Ashley McBryde’s Grammy Tattoo Is Officially Inked, and That’s Not All
After she won her first Grammy Award early in 2023, Ashley McBryde said she was planning to get a tattoo to commemorate the occasion. On Sunday night (April 2), at the 2023 CMT Music Awards, the singer made good on that promise: She walked into the ceremony with a golden gramophone freshly inked onto her left wrist.
"Fresh tattoo, yeah. It's still healing. So we're seven or eight days [out from getting it done]," McBryde told ET Online, also confirming that yes, in fact, getting the tattoo hurt quite a bit.
"Oh, absolutely. Absolutely," she continued. "And I would love it if they were licked on by unicorns, but they're not."
McBryde should know — she's famously heavily tattooed, with American Traditional-style ink decorating much of her arms and a large, recognizable image of an eagle painted across her chest. Still, she's not done painting her body art masterpiece yet: In fact, McBryde's gramophone was one of two new pieces the singer was rocking at the 2023 CMTs. On the carpet, she hinted that another new tattoo is a tribute to music she hasn't put out yet.
"Yeah, there's new music coming, and — you know, I'll let you draw any conclusions you want. 'The Devil I Know' comes out on April 7," McBryde teased.
While she didn't show a close-up of that new ink, photos from the night suggest that it might be a drawing of a car's rearview mirror, with the eyes of the devil peering back through the glass. McBryde has been indicating for a while now that new music is on its way, and the first taste of that new chapter, "Light on in the Kitchen," arrived in late February. As she mentioned on the CMTs carpet, McBryde's next new song arrives on Friday (April 7.)
In addition to her celebratory new tattoos, McBryde was one of several CMT Music Awards attendees wearing a more somber accessory: A black pin remembering the lives lost in the school shooting that took place at Nashville's Covenant School on March 27, killing three nine-year-old students and three adult school staff members.
"With everything that was lost last week, it almost seems a little bit backward to be able to come together and be able to celebrate music tonight," McBryde reflected. "But country music is good at bringing us together and creating space for healing, and that's what we'll be able to do tonight."
The 2023 CMT Music Awards aired live from Austin, Texas, on CBS on Sunday night. Kane Brown and Kelsea Ballerini co-hosted the show.