It’s that time of year again – the Video Music Awards take over. This award show is known for having shocking and controversial performances – just look at Miley Cyrus with Robin Thicke or Madonna with Britney Spears and Xtina. Regardless, you can’t be an award show without nominations. This year Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick, etc. were nominated with newcomers Fetty Wap and FKA Twigs are in consideration with a variety of awards pertaining music videos.
Below are the VMA nominations, the nominees in each category, who should win and who is going to win.
Best Collaboration
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood”
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
Ariana Grande ft. The Weeknd – “Love Me Harder”
Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”
(This spot should’ve been for “Feeling Myself” by Nicki Minag ft. Beyoncé – The video for “Bang Bang” is extreamly basic and simplistic)
Who will win: Taylor Swift – She is always a favorite amongst award shows.
Who should win: Uptown Funk – Uptown Funk has a unique astetic and an easily recongnizable music video. Bruno Mars and the production for this song was amazing. “See You Again” has a chance, but the video is very bland.
Best Video With a Social Message
Jennifer Hudson – “I Still Love You”
Colbie Caillat – “Try”
Big Sean ft. Kanye West and John Legend – “One Man Can Change The World”
Rihanna – “American Oxygen”
Wale – “The White Shoes”
Who will win: Rihanna – She needs promotion for her album and she’s the biggest name in this category.
Who should win: Honestly, anyone in this category that wins deserves it. Yes, even Rihanna.
Best Hip-Hop Video
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen” (The video for Trap Queen isn’t anything special, but the song is popular)
Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
Big Sean ft. E-40 – “IDFWU”
Who will win: Fetty Wap since “Trap Queen” is popular.
Who should win: Kendrick Lamar because his video was powerful and mentally stimulating, but too political for this award show.
Best Rock Video
Hozier – “Take Me To Church” (This is kinda old – older than Anaconda I believe – but it’s amazing)
Fall Out Boy – “Uma Thurman”
Florence and the Machine – “Ship to Wreck”
Walk the Moon – “Shut up and Dance”
Arctic Monkeys – “Why’d you only call me when you’re high?”
Who will win: Hozier
Who should win: Hozier – while all the videos in this category are entertaining with great visuals, Hozier’s goose-bump worthy video leaves an impression the other videos can’t match.
Best Female Performance
Beyonce – “7/11”
Taylor Swift – “Blank Space”
Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
Sia – “Elastic Heart”
Ellie Goulding – “Love me like you Do”
Who will win: Taylor Swift
Who should win: Anyone but Taylor Swift.
Best Male Performance
Ed Sheeran – “Thinking out loud”
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”
The Weeknd – “Earned It”
Nick Jonas – “Chains”
Who will win: Nick Jonas or Ed Sheeran – Nick is preforming and Ed seems like he could snatch this award.
Who should win: Any of the other nominees – They gave great performances: The Weekend with vocals, Kendrick with lyricism/flow, and Mark/Bruno with production and overall concept. Nick and Ed pales in comparison to the others.
Artist to Watch
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen”
Vance Joy – “Riptide”
George Ezra – “Budapest”
James Bay – “Hold back the river”
FKA Twigs – “Pendulum”
I still don’t understand why a video is used to represent an artist as if that’s the only song they’ve ever made.
Who will win: Fetty Wap – Again, he’s popular. Plus it would make the VMAs seem will informed when it comes rap music.
Who should win: Anyone – The artist in this category are in different genres of music so it doesn’t make sense to say “this artist is better than these artists”. However, my personal favorite from this category is FKA Twigs.
Video Of The Year
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Bad Blood”
Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud”
Beyoncé, “7/11″
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk”
Kendrick Lamar, “Alright”
Who will win: Taylor Swift or Mark Ronson – Taylor is a favorite, but if they want to switch it up Mark Ronson will win.
Who should win: Beyoncé or Kendrick – Beyoncé because her video used a format style that isn’t commonly used in music videos, creating a fun music video that separates itself from other fun videos. Kedrick because his video was powerful and visually pleasing.
Best Director
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Bad Blood” — Joseph Kahn
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk” — Bruno Mars & Cameron Duddy
Kendrick Lamar, “Alright” — Colin Tilley & The Little Homies
Hozier, “Take Me To Church” — Brendan Canty & Conal Thomson of Feel Good Lost
Childish Gambino, “Sober” — Hiro Murai
Who will win: Joseph Kahn – Bad Blood is extremely popular.
Who should win: Brendan Canty & Conal Thomson of Feel Good Lost – Take Me To Church captivates you and gives you chills: It’s amazing.
Best Visual Effects
Taylor Swift, “Bad Blood”
FKA Twigs, “Two Weeks”
Childish Gambino, “Telegraph Ave”
Jack U feat. Justin Bieber, “Where Are U Now”
Tyler, The Creator “F*cking Young/Death Camp”
Who will win: Taylor Swift – They had costumes, guns, motorcycles, unneeded explosions; really just anything and everything. They might give it to Jack U just so they can mix it up.
Who should win: Tyler, The Creator or Jack U – Tyler, The Creator’s video was visually pleasing, stimulating, and hypnotic. It’s something that you can’t really look away from. Anyway, Jack U has some nice visual effects. I still would want Tyler to win over Jack U though.
Best Art Direction
Snoop Dogg, “So Many Pros”
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Bad Blood”
Jack White, “Would You Fight For My Love?”
The Chemical Brothers, “Go”
Jack U feat. Justin Bieber, “Where Are U Now”
Who will win: Jack U or Taylor – Taylor Swifts video has a good message and all, but the video just seems so condensed. It would’ve been better if they made the video 10 minutes, like a short film. Jack U because why not.
Who should win: Snoop Dogg – The reimagined live trailers are a great concept and was executed well. No complaints.
Best Editing
Beyoncé, “7/11″
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Bad Blood”
Ed Sheeran, “Don’t”
A$AP Rocky “L$D”
Jack U feat. Justin Bieber, “Where Are U Now”
Who will win: Jack U – Justin Bieber has to win something and this video has distinctive editing.
Who should win: Beyoncé or A$AP Rocky – Both videos have unique and playful (more so on Beyoncé’s side) editing. They deserve a win for their creativity.
Best Cinematography
Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud”
Flying Lotus feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Never Catch Me”
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Bad Blood”
FKA Twigs, “Two Weeks”
Alt-J “Left Hand Free”
Who will win: Taylor Swift. Granted, her video is like a long movie trailer (trying to be a short film). Ed Sheeran’s was romantic and refreshing, and I think he has a slim chance of winning.
Who should win: Flying Lotus/Kendrick – The video takes you on a strange story. It makes you want to rewatch it over and over again just so you can just fully comprehend the duo’s (two young teens – maybe tweens – in the video) journey.
Best Choreography
Beyoncé,”7/11″
Chet Faker, “Gold”
OK Go, “I Won’t Let You Down”
Ed Sheeran, “Don’t”
Flying Lotus feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Never Catch Me”
Who will win: Beyoncé – She’s the biggest name here, but they wouldn’t air this award unless she’s there. If they air this award, then Ed Sheeran would win.
Who should win: OK Go – The choreography for this video is extremealy visually pleasing. It’s so intricute and should be given proper recongnition.
Best Pop Video
Beyoncé, “7/11″ (Why is Beyoncé under pop? They could’ve easily had an R&B/Urban category, but we needed a Song of the Summer category instead)
Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud”
Taylor Swift, “Blank Space”
Maroon 5, “Sugar”
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk”
Who will win: Taylor Swift – At least it isn’t Bad Blood.
Who should win: Anyone. My favorite is Beyoncé, but these videos aren’t lacking in quality (except for Sugar – it’s a basic video: car, wedding crashers, mini concert; it’s a different concept but come off as bland).
Final Observations
You see, the VMAs just like to award different videos by different artists to keep the award show interesting. Sometimes, it doesn’t make sense – at all. For example, in 2009 Taylor Swift won “Best Female Video” over Beyoncé but Beyoncé won “Video of the Year”. Logically, if a video wins best video of the year then that video should win every category that it is nominated in.
Taylor Swift’s video infiltrated over half of the nomination categories. They could’ve replaced some of her nominations with “Feeling Myself” or with a video by an underrated/new artist. Regardless, this award show usually gives awards to the artists in the audies – just a side note.
If you’re intrested in watching this award show, then watch it on MTV (webiste or live) today, August 30, 2015, at 9 p.m. EST.
Let’s see how accurate or inaccurate my predictions are.
