Dan + Shay are up for Vocal Duo of the Year at the upcoming 2025 CMA Awards, a category they have been nominated in a total of 12 times, winning the trophy twice. This year, they share the category with Brooks & Dunn, the reigning Vocal Duo of the Year, plus Brothers Osborne, Maddie & Tae, and The War And Treaty.
While they would love to walk away with another trophy, both Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney say it really is a thrill just to be nominated, as cliché as that might sound.
“We’ve been doing this for so long. We’re grateful to, truly, just grateful to be involved and included in the conversation,” Mooney tells Country Now. “It’s been amazing over the years to be able to even be included with so many amazing artists. And the fact that we’ve been doing this since 2012 is unbelievable.”
Dan + Shay know what it’s like to win and lose awards. While walking away with a trophy is always thrilling, just to hear their name among the list of nominees is already a win for them.
“In all the categories, there are so many people that we love, and who are just killing it out there,” Mooney tells ABC. “And I feel like, in this category, just to be nominated, we’re honored. And I feel like, at this point in our career, you just try not to think too much about winning or losing. It’s the unfortunate thing about awards shows. There’s always going to be a ‘winner’ and a ‘loser.’ It sucks to lose.
“But honestly,” he adds, “you have to put yourself in that frame of mind, and go back to before we were ever invited to the CMA Awards. We got here, we were invited to the dance, and that’s enough for us right now. That’s a crazy thing to be among all of those incredible artists that are in our duo category. So we truly are grateful to still be here.”
Photo Credit: CMA
Dan + Shay Reveal Plans For More Music
Dan + Shay’s last studio album, Bigger Houses, came out in 2023, but they hint that fans won’t have to wait too much longer for more music from the pair.
“This year has been a bit of a change for us,” Smyers says. “We took a year off the road to reset. It was necessary after ten years of doing the thing, and we just wanted to spend more time writing. Shay’s got a new baby at home…We’ve been locked in the studio. We didn’t post on social media. People were like, ‘Oh my gosh, did they break up?’ We just literally forgot to post on social media.”
Dan + Shay did release It’s Officially Christmas: The Double Album in 2024, while they keep working on their next set of tunes.
“I feel like we’ve been on such a good stretch of creativity with writing,” the duo says. “And that’s how these Christmas songs came about. We were just in the studio nonstop, hanging, enjoying being home. We hadn’t taken a break from the road since 2013, so it was…it felt good. It was our first kind of real break, even though it wasn’t a break. We were in the studio.”
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What Dan + Shay Say About Their Next Album
Chances are, fans won’t have to wait too much longer for more Dan + Shay music. For most of 2025, working on their next album has been their highest priority.
“We’ve been working on a lot of new music,” Mooney reveals. “This is the first time in our entire career that we haven’t done a full tour this year. We did some private stuff and things like that. But this was, for the most part, we got to spend all of our time in the studio, which is kind of why we forgot to post on social media…. We’re having more fun than we’ve ever had, and a lot of new music coming out next year.”
As for what their next set of tunes will sound like, Smyers says it will be reminiscent of their early years, and a return to their roots.
“More Dan + Shay than ever,” Smyers teases. “Back to our roots of staying in our lane, doing what we do at the highest level. I feel like through all of our explorations and our musical journey, I feel like that’s the thing we’ve learned, and that’s what people have told us. But you’ve got to go out there and make your mistakes and figure it out, to figure out that people want us to do Dan + Shay at the highest level that we can. And that’s not easy to do.”
The 2025 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 19, at 8:00 PM ET on ABC. The show will stream the next day on Hulu.