The 5 Best Moments of the 2023 CMT Awards

Shania Twain's Big Win

Megan Thee Stallion presented Shania Twain with the Equal Play Award, which recognizes artists who are vocal advocates for elevating diverse and underrepresented voices in country music.

"I believe in an all-inclusive country music," Twain said in her acceptance speech. "This is a genre of music with a rich history that raised and nurtured my own songwriting and performance and recording career from childhood. Currently, the industry standard does a real disservice to this."

Twain left with a promise to "continue to champion the many outstanding country artists that are not currently played… streamed, toured or awarded at the level they deserve."

Gwen Stefani's Takeover

Gwen Stefani brought Carly Pearce on stage with her for a high-energy performance of No Doubt's 1995 smash "Just a Girl." The performance marked Stefani's debut at the awards show, and Pearce told CMT their bond over songwriting inspired Sunday night's duet.

"We've gotten to know each other and struck up an unlikely friendship," Pearce said. "She asked me to do this because we really are friends outside of this."

Wynonna Judd's Return to the Stage

While delivering a moving performance of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" with Ashley McBryde, Wynonna Judd gave a shout-out to her late mother Naomi, who died by suicide at age 76 in May 2022.

Mid-performance, the country star pointed up and said, "Mama, you need to be here. I miss you, and I love you, and I don't understand."

Kane and Katelyn Brown's Duet

That's CMT Award winners' Kane and Katelyn Brown's duet! The pair took home a trophy Sunday night after giving a sweet performance of their duet, "Thank God."

"This is all so new to me and when we recorded this song a year ago I never in my life would ever think that this was ever going to happen," Katelyn said while thanking Kane. "This is so special that we get to share this together every night. I love you so much."

Alanis Morissette's Cameo

Rocker Alanis Morissette joined in the CMT Awards fun, bringing Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wade, Ingrid Andress and Madeline Edwards on stage with her for a fiery rendition of her 1995 hit "You Oughta Know" to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of CMT Next Women of Country franchise.