Keith Urban & Carrie Underwood strip down, speed back up 'The Fighter' for 2017 CMT Music Awards

Katie Atkinson


For Wednesday's (June 7) CMT Music Awards, Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood took "The Fighter" off the dance floor (at least briefly) for a stripped-down intro before ramping the speed back up to its original dance-club beat.

When show host and Nashville star Charles Esten introduced the song, he promised, "OK, everybody, this is special. We've got something truly incredible for you right now. You've all heard Keith and Carrie sing their smash hit 'The Fighter,' but I guarantee you've never heard it like this." The intro made sense given the song's ubiquity at awards shows over the past few months, including at the Grammys and the ACM Awards, but the slowed-down intro and verses made the romantic lyrics really stand out, and Urban and Underwood truly drove home the song's yearning.

Take a look at when the song picks up the beat again below:

See more from the 2017 CMT Music Awards below:


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