Chris Stapleton’s “It Takes a Woman,” off last year’s ACM Album of the Year winner Higher, is a solemn, honky-tonk-on-Prozac song of devotion that digs deep into male vulnerability. While it’s never been released as a single, its momentum has only built since Higher dropped more than a year and a half ago. And during Thursday night’s ACM Awards, Stapleton gave it yet another boost by delivering a deeply poignant and romantic performance of the ballad.

Stapleton’s performance came after he won Male Artist of the Year for the fifth time. He was joined onstage by his wife and frequent collaborator, Morgane, who provided some stunning back-up harmonies as the couple sang, “It takes a woman/It takes a woman/A woman who sees the best part of me/Through all that I am.”

At last year’s ACM Awards, Stapleton took home trophies for Album and Male Artist of the Year. Neither of those were shocking wins given his stature as the embodiment of burly country authenticity, but the Kentucky native always offers up a few surprises of his own. At the ACMS in 2021, Miranda Lambert joined him for a duet on “Maggie’s Song” — the ultimate pet-owner tear-jerker — and in 2024, Dua Lipa made a complete-surprise appearance to collab with Stapleton on “Think I’m in Love with You.”

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“I’m a big, big Chris Stapleton fan, that’s for sure, and I love country music,” Lipa told ET last year. “I love the storytelling, I love the passion, and it was just so beautiful to be able to dive into that world a little bit, just kind of see it firsthand. It was really special.”

“It Takes a Woman” pulled off its own surprise at this year’s Grammy Awards, winning Best Country Solo Performance and beating out songs by Beyoncé, Jelly Roll, Kacey Musgraves, and Shaboozey.