Taylor Swift left country for pop a decade ago. Now she is going back to the CMA Awards stage with a Toy Story song

Taylor Swift is going back to the stage where her career was built.

The Country Music Association and the ABC network in the US announced on Friday that Swift will perform at the 60th CMA Awards, live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday 18 November at 8pm US Eastern time. That is 9am AWST and 12pm AEDT on Thursday 19 November in Australia. In the US the show airs on ABC and Disney+, and streams on Hulu the next day.

It will be her first performance at the awards in 13 years. The last one, in 2013, was an acoustic version of “Red” with Vince Gill and Alison Krauss, in the same arena, at the height of the album that took her from country star to pop’s biggest name.

Why is she back?

Because country has come to her. Swift is nominated for Single of the Year for “I Knew It, I Knew You”, a country ballad she wrote and recorded for Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5. The nomination is her 26th from the CMA. She has won 11 of their awards since her first nomination, for the Horizon Award, now called New Artist of the Year, in 2007. Her last appearance on the show was in 2016, when she surprised the audience by presenting Entertainer of the Year to Garth Brooks.

The CMA has not said what she will sing.

Who else is on the bill?

The 60th awards are hosted by Lainey Wilson, for the third year in a row. Ella Langley leads the nominations with nine, and Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves are among the most nominated.

The performers announced so far include Langley, Lambert, Musgraves, Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Megan Moroney, Tim McGraw, Vince Gill, Zach Top, Tucker Wetmore and the Red Clay Strays.

Brooks and Dunn, this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, will be honoured with a set featuring Brothers Osborne, Hardy, Luke Bryan, Marcus King and Halestorm. A tribute to Dolly Parton is also planned, with its line-up still to be announced. Swift is not part of either tribute.

Entertainer of the Year, the night’s biggest award, is between Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson.

What does it mean for Swift’s Australian fans?

A rare weekday-morning Swift moment. Fans in the east can watch over lunch on Thursday; in Perth it is a 9am start. The 2013 performance came during the Red era, before her move to pop with 1989; her return lands as one of her songs is again in contention in a country category.