Miranda Lambert Surprises CMA Fest Crowd with Special Guest Avril Lavigne

Miranda Lambert surprised the 2023 CMA Fest audience on Friday night by bringing out pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne during her performance at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.

Lambert introduced the moment by saying she was about to “make more badass happen right now” and calling Lavigne her “new bestie.” 

The pair took on a verse and chorus of Lambert’s hard-charging early single Kerosene before the band quickly switched to the spiky riff from Lavigne’s 2002 smash Sk8er Boi, truly bridging the gap between country and pop-punk. Watch the iconic performance below. 

It's no surprise that the country superstar brought out Avril Lavigne to the CMA stage after speaking about how important it is to uplift other women in music earlier this year. On the conversation around women in music, Miranda said, "Sometimes I feel like it gets too much heat, and it’s unjust, and sometimes I feel like it needs more heat, but what we do is lift each other up. We know the grind we have to go through to get where we’re going. … I love friendly competition, though. I love when girls are kicking ass. Makes me want to kick ass.”

“I love getting to write songs with women, and I love champions like Luke [Dick] that appreciate what we have to offer and a lot of the amazing male artists that have taken us under their wing all this time and champion the females,” she said. “I really think it should be a big family with a little bit of, ‘I can kick ass too.’ Anybody that pours into a record, I want them to be lifted up. They deserve to be nominated. All the songwriters. And this is just our story.”

In addition to Lavigne, Lambert also welcomed Leon Bridges to perform their new duet If You Were Mine and Elle King to reprise their joyfully rowdy hit Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).

In March, Lambert announced she was parting ways with her long-time label Sony after 20 years, making her a free agent for the first time in two decades. Since signing in 2004, she released 8 solo studio albums and one collaborative record (The Marfa Tapes with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall).

“Since I was 19 years old, Sony has been my home in Nashville. Over the last 20 years together, we have released albums that allowed me to share my story with the world, and we’ve reached heights I’d never even dreamed were possible,” she wrote on social media. “I’m so thankful for our time together and everything they made possible for me, yet I wouldn’t be true to myself if I wasn’t constantly looking for the next challenge and a new way to stretch my creativity. With that in mind, I’ve decided to say goodbye to my Sony family. I can’t wait to see what the next adventure holds.”

It remains to be seen if she’ll sign with another major Nashville label. She most recently worked with Luke Combs on a duet called Outrunnin’ Your Memory from his 2022 Growin’ Up record. Additionally, Lambert owns her own honky tonk bar, winery, clothing label Idyllwind, homeware band Wanda June Home, Mutt Nation foundation and recently released her first cookbook Y’all Eat Yet?.