The nominations for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards have been announced amid a flurry of heated controversy, but two musos who have absolutely no reason to complain are homegrown heroes Sia Furler and Vance Joy, who are up for two major awards.
As Fairfax reports, the nominations were announced Tuesday morning US time, with reluctant pop star Sia, who broke the internet with her ‘Chandelier’ video last year, now up for Best Female Video for her divisive, Shia LaBeouf-starring ‘Elastic Heart’ clip.
As Tone Deaf previously reported, some who watched the clip questioned the appropriateness of having then 12-year-old dancer Maddie Ziegler wrestling in her now iconic skin tone leotard with the 28-year-old Transformers actor.
Meanwhile, Vance Joy, who is busy plotting total overseas domination as he makes the rounds as Taylor Swift’s new best buddy slash tour support, has been nominated in the category of Artist to Watch for his ‘Riptide’ video.
Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Beyonce lead the nominations, with the three competing for the night’s biggest award, Video of the Year, alongside Kendrick Lamar and Mark Ronson, who is up for his Bruno Mars-starring smash ‘Uptown Funk’.
Lamar leads the field with an incredible total of 13 nominations, scoring noms for his ‘Alright’ video as well as his work with Taylor Swift (‘Bad Blood’) and Flying Lotus (‘Never Catch Me’).
Swift is up for a total of nine awards, with the majority nabbed for her fiery, heavily hyped ‘Bad Blood’ clip. One name conspicuously absent from the Video of the Year nominations list, however, is Nicki Minaj.
Like Sia, Minaj’s video for ‘Anaconda’ broke the internet, amassing half a billion views (that’s billion with a ‘b’), spawning countless memes, gifs, parodies, and jokes, and became a pop culture sensation when it was first released.
As Stereogum notes, despite its widespread popularity, ‘Anaconda’ has been relegated to the Best Female Video and Best Hip Hop Video categories and Minaj herself is not happy, issuing a Twitter tirade aimed at MTV.
“If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist, ‘Anaconda’ would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well,” Minaj wrote. “U couldn’t go on social media w/o seeing ppl doing the cover art, choreo, outfits for Halloween…an impact like that & no VOTY nomination?”
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“If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year,” she added, prompting a response from Swift, who apparently deduced that the comment was aimed at her.
“I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot,” she replied. Swift later invited Minaj onto the stage with her if she wins Video of the Year.
The 2015 MTV VMAs will be heald at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater (formerly Nokia Theatre LA Live) where it was last held in 2011, airing live on 30th August US time. This year’s host has been announced as bonafide VMAs icon Miley Cyrus.
2015 MTV Video Music Award Nominations
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Beyoncé, 7/11
Ed Sheeran, Thinking Out Loud
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, Bad Blood
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk
Kendrick Lamar, Alright
BEST MALE VIDEO
Ed Sheeran, Thinking Out Loud
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk
Kendrick Lamar, Alright
The Weeknd, Earned It
Nick Jonas, Chains
BEST FEMALE VIDEO
Beyoncé, 7/11
Taylor Swift, Blank Space
Nicki Minaj, Anaconda
Sia, Elastic Heart
Ellie Goulding, Love Me Like You Do
BEST HIP HOP VIDEO
Fetty Wap, Trap Queen
Nicki Minaj, Anaconda
Kendrick Lamar, Alright
Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth, See You Again
Big Sean feat. E-40, IDFWU
BEST POP VIDEO
Beyoncé, 7/11
Ed Sheeran, Thinking Out Loud
Taylor Swift, Blank Space
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk
Maroon 5, Sugar
BEST ROCK VIDEO
Hozier, Take Me To Church
Fall Out Boy, Uma Thurman
Florence + the Machine, Ship to Wreck
Walk the Moon, Shut Up and Dance
Arctic Monkeys, Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
ARTIST TO WATCH
Fetty Wap, Trap Queen
Vance Joy, Riptide
George Ezra, Budapest
James Bay, Hold Back The River
FKA Twigs, Pendulum
BEST COLLABORATION
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar, Bad Blood
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk
Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth, See You Again
Ariana Grande & The Weeknd, Love Me Harder
Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, Bang Bang
VIDEO WITH A SOCIAL MESSAGE
Jennifer Hudson, I Still Love You
Colbie Caillat, Try
Big Sean feat. Kanye West and John Legend, One Man Can Change the World
Rihanna, American Oxygen
Wale, The White Shoes
