With the ACM Awards airing tonight, we’re taking some time to look back on some iconic performances. One in particular caught our attention, although it’s iconic for probably all the wrong reasons.
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In 2016, Nick Jonas joined Kelsea Ballerini on stage at the ACM Awards to play guitar on her song “Peter Pan.” The performance turned out so badly that it sent Jonas to therapy.
“Kelsea and I had a couple performances together, and this was one of them,” Jonas began, speaking on an episode of Dax Shepherd’s Armchair Expert podcast in 2023. “I come out for my thing. I’ve rehearsed it a million times. I’m feeling really confident about it, not even really thinking about it like it’s a thing that’s going to be problematic.”
Unfortunately for Nick Jonas, problematic was exactly what that performance turned out to be. He admitted that, as he began to play the guitar solo, he had a complete brain fart.
Nick Jonas Talks “Blacking Out” During a Performance and Completely Messing Up a Guitar Solo During ACM Awards
“I started off, it’s fine and as I sort of walked towards [Ballerini], I just went completely blank and I hit a wrong note and blacked out basically and clocked that it was wrong and I couldn’t stop,” said Jonas.
“To this day and hours of unpacking it, I can’t really figure out exactly what happened, but I was rushed into a car, right to a plane right after and I looked at my manager and said, ‘I think that was bad,’” he continued. “I was, like, in shock kinda.”
For Nick Jonas, this experience led to a career of trying to be perfect all the time. “It was a really traumatic moment that shaped the pressure I put on myself to be perfect and to always be on,” he said.
During that time, the Jonas Brothers had broken up their band and were going in solo directions. Nick Jonas was attempting to make a name for himself beyond his older brothers, Joe and Kevin. Accompanying Kelsea Ballerini at the ACM Awards should have been a time for him to shine.
“In retrospect,” he added, “I can kind of laugh about how big I thought it was. But it did travel more than I wish it would have, and it did cause me to go to therapy.”
Featured Image by Kevin Winter/ACM2016/Getty Images for dcp
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