VMA Nominations: Taylor Swift Leads, Feuds with Minaj

MTV’s Video Music Awards ceremonies are pretty well known for sparking some controversy, but this year the show became the most talked about topic before even airing on television. On July 21, the nominees for the 2015 edition of the event were announced, with Taylor Swift getting the most (9) nominations, including Video of the Year. Beyonce’s 7/11, Kendrick Lamar’s Alright, Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk (ft. Bruno Mars), and Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud all managed to land a place in the aforementioned category as well, while Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda, which broke the YouTube record for most views in 24 hours, was overlooked. The singer responded with a series of angry tweets, with one of them saying: “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.” The event’s leading lady, Taylor Swift was quick to respond, accusing the rapper of pitting women against each other. While this uneasy conversation didn’t last for long, it did manage to encourage numerous other musicians to join in and either accuse or defend MTV’s choice of nominees. The debate ended with Swift apologizing, saying that the reason why she responded was because she thought she was being called out. However, numerous reputable publications issued huge articles about the debate, some accusing MTV (and the music industry in general) of racism, arguing that black musicians aren’t celebrated as much as their white colleagues. While it’s very hard to determine whether this is true, many people applauded Minaj for taking a stand, while others called her claims baseless, saying that numerous black artists, including Beyonce, Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys had received many awards for their work.

The award show will be held on August 30, 2015 at the Microsoft Theater at L.A., live in Los Angeles, California, and will be hosted by Miley Cyrus, who delivered arguably the most controversial VMA performance of all time at the 2013 ceremony. Georgia Today will, as always, give you a full recap of the winners and the night’s best and worst performances.

Beqa Kirtava