Am I crazy or was Garth Brooks just lip-syncing? It looked too good to be true. #cmaawards
— Mike Koshko (@MikeKoshko) November 9, 2017
Really, @garthbrooks.... REALLY?? Everyone's up there shouting u out for being a "legend" and you're gonna freaking lip sync overdramatically like a fool to your own song?? #Over. #CMAS #CMAawards #GarthBrooks #Garth #Nashville
— Theresa Pittius (@TheresaPittius) November 9, 2017
When your whole life is ruined because you saw @garthbrooks on the #CMAAwards lip sync
😫— Catherine Cortez (@KittyKittyCathy)
280 characters still aren't enough for me to accurately describe how upset I am that Garth Brooks is lip syncing on the CMAs..
— Andrew Hayes (@AHaze13) November 9, 2017
Garth Brooks is lip syncing. This makes me sad... #CMAs #GarthBrooks @garthbrooks
— Noah Reed (@noahreed) November 9, 2017
But being the artist that he is, Garth openly admitted to reporters backstage, shortly after he was named the CMA's Entertainer of the Year, that he was lip-syncing to his newest hit single, "Ask Me How I Know." And it was for good reason -- his voice was under the strain of 12 shows in 10 days, and as he spoke, the coarseness in his voice was evident.
RELATED: Garth Brooks draws major applause for his CMA Awards performance
Brooks said he and his team made a “game time call” on whether they should sing his tracks or lip-sync, and he chose the latter.
“We decided to lip-sync it because my voice just isn’t going anywhere, and we wanted to represent country music the best we can,” he said.
With a seven-night run in Spokane, Washington, starting Nov. 9, the superstar said he was doing his best to save what voice he had left for those performances.
RELATED: Garth Brooks makes no bones about wanting a sixth CMA Entertainer of the Year trophy
Brooks also took the opportunity to give a nod to Female Vocalist winner Miranda Lambert.
“Let me tell you who fought the good fight tonight, in my opinion: Miranda Lambert. She’s one of few females we play, so you’d think she’d want to play it safe. She came out and she stuck country music in all of our faces tonight, traditional country music. So, she’s fighting the good fight.”
In a night that was filled with optimism, hope and healing, where artist after artist spoke about the family that is country music, it was just like Brooks to shine the spotlight on one of his peers.
Credit: Mike Coppola
Credit: Mike Coppola
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