Find out the most buzzed-about moments from the CMT Music Awards on June 4 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, including Kristen Bell’s search for the perfect co-host and Jake Owen’s outdoor performance.
Related: Twitpics of the CMT Stars!
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In the opening performance, ZZ Top shared the stage with Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan and Jason Derulo for a mashup of "This Is How We Roll" and Derulo's "Talk Dirty." The crowd-pleasing rendition brought the house down at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, and attendees LeAnn Rimes, Jake Owen and Miranda Lambert couldn’t help but dance in the aisles.
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Hosting CMT's annual music fest for the third time, Bell opted to run the show solo—after a little coaxing from gal pals Malin Akerman and Cheryl Hines. In a pre-taped opening skit, the trio explored possible co-hosts for Bell—including her husband, Dax Shepard, and Sean Hayes—via a country-focused Tinder-like app. "I don't need some man-child weighing me down," Bell later admitted.
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"What happens in the elevator, stays in the elevator," Luke Bryan said after he and the band were busted by Kristen Bell—and closed-circuit TV cameras—during a mock fight reminscent of Solange Knowles' MET Gala confrontation with sister Beyonce's husband, Jay Z.
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Host Kristen Bell made sure Luke Bryan stayed glued to his seat by wrapping him in yellow caution tape during the show, in an effort to avoid his previous two falls from the concert stage in recent months.
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"I am still coaching you," Blake Shelton told The Voice's season 3 champ, Cassadee Pope, when presenting her with the 2014 CMT Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year. "I still need him for some stuff. I still need him to kind of calm me down," Pope—who triumphed on the NBC series with coach Shelton's help—admitted.
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Lauding Jackson for his 25 year-career, Underwood sang snippets of the country legend's biggest hits before presenting him with CMT's first-ever Impact Award. Also joining in on Jackson’s tribute were Lee Ann Womack and Kacey Musgraves, who collaborated on a performance of Jackson's "Livin' On Love," and Kristen Bell, who dressed as the man himself.
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In an outdoor performance on the grounds of The Bridgestone Arena, a barefoot and laid-back Owen rocked out to his hit "Beachin'" just as the sun started to set on Music City.
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"How did this happen?" Lionel Richie asked when he and a speechless Luke Bryan took to the stage to accept CMT Performance of the Year for "Oh No/All Night Long." The pair beat out Dierks Bentley, Jake Owen, Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry and Willie Nelson for the honor.
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Fresh from performing at Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's wedding, John Legend teamed with Jennifer Nettles and Hunter Hayes for a stripped-down, country-tinged rendition of his ballad "All of Me."
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"I love country music, I love my job—thank you to the fans for letting us do our job. We love it so much," an emotional Lambert (clad in a sequined Celia Kritharioti mini with a plunging neckline) said when accepting her Female Video of the Year Award for "Automatic."
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CMT winners Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood performed at the end of 2014's show, belting out their duet, “Somethin' Bad,” which appears on Lambert's latest album, Platinum.
