CoJo keepin’ it real. During an interview with ABC Audio ahead of the ACM Awards tomorrow night, Cody Johnson, who is tied with Morgan Wallen as the most-nominated artist of the evening coming in at seven in total, admitted that he has his heart set on the coveted Entertainer of the Year award. It’s a pretty tight category, per the usual, and he’ll be up against Morgan, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, and Lainey Wilson. Of course, EOTY is the big one, the one trophy that any artist probably always secretly wants but will never admit to, so it’s pretty refreshing to hear an artist like Cody, who has been nominated for ten ACM Awards but has yet to win won, openly admit he wants it. Most country artists, for the sake of being “nice,” will hardly ever admit they really want to win, but rather say in interviews and things like that they’re just happy to be nominated and love whoever it is that ultimately wins. It’s honestly kind of annoying, and if they could just be human and admit it’s nice to win, it would make these incredibly boring shows just a little more interesting… He also explained that in the Male Artist of the Year category, where he’s up against Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen, he hopes to lose, if he has to lose, to Chris Stapleton, which I think they’d probably all agree with: “I really do look at other artists and go, ‘Man, she probably deserves that’… or ‘he really should get that.’ You know, like I told Chris Stapleton, ‘If you’re gonna lose male vocalist of the year, you lose it to Chris Stapleton.’ You know what I mean? Entertainer of the Year is the one that I really want.” Cody also says he doesn’t want it too bad, and has learned to keep his emotions in check so as to not be too disappointed if he doesn’t take home a trophy. And for an artist like Cody, who has an incredibly large and loyal fanbase and can sell tickets pretty much anywhere in the country, these kinds of awards can be nice, sure, but they really don’t mean anything at the end of the day, especially when you have the kind of career success he has with or without them: “I don’t know. I think when you do that, it’s easy to get in your own head… So yes, I do want it, but at the same time, I’ve learned over the years, don’t want it too bad. If you want one thing too much, it’s likely to disappoint you. It’s also kind of fun to sit back and see what like the gender reveal kinda thing is. You know, it’s that moment.” With seven nominations this year, Cody’s odds are pretty good to win at least one or two, even if it’s not the coveted Entertainer of the Year award. But regardless of if he takes home the EOTY, or any of the other six awards he’s nominated for, Cody is performing with his musical heroes Brooks & Dunn, which should be a highlight, and he gets to have a fun date night with his wife, so it’s fun no matter what happens: “[I’m] getting to perform with some of my heroes, Brooks & Dunn, got a new single out. Then I get to walk down the red carpet with my beautiful wife. So that’s also fun.” While I’d love to see Cody take home an award like EOTY, I will be looking forward to hearing him sing almost everyone else under the table and put on what will surely be a great performance with Brooks & Dunn. Last year, he performed “Dirt Cheap”: But my favorite CoJo ACM Awards moment is still his rendition of “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” where he changed the lyrics and threw in a “don’t let your cowboys grow up to be babies”: The ACM’s return to Texas this year with Reba McEntire hosting once again, and it will all stream live exclusively on Prime Video from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco this Thursday, May 8th at 8 PM ET. They’re celebrating the 60th anniversary of the show with a pretty good group of performers lined up, so that is something to look forward to if you’re planning to tune in. The full list of nominees are below. ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR Kelsea Ballerini Luke Combs Cody Johnson Jelly Roll Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen Lainey Wilson FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Kelsea Ballerini Ella Langley Megan Moroney Kacey Musgraves Lainey Wilson MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Luke Combs Cody Johnson Jelly Roll Chris Stapleton Morgan Wallen DUO OF THE YEAR Brooks & Dunn Brothers Osborne Dan + Shay Muscadine Bloodline The War And Treaty GROUP OF THE YEAR Flatland Cavalry Little Big Town Old Dominion Rascal Flatts The Red Clay Strays NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Kassi Ashton Ashley Cooke Dasha Ella Langley Jessie Murph NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR Gavin Adcock Shaboozey Zach Top Tucker Wetmore Bailey Zimmerman NEW DUO OR GROUP OF THE YEAR Restless Road The Red Clay Strays Treaty Oak Revival ALBUM OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)] ● Am I Okay? (I’ll Be Fine) – Megan Moroney Producer: Kristian Bush Record Company-Label: Columbia Records / Sony Music Nashville ● Beautifully Broken – Jelly Roll Producers: BazeXX, Brock Berryhill, Zach Crowell, Devin Dawson, Charlie Handsome, Ben Johnson, mgk, The Monsters & Strangerz, Austin Nivarel, SlimXX, Ryan Tedder, Isaiah Tejada, Alysa Vanderheym Record Company-Label: BBR Music Group / BMG Nashville / Republic Records ● Cold Beer & Country Music – Zach Top Producer: Carson Chamberlain Record Company-Label: Leo33 ● F-1 Trillion – Post Malone Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins Record Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records ● Whirlwind – Lainey Wilson Producer: Jay Joyce Record Company-Label: BBR Music Group / BMG Nashville SINGLE OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)] ● A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey Producers: Sean Cook, Nevin Sastry Record Company-Label: American Dogwood / EMPIRE ● Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson Producer: Trent Willmon Record Company-Label: CoJo Music LLC / Warner Music Nashville ● I Had Some Help – Post Malone, Morgan Wallen Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins Record Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records ● White Horse – Chris Stapleton Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton Record Company-Label: Mercury Nashville ● you look like you love me – Ella Langley, Riley Green Producer: Will Bundy Record Company-Label: SAWGOD / Columbia Records SONG OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Songwriter(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)] ● 4x4xU – Lainey Wilson Songwriters: Jon Decious, Aaron Raitiere, Lainey Wilson Publishers: Louisiana Lady; One Tooth Productions; Reservoir 416; Songs of One Riot Music; Sony/ATV Accent ● The Architect – Kacey Musgraves Songwriters: Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves, Josh Osborne Publishers: Songs for Indy and Owl; Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing ● Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson Songwriter: Josh Phillips Publishers: Warner-Tamerlane Publishing; Write or Die Music; Write the Lightning Publishing ● I Had Some Help – Post Malone, Morgan Wallen Songwriters: Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters, Ryan Vojtesak Publishers: Bell Ear Publishing; Master of my Domain Music; Poppy’s Picks; Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing; Universal Music Corporation ● you look like you love me – Ella Langley, Riley Green Songwriters: Riley Green, Ella Langley, Aaron Raitiere Publishers: Back 40 Publishing International; Langley Publishing; One Tooth Productions; Sony/ATV Tree; Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp MUSIC EVENT OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)] ● Cowboys Cry Too – Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan, Alysa Vanderheym Record Company-Label: Black River Entertainment ● I Had Some Help – Post Malone, Morgan Wallen Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins Record Company-Label: Mercury Records / Republic Records ● I’m Gonna Love You – Cody Johnson, Carrie Underwood Producer: Trent Willmon Record Company-Label: CoJo Music LLC / Warner Music Nashville ● we don’t fight anymore – Carly Pearce, Chris Stapleton Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Carly Pearce Record Company-Label: Big Machine Records ● you look like you love me – Ella Langley, Riley Green Producer: Will Bundy Record Company-Label: SAWGOD / Columbia Records VISUAL MEDIA OF THE YEAR [Awarded to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)] ● 4x4xU – Lainey Wilson Producer: Jennifer Ansell Director: Dano Cerny ● Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson Producer: Dustin Haney Director: Dustin Haney ● I’m Gonna Love You – Cody Johnson, Carrie Underwood Producers: Christen Pinkston, Wesley Stebbins-Perry Director: Dustin Haney ● Think I’m In Love With You – Chris Stapleton Producers: Wes Edwards, Angie Lorenz, Jamie Stratakis Director: Running Bear (Stephen Kinigopoulos, Alexa Stone) ● you look like you love me – Ella Langley, Riley Green Producer: Whale Tale Music Directors: Ella Langley, John Park, Wales Toney ARTIST-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR Luke Combs ERNEST HARDY Morgan Wallen Lainey Wilson SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR Jessi Alexander Jessie Jo Dillon Ashley Gorley Chase McGill Josh OsborneThe post Cody Johnson Admits His Heart Is Set On Winning Entertainer Of The Year At The ACM Awards: “The One That I Really Want” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.