.
For the 2025 event, Shaboozey is slated to hit the stage with his Wilson Jr. collaboration, “Took a Walk,” a track they wrote and recorded for The Long Walk. More performers are expected to be announced soon, but for now, check out the CMA’s post below.
BigXthaPlug is in the middle of a huge year, thanks in part to the success of I Hope You’re Happy. The 11-song effort featured several country heavyweights, including Darius Rucker and Bailey Zimmerman, who joined him on “All The Way.”
“I basically just went and looked for who I felt had the most soul in they voice, or who I could hear the most pain,” BigX explained to UPROXX about selecting his collaborators for the LP. “Because that’s what I feel like the project was about for me. The project is about every outcome of a heartbreak.”
He continued, “You got the Ella Langleys, who you can tell she was going through something at that time. You got the Jelly Rolls, who got just as much soul as me. You got the Luke Combs, who was able to switch it up.”