Though Nine Inch Nails‘ heyday may have ended several years ago, frontman Trent Reznor continues to stay active in music. This year alone the musician composed the soundtrack to Netflix’s Bird Box, gave the go-ahead for Miley Cyrus to remix one of his songs on Black Mirror, and even worked with Marvel to design a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt for Captain Marvel. Now,Reznor could even win a Country Music Association (CMA) award.
The musician was granted songwriting credits on Lil Nas X’s breakout hit “Old Town Road” after the young rapper sampled Nine Inch Nails’ track, “34 Ghosts IV.” Because of Reznor’s credit, “Old Town Road” marks Reznor’s first number one single.
Reznor took to Instagram to acknowledge the possibility of a CMA award. “New world, old times,” he wrote under a photo of him wearing a cowboy hat.
The “Old Town Road” remix with Billy Ray Cyrus was nominated for the Musical Event of the Year category at this year’s CMA awards. The award recognizes country music’s outstanding collaborations, which is to say the song is nominated for a CMA because Billy Ray Cyrus is involved, not because the association considers “Old Town Road” a country song. The nomination comes after Billboard removed the song from their country charts, sparking outrage. Billboard later re-added the song to that chart.
