A country music legend Shania Twain provides some pre-award show information for the highly anticipated 2026 Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards.
“Well, I can check this bucket list [item] now because hosting the ACMs is a big deal for me,” Twain, 60, said Us Weekly and other McClatchy Media outlets before Sunday, May 17, will be shown at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
“And yes, it makes one feel accomplished about other bucket list items – boy, yes, just spend more time with my horses,” Twain added. “That’s what I really need to do. More time with the horses. A bucket list item right on the beach… A gig hosting my favorite line right now.”
Sunday’s 61st awards show will feature plenty of upsets and milestones, especially as women claim the evening’s most nominations for the second year in a row.
Twain, not to be outdone, is hosting the ACMs for the first time this year, taking over from his musical colleagues. Reba McEntire.
Shania Twain attends the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards
Getty Images“I represent our species,” said Twain USA Today for his performance on the evening, which also marks 30 years of the singer’s first ACM win in 1996. “I’m here to represent the talent, to make them feel comfortable. So I think I’m going to have a really good time.”
Twain recounts Us and other McClatchy Media channels that when it comes to him and his country music stars, whether it’s the awards or the bright light of the awards shows that they “giggle like entertainers.”
“This is the biggest gig of my life,” Twain said of the awards show and his role as the evening’s host. “You can expect a lot of excitement, glamour. It’s going to be a lot of glitz here in Las Vegas. You can expect this to be ACMs Vegas style. There’s going to be a lot of glamor because there are more women on the nominees list this year.”
He adds, “So that always elevates fashion a little bit sometimes, I think. To be able to see a lot of really good, high fashion.”
Twain’s participation activities come after what he had previously told Us it was her period of “mental liberation” after decades of hard work, major losses and body image issues.
“I always said, ‘I need to be me.’ If anything, I was in a rush to find more truth,” Twain told us exclusively about his March 2025 cover story. “The greatest power in any artist is originality. I was insecure about many things, but I had confidence. I could see something really good. I could see it in others and in myself. I had a lot of clarity about that.”
He continued to insist that no one be present when he sings, “I want to do well in what I do, but you will not be well, no one can because it is a living, breathing thing. I had to stop [that]. I saw that everyone was there for the live performance. They know they are not listening to a record. They are not there to show them how perfect I am.”
The 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards will air live from Las Vegas’ MGM Grand on Sunday, May 17, and will be simulcast on Prime Video beginning at 8 pm ET. The show will also be streamed through Amazon Music’s Twitch channel and standalone app.
