At the 2018 Academy of Country Music Awards, "The Fighter" from Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban took home the trophy in the Vocal Event of the Year category.

Urban took the mic, saying, "It was such a pleasure to do this song with Carrie Underwood. He went on to thank busbee, who co-wrote and also produced the song, his wife, girls and others.

When Underwood accepted the award, it was right after Underwood's emotional performance of her new single "Cry Pretty." She was noticeably moved and took a moment to collect herself. Thank you for having me I'm still kind of shaky right now. Thank you country radio, fans, oh my gosh."

"The Fighter" was inspired by Urban's wife, Nicole Kidman. He recalls, “Writing 'The Fighter' came pretty quickly. I could hear most of the song already in my head on the ride to the studio that day, where busbee and I were already working. I was thinking about how long it’d been since I heard a song with a guy and girl actually speaking back and forth to each other."

He adds, “It comes from a very real place. It’s a song about helping to heal and protect someone you love. It’s a song about reassurance that you'll always be there to take the blows the world can throw. Carrie and I had sung together before, and I thought our voices blended really well -- so she was unquestionably the right choice. It was such a relief that she wanted to do it.”

There was tight competition for the 2018 Vocal Event of the Year award: Thomas Rhett and Maren Morris' "Craving You," "Funny How Times Slips Away" by Willie Nelson and the late Glen Campbell, Morris and Vince Gill's "Dear Hate" and "What Ifs" by Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina were also nominated in the category.

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