Carrie Underwood Goes Purple for CMT Awards Red Carpet

Purple was the dominant color for Carrie Underwood during the 2022 CMT Music Awards Monday night. She wore a short purple dress when she walked the red carpet outside Nashville Municipal Auditorium alongside her husband, Mike Fisher. Her acrobatic performance of “Ghost Story” continued the purple theme.

Underwood had a big night, winning two awards. “If I Didn’t Love You,” her duet with Jason Aldean, won Video of the Year and Collaborative Video of the Year. This was Underwood’s fourth consecutive Video of the Year win, as she won in 2019 for “Cry Pretty, 2020 for “Drinking Alone,” and 2021 for “Hallelujah” with John Legend. She now has 25 CMT Music Awards wins, the most for any single artist at the fan-voted awards.

“What an incredible night at the [CMT] Awards,” Underwood wrote on Instagram after the show. “Thank you, fans, for all the support and for always showing up for us! These belong to you! Thank you, [Aldean], for asking me to sing this amazing song with you and to all his fans for all the [love]! I’m forever grateful to you all!”

After the show, Underwood told Entertainment Tonight her inspiration for the acrobatic performance of “Ghost Story” was inspired by the aerialists and dancers in her Las Vegas show Reflection. “They were so inspiring,” she said of the dancers. “I was like, ‘I wonder if I could do that?’ And I have the song ‘Ghost Story,’ and I felt like, well, if there’s a song to try it on, it’s this one.” Underwood then met with her director and choreographer with the idea.

“We had a couple sessions, and I was like, ‘Hey! I’m not too bad,’” Underwood recalled. “I think it’d be great to learn more and incorporate stuff, even just for fun. Although Underwood wasn’t worried about dancing in the air, Fisher told ET he was “a little bit nervous” to see her perform.

Although Underwood was in Nashville Monday night to pick up her CMT awards, the “Ghost Story” performance was pre-taped. She filmed the song at Resorts World Theatre, the venue for her Las Vegas show. Giant video screens at Nashville Municipal Auditorium showed Underwood’s performance to the audience.

“It feels awesome,” Underwood told ET of adding two more awards to her collection. “It’s just a great night all around. I have the most amazing fans in the world, and I feel like my fans, and Jason’s fans just united and just gave us superpowers for the night. It was just such a great night and watching the performances, I feel like everybody just had fun, and it was just a fun night to party.” The 2022 CMT Music Awards ceremony is available to stream on Paramount+.