VMA nominees 2014: Beyonce leads the pack, Iggy Azalea and Eminem close behind
Doing a visual album has paid off for Beyonce: She's the leading nominee at the MTV听痴颈诲别辞听惭耻蝉颈肠听础飞补谤诲蝉.
MTV announced that Beyonce is up for eight moonman trophies, including聽video聽of the year for "Drunk in Love." Iggy Azalea and Eminem are nominated for seven聽awards聽each.
Pharrell is the only male nominated for the top prize. Along with Beyonce, his "Happy" will compete with Azalea's "Fancy," Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball," and Sia's "Chandelier" for聽video聽of the year.
Beyonce's "Partition" is nominated for best female聽video聽and cinematography, while the Jay Z-featured "Drunk in Love" is up for best collaboration. Both songs are from Beyonce's self-titled fifth album, which she released in surprise form last year with all of the tracks'聽music聽videos.
"This album was a labor of love and she had such a vision of wanting to be able to tell the story of this album visually as well as audio," said Lee Anne Callahan-Longo, general manager of Beyonce's production house, Parkwood Entertainment. "She really, really set out to do something special in a visual medium."
Beyonce's "Pretty Hurts," a聽video聽displaying women's body issues and insecurities, is nominated for best direction, editing, and video聽with a social message.
Azalea is still riding high on the success of "Fancy," which spent seven weeks on top of the Billboard charts and is nominated for best pop聽video聽and female聽video. The Australian performer will compete twice in both categories thanks to her other hit, the Ariana Grande smash "Problem." The rapper is not nominated for best hip-hop聽video, though.
Eminem's seven nominations include the latter and best male聽video, where he will compete with Pharrell, John Legend, Ed Sheeran, and newcomer Sam Smith.
The VMAs will air live Aug. 24 from The Forum in Inglewood, California. Performers will include Grande, Usher, and 5 Seconds of Summer.
