Dan + Shay ‘A Little Bit Nervous’ to Perform With Justin Bieber at the CMA Awards

Dan + Shay are preparing for the world premiere television performance of “10,000 Hours,” their collaboration with Justin Bieber, at the CMA Awards on Wednesday night, and the trio is looking forward to taking the stage. “I am a little bit nervous, in a good way,” Shay Mooney told RADIO.com. “I’m more excited, I would say.”

“We haven’t really gotten to have that moment of celebration with ‘10,000 Hours’ — we just had like the year anniversary of the song,” he explained. “So, it’s kind of crazy that we haven’t got to. Obviously with everything that’s happened, we’re excited to get back with him and hang, and be able to perform it.”

Dan Smyers added that he was happy to welcome Bieber to the country music genre. “I feel like so many people outside of the country world just want to be a part of it, and when they get an experience, they’re like ‘this is so amazing.’ It’s so welcoming; it’s just such a family,” he shared.

“Everybody gets along and I think other genres kind of look in and are like ‘we kind of want that.’ I think that’s why a lot of pop artists gravitate toward collaborating with country artists. It’s uncharted territory for them and it’s really cool.”

“Hopefully we can bring home a trophy or two. I think it would be his first country award,” he continued. “If we could be a part of that it would be cool to have one with our names on the shelf.”

“10,000 Hours” is nominated for three CMA Awards including Single of the Year, Music Video of the Year and Musical Event of the Year. Dan + Shay are also nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year, and Smyers has additional nods as a producer for his work on “10,000 Hours,” which was released in October 2019 and earned over 75 million streams in its first week.

“This has been really cool,” Smyers previously told Kix Brooks on American Country Countdown via Nash Country Daily of the success of “10,000 Hours.” “I mean, obviously, ‘Tequila’ and ‘Speechless’ changed our world in such a big way, but this song has reached new places that we had never dreamed of having music out [in], so to have people listening to country music all around the world is unbelievable.”

“And, Justin, I know, is excited to be a part of it,” he continued. “He loves country music [and] has always been a fan, so having him on our song is pretty surreal. I have to pinch myself. I’m like, ‘We’ve got like the biggest superstar in the world on our song!’ It’s insane.”