Shania Twain on her Equal Play Award at the 2023 CMT Awards

At the 2023 CMT Awards, Shania Twain will be honored with the Equal Play Award, which awards recipients who use their platform to speak out for those who are underrepresented in country music.

On the red carpet, Twain also showed off her new red hair, and she wore a stunning mesh black and red dress and platform heels.

What the Equal Play Award means for Twain

In an interview by Billboard on the red carpet, Twain spoke about what the Equal Play Award meant to her.

“I take the award very personally. To me, it’s an emotional journey right now to be in this genre and watching all these other women, women, in general, struggling for space,” the ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’ singer said.

“It’s very frustrating and sad, and I want to fight for them, I want to talk about it and bring it up to the forefront and change it. It’s not right, it’s not what country music represents,

“Country music represents family and inclusion, and the neighborly welcoming spirit that country music people have always embraced is not present with such an imbalance in play. So something’s wrong there,” she explained.

“I’m very proud to be receiving the award and to continue representing women and just inclusivity,” she added.

The artist is best known for her hit 90s songs ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’ and ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’, both have a strong feminist bent and lyrics that focus on uplifting women and breaking boundaries.

Previous Equal Play Award recipients

Previous winners of the Equal Play Award include Jennifer Nettles in 2020, who was also the first recipient of the award, and Linda Martell in 2021, the first Black woman honored with the award.

“As a proud part of the beautiful legacy of women in country music, I am honored to be the first recipient,” Nettles said in a statement in 2020.

“I look forward to celebrating the contributions of women, and all marginalized communities, within the country music format, and I am motivated in encouraging the non-artists, executives and investors in the industry, to do the same. There is much work still to be done.”

2021 winner Linda Martell was the first Black woman to ever perform at the Grand Ole Opr, a famed country music stage in Nashville, Tennessee. She took to the stage with Roy Acuff in 1970.

“Linda Martell is a living legend who has influenced so many artists of color, giving them the courage and hope to pursue their dreams and a future reality of Equal Play in country music,” said Leslie Fram, Senior Vice President, Music & Talent, CMT.

“Linda embodies the spirit of our ‘Equal Play’ initiative and we are proud to honor her with this prestigious award.”