Blake Shelton couldn't make it to Wednesday night's CMT Music Awards in Nashville, which was a shame, considering his "Sure Be Cool If You Did" clip won Male Video of the Year.

Luckily, his wife Miranda Lambert — who won two awards of her own — was there to accept on his behalf, telling the star-packed audience inside the Bridgestone Arena that Shelton had "tried really hard to get here, but he's filming in L.A. tonight," before joking "Honey, I'm drinking for two tonight!"

Shelton's absence wasn't all that shocking, considering his commitments to NBC's smash hit "The Voice." But, as he told MTV News earlier in the week week, this summer he'll turn his attention away from the show ... to focus on a headlining tour — it kicks off July 19 in Virginia Beach — and making memories that will last a lifetime.

"Looking back, some of my favorite memories of growing up were summertime memories; Fourth of July, my birthday is June 18, and those were some of my most favorite times, and I want to do that again," he said. "I want to look back on this summer and think of it like those times, and it's already set up to be that. I'm going out on my first-ever headlining amphitheater tour, and I'm never going to forget it.

"It's everything I ever worked for, from the first time I tried to play a chord on the guitar, this was the dream I had, this was the image that was in my mind, of stepping out ...

Kendrick Lamar sure made the most of his time in Detroit Wednesday night: Not only did he perform for thousands of fans on a scheduled stop on his good kid, m.A.A.d city tour, K-Dot also hooked up with Eminem in the studio.

Last night, longtime Shady producer Mr. Porter posted a picture of himself, Eminem, Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and Royce da 5'9" together. Then a second pic of Eminem and Kendrick hit the Web. Neither the Compton MC nor Em made any mention of the meeting on their social networking sites, though. And the posted pics don't actually mean that the crews have recorded anything.

The pictures came on the same night that Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Nas and Timbaland were photographed in the studio as well, so at the very least there seem to be good things brewing for hip-hop.

Last month Em was snapped in the recording booth with comedian Chris Rock, and in April he and Big Sean were photographed side-by-side and believed to be working on music as well. Last fall, Eminem teased a 2013 solo album when his official online store debuted a Detroit Tigers-style baseball cap that included the years of all of his previous LPs, with 2013 coming last.

A Kendrick and Eminem collaboration would make sense seeing as how the two are both regarded as top-notch lyricists and Dr. Dre protégés. Dre signed Eminem, and together they released his 1999 debut album, The Slim Shady LP. Kendrick just dropped his debut last year and has received a ton ...

Beyoncé wants you to embrace your inner warrior on her soundtrack contribution to the animated flick, "Epic," out now.

The song, which hit the Net on Wednesday, is an inspirational mid-tempo track featuring production from Hit-Boy and Chase N. Cash, as well as singer/songwriter Sia's lyrical prowess. It follows in the tradition of other Bey tunes that aim to remind the listener they run the world.

The song builds around Beyoncé's soaring vocals and feel-good chorus, where she tells the listener, "Fight for you and me/ Look into my eyes and believe/ Little woman we will fight, we will fight/ Little woman we will fight, we will rise."

Later on Beyoncé, who also has the role of Queen Tara in the film, tells the subject of the song to embrace who they are: "They'll burn you at the stake/ If you don't act like they want you to/ But baby be yourself/ Do good and help the world."

While fans have this song to tide them over, the singer has yet to announce when her highly anticipated 2013 studio album will be released. Fans got a taste of the release when her tropical-sounding tune, when a studio version was leaked last month, before getting taken down. And, days later when she closed out the European leg of her Mrs. Carter Show world tour, she gave audience members a full listen to the shimmering She will resume the tour on June 28 in Los Angeles while fans eagerly await more news on her follow-up to ...

Justin Bieber has been all around the world, and now he's about to head to space. The pop star has been confirmed to join a slew of other A-listers who will take flight with Richard Branson on Virgin Galactic, potentially before the year's end.

The Virgin mogul confirmed the news on Twitter, adding that Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, will also join them: "Great to hear @justinbieber & @scooterbraun are latest @virgingalactic future astronauts. Congrats, see you up there!"

The 19-year-old then shared what he plans to do when he gets there. "Let's shoot a music video in SPACE!! #nextLEVEL," he teased.

Bieber is hardly the only celebrity packing his bags to head into the final frontier on the SpaceShipTwo, which will fly 62 miles above the earth when it eventually launches. Other A-listers who reportedly have paid the $250,000 fee to board a flight on Virgin Galactic aircraft include Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher and Tom Hanks.

The first commercial flight on Virgin Galactic could potentially go to space by year's end. Back in April, the SpaceShipTwo had a successful test run in California, breaking the speed of sound.

Until then, Bieber is hard at work on his next album, dubbed his Earlier this week, the singer revealed that his next single is called but didn't confirm when fans might hear the track. Bieber has been penning songs for the "music journal" while trekking the globe on his Believe tour, which will resume on June 22 in San Diego. Given that he's about ...

Taylor Swift likes to put on a show — from her edgy , masquerade-theme performance of at the American Music Awards to her young-spirited, bouncy version of at the MTV Video Music Awards. So when it came to the 2013 CMT Music Awards, nothing was different.

The arena in Nashville, Tennessee, glowed with red light as Swift went full force into "Red," the title track off her 2012 album. She emerged onstage with eyes dark, hair light and everything else in her favorite color — you guessed it: red. A color guard zipped around stage with flowing crimson flags, red splashes painted the screens behind her and her fans mouthed along as she sang the high-emotion hit.

Swift wore a shimmery, black bustier and black shorts, deviating from the oxfords and sweaters she's been known to wear lately. And, of course, she tied everything together with a red wrap, falling behind her like a dress.

And if the song wasn't powered enough at the beginning, Taylor joined her bandmate for an electric guitar solo. Her pal plucked out a charged riff while she flung her hair, really getting into it. Swift ended the show with her classic stare out into the audience, taking everything in as her spotlight dimmed out.

What do you get when you put Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Nas and Timbaland in the studio together? Well, for now, just a picture.

Def Jam senior VP of A&R Lenny Santiago has been hitting Instagram with a few eye-popping in-studio pics lately, but on Wednesday night he may have posted the biggest. "JAY x JT x NAS x TIMBO Rat Pack sh--," he captioned a pic of the four stars laughing while seated next to some studio equipment. "For some this is 'Work' ... For us it's just Fun #RocNation."

There's no telling what the quartet is working on and where it will end up. It has been said that Jay is putting together his 12th solo LP. In May, Lenny S. also snapped pics of Jay-Z and Drake and another of Hov and Wu-Tang Clansman Raekwon in the studio. Timberlake, of course, is slated to drop the sequel to his The 20/20 Experience in September; either of those two projects seems like a logical choice for such a high-powered collaboration.

There must have been something in the air, because Eminem linked with Kendrick Lamar and Black Hippy in the studio Wednesday night as well, but that's another story — no, it's literally another story.

Hov and Timberlake struck gold when they hooked up for JT's "Suit & Tie" earlier this year, and in July the two will go out together on the Legends of Summer stadium tour. If this new pic is any indication, maybe Nas can join them for a date or two.