Whether or not you heard the rumors from Inez, this time it was true: Taylor Swift returned to the Academy of Country Music Awards stage Wednesday to perform for the first time in seven years.
Swift sang “Betty,” a ballad about teenage heartbreak off her recent folklore album. The song, which chronicles a teen romance in trouble, has been championed in the LGBTQ community as being about romantic love between two high school girls.
The multiple Grammy winner took the stage at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, sitting behind a microphone and performing to an empty house — the event’s concession to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. She accompanied herself on the guitar, backed only by a harmonica player who sat to her right.
We’ll have you, and we want you, @taylorswift13! It is so great to have Taylor back on the #ACMawards stage. Tune-in to @CBS to watch the show now! pic.twitter.com/nchgiiYzAV
— ACM Awards (@ACMawards) September 17, 2020
In an August radio interview, Swift herself said that the tune is about how “Everyone makes mistakes, everybody really messes up sometimes. This is a song that I wrote from the perspective of a 17-year-old boy,” and added that she named two of the characters in her story after her friends’ children: Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ son and daughter, James and Inez.
This year’s ACM Awards also included performances from Entertainer of the Year nominees Eric Church, Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs and Carrie Underwood, as well as a duet from ceremony host Keith Urban and Pink.
FULL betty LIVE PERFORMANCE by @taylorswift13 #Betty𐂅 #ACMs #ACMawards #TaylorSwift #Folklore pic.twitter.com/nyiYZjJQ8o
— David | Dacii 🤠 (@dacii13) September 17, 2020
Press PLAY on the videos above to watch Taylor do her thing, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
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