A four-time winner,the 19-year-old singer Taylor Swift Sweeps beats out the heavyweights for entertainer of the year.
Taylor Swift opened the show with a winning performance – but the 19-year-old singer had to wait until the end of the Country Music Assocation Awards telecast Wednesday night to collect the biggest honor: entertainer of the year.
Sobbing as she took the stage of Nashville's Sommet Center, Swift – the youngest-ever winner of the CMA's top trophy – called her band to join her onstage. "I will never forget this moment because in this moment everything I have ever wanted has just happened to me," she said.
It was a monumental night for Swift, who took home four awards in total, including album of the year for her smash hit Fearless and, in an upset, female vocalist of the year, beating out the night's co-host, Carrie Underwood.
Swift launched the evening with a spirited rendition of "Forever and Always," about stormy relationships. The performance seemed to nod to the feverish attention paid to her dating life – she has been linked to Joe Jonas and, most recently, Taylor Lautner – and began with a taped interview between the 19-year-old singer and Access Hollywood's Nancy O'Dell.
"If guys don't want me to write bad songs about them, then they shouldn't do bad things," Swift remarked in the taped segment, before the action cut away to the stage, where she threw furniture, slid down a poll and tossed her hair wildly.