Taylor Swift wields an acoustic guitar for world premiere performance of Betty at 55th ACM Awards

She is a two-time winner of the Academy of Country Music’s highly-coveted Entertainer Of The Year award.

And for the first time in seven-years, Taylor Swift returned to the ACM stage to deliver the world premiere performance of her hit song Betty at the Grand Ole Opry House.

The 30-year-old singer-songwriter wielded a black acoustic guitar and remained seated on a stool as she effortlessly performed the emotionally-charged track.

Taylor was positioned center stage, while a backlit harmonica player aided the mood of her performance.

She had on a maroon long-sleeve shirt that was completely covered in light reflecting sequins and she slipped her slender stems into a pair of high waisted beige trousers that tapered at the ankles.   

Swift opted for a minimalistic makeup look and she wore her dirty blonde hair in a romantic bun. 

She maintained intimate eye contact with the camera throughout the entire performance and she could hardly contain her smile as she gazed out into the empty auditorium. 

Taylor concluded her performance with one epic strum before the stage lights went black. 

Prior to taking the stage, Swift’s official fan page hyped up devout ‘Swifties’ by urging them to tune into the world premiere performance.

Betty is featured on Swift’s latest critically-acclaimed record Folklore, which made its surprise debut on July 24. 

The country-inspired single also acted as a means of unveiling the name of pal Blake Lively and husband Ryan Reynold’s third daughter, who was born in October of last year.

Fans quickly connected the dots due to the presence of the names ‘James’ and ‘Inez’ in the song, which happen to be the names of Blake and Ryan’s eldest daughters.

After a few weeks of speculation, Taylor admitted that she ‘named all the characters in this story after [her] friends’ kids.’

She also explained the meaning behind the emotionally-charged song, which she wrote ‘from the perspective of a 17-year-old boy,’ in a brief Country Radio interview.

‘Everybody makes mistakes, everybody really messes up sometimes,’ she began. 

‘I’ve always loved that in music you can kinda slip into different identities and you can sing from other people’s perspectives. So that’s what I did on this one.’ 

Swift’s eighth studio album, Folklore, has dominated the top slot on the Billboard 200 chart for six straight weeks, ‘making it the album with the most weeks atop the list in nearly four years,’ according to Billboard.

Across eight-albums, Taylor has spent 46 total weeks at number one, which ties her with Whitney Houston ‘for the most weeks atop the chart by a woman in history.’ 

The Dear John songstress graced the socially-distanced carpet for Wednesday’s ACM Awards in head-to-toe Stella McCartney at the iconic Grand Ole Opry House. 

Since breaking into the country music scene in 2006, and eventually migrating to pop music, Taylor has taken home a total of nine ACM Awards, including Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year.

She was named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer Of The Year in 2011 and 2012.

Taylor last appeared at the award show in 2013, where she performed the hit Tim McGraw song Highway Don’t Care with the 53-year-old country legend, himself, and Keith Urban.

The biggest names in country music maintained their social-distance for The 55th Academy of Country Music Awards on Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee.

Keith Urban hosted the award show on CBS, which is typically held in April in Las Vegas, but was delayed this year and moved to Nashville, Tennessee due to the pandemic.

‘I’m so glad that they are doing it,’ said Urban. ‘Because I felt for a moment, like are we just going to have to pass on this year? That would be heartbreaking.’ 

But while other music award shows, such as MTVs recent Video Music Awards, have tried a hybrid of virtual stages, music video-style performances or at-home shows, the ACMs broadcasted from three indoor stages. 

The performances, some of which are pre-taped, span three historically important stages in country music history, but none were open to fans.

The smallest, the Bluebird Cafe, accommodates only about 90 people pre-pandemic and the venue helped to start the careers of Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift, among many others. Miranda Lambert sang the aptly titled Bluebird from the small stage, with other performances from Tim McGraw, Jimmie Allen and Luke Combs.

The Ryman Auditorium, an early landmark for gospel and bluegrass as well as country, featured performances by Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett with Jon Pardi and Kelsea Ballerini. 

Swift performed at the biggest of the venues, the Grand Ole Opry House, which acted as the center of operations for the live broadcast. 

A whole new department focusing on COVID-19 precautions and regulations has been added by Dick Clark Productions

‘Whether someone is a guitar tech, a grip, an artist or a producer, everyone who entered any of their venues had to take a COVID-19 test, wear a mask and get their temperature checked,’ explained Richard A. Clark of Dick Clark Productions.