VMA 2016: New video prize reflects current music industry model
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Beyonce, Adele, Kanye West, and other artists will face off for top prizes at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards as MTV adds a new category that reflects some of the twists on the music video genre that are currently being produced.
Adele鈥檚 song 鈥淗ello,鈥� Drake鈥檚 song 鈥淗otline Bling,鈥� Justin Bieber鈥檚 song 鈥淪orry,鈥� Beyonce鈥檚 track 鈥淔ormation,鈥� and Mr. West鈥檚 鈥淔amous鈥� are competing for what is often viewed as the top prize at the ceremony, the video of the year award.聽
Beyonce scored the most nods, earning 11 total, including nominations for best female video for 鈥淗old Up,鈥� best collaboration (with Kendrick Lamar for 鈥淔reedom鈥�), and best pop video (again for 鈥淔ormation鈥�). 聽聽
Other nominees for best female video are Adele for 鈥淗ello,鈥� Sia for 鈥淐heap Thrills,鈥� Ariana Grande for 鈥淚nto You,鈥� and Rihanna for 鈥淲ork,鈥� a video which features Drake.聽
Drake (鈥淗otline Bling鈥�), Bryson Tiller (鈥淒on鈥檛鈥�), Calvin Harris (鈥淭his Is What You Came For,鈥� which features Rihanna), West (鈥淔amous鈥�), and The Weeknd (鈥淐an鈥檛 Feel My Face鈥�) are the nominees for the best male video.聽
Drake and Mr. Tiller received nominations for best hip-hop video for the same songs and the category also included Desiigner for 鈥淧anda,鈥� Chance The Rapper for 鈥淎ngels,鈥� and 2 Chainz for 鈥淲atch Out.鈥澛�
The best pop video nominees are Adele for 鈥淗ello,鈥� Beyonce for 鈥淔ormation,鈥� Mr. Bieber for 鈥淪orry,鈥� Alessia Cara for 鈥淲ild Things,鈥� and Ms. Grande for 鈥淚nto You.鈥澛�
The nominees for best rock video are All Time Low for 鈥淢issing You,鈥� Coldplay for 鈥淎dventure Of A Lifetime,鈥� Fall Out Boy for 鈥淚rresistible,鈥� twenty one pilots for 鈥淗eathens,鈥� and Panic! At The Disco for 鈥淰ictorious,鈥� while the nominees for best electronic video are Calvin Harris & Disciples for 鈥淗ow Deep Is Your Love,鈥� 99 Souls for 鈥淭he Girl Is Mine,鈥� Mike Posner for 鈥淚 Took A Pill in Ibiza,鈥� Afrojack for 鈥淪ummerThing!,鈥� and The Chainsmokers for 鈥淒on鈥檛 Let Me Down.鈥澛�
This year, MTV added a new category, that of best breakthrough long form video. The nominees for that prize are Florence + The Machine for 鈥淭he Odyssey,鈥� Beyonce for 鈥淟emonade,鈥� Justin Bieber for 鈥淧urpose: The Movement,鈥� Chris Brown for 鈥淩oyalty,鈥� and Troye Sivan for 鈥淏lue Neighbourhood Trilogy.鈥澛�
When discussing the new prize, MTV itself noted the amount of experimentation with the music video form that is currently happening, saying it prompted the new award.
鈥淪o many artists are doing amazing things with multi-part music video series (like Beyonc茅鈥檚 鈥楲emonade鈥� and Justin Bieber鈥檚 鈥楶URPOSE: The Movement鈥�) that there鈥檚 now a whole new category for them,鈥� 飞谤辞迟别.听
Many of the nominees for breakthrough long form video attracted praise prior to their nominations, with calling Florence + the Machine鈥檚 鈥淥dyssey鈥� video "dazzling" and "visually striking," while 聽called Beyonce鈥檚 鈥淟emonade鈥� video a 鈥渧isual masterpiece."
