Miranda Lambert ‘Had Given up’ on Winning Entertainer of the Year ‘Because Females Win so Few and Far Between’

At the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards, Miranda Lambert took home the award for Entertainer of the Year. In doing so, she became the first woman to win the award since Taylor Swift did in 2012. During an interview with Esquire, Lambert shared that she “had given up” on winning Entertainer of the Year at the ACM Awards before she won.

Miranda Lambert did not think she would ever win Entertainer of the Year at the ACM Awards

The 2022 ACM Awards took place on March 7. At the award show, Lambert was nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, and Video of the Year. She ended up winning Entertainer of the Year.

In an interview with Esquire, Lambert revealed why she never thought she would actually win Entertainer of the Year at the ACM Awards.

“To be honest, I had given up a little bit on winning Entertainer… because females win so few and far between—and not just because of the female thing, but because all the winners pretty much deserve it,” Lambert said.

She continued, “I had a few years when I really felt like I worked my a** off, like I might have deserved it, but it’s not something you just win out of the blue. It’s your peers going, you did it big this year.”

Miranda Lambert took a break from making music

In 2019, Lambert married Brendan McLoughlin, and the two primarily reside in Nashville together. At the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Lambert ended up taking a break from writing songs for six months.

“I’ve never taken a break that long ever,” she told Esquire. “And it really made me realize a lot of things about how I’ve been on the grind for so long. I felt better, my body felt better.”

Lambert also thinks this break helped her focus on her “new marriage.”

“My husband and I were pretty much newlyweds, and we really got to spend such great time together. We bought an Airstream, and we camped up to see my stepson in New York, and went on the road, just us two, and it was really cool. I think that really built some strength in our new marriage,” Lambert told Esquire.

The singer-songwriter wants to find ‘balance’ in her career

After winning Entertainer of the Year, Lambert revealed she has more “goals” involving “life stuff” versus career achievements.

Lambert told Esquire:

“When I start thinking about my goals for the next decade, a lot of it is life stuff. I want to take my Airstream down Route 66 with my husband—and I also want to maybe write a song and get an Oscar nomination. But I can balance those two things way better when I’m dreaming about the life part, and not just the career part. I’ve blocked all of July ‘ML N/A’—not available. I’m going to go to Texas to float on the river.”