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Taylor Swift performed ‘Betty’ live for the first time today (September 17) at the 2020 Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards.
The track was lifted from Swift’s latest album, ‘Folklore’, which the singer-songwriter surprise released in July.
She performed the song on the stage of Nashville’s legendary Grand Ole Opry, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar with a harmonica player also in tow.
Watch Swift’s performance below:
It was Swift’s first performance at the ACM Awards in seven years, having previously played the event in 2013, alongside Tim McGraw for ‘Highway Don’t Care’.
Swift has won nine ACM Awards over her career and has twice been named Entertainer of The Year by the institution.
Other performers at this year’s event included Keith Urban and Pink with their new single ‘One Too Many’, Kane Brown, Maren Morris, Tenille Townes and more.
Swift’s ‘Folklore’ was a change in pace for the pop singer, stripping back to her folk roots and demonstrating her powerful songwriting abilities. It was produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff and Swift herself, and features an appearance from Bon Iver‘s Justin Vernon on the song ‘exile’.
NME awarded the album four stars in a review, saying “‘Folklore’ feels fresh, forward-thinking and, most of all, honest”.
“Swift disappeared into the metaphorical woods while writing ‘Folklore’, and she’s emerged stronger than ever.”
The album became the first record in four years to top charts for six consecutive weeks, and broke streaming records on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music on the day of its release.
She has since released songs from the album in “thematically” arranged playlists, with Folklore: The Escapism Chapter, The Sleepless Nights Chapter and The Saltbox House Chapter. Swift also shared the deluxe version of the record, with bonus track ‘the lakes’.
Earlier this week, she tweeted her support of fans’ idea to turn ‘The Last Great American Dynasty’ into a film, with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds among the imagined cast.
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