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| MTV Logo. Found on Wikimedia Commons. |
Nominations for the 2019 MTV VMAs were announced
on Tuesday (7/23), celebrating the music videos and artists that dominated
over the last year. Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X,
Halsey and Cardi B are the year’s most decorated nominees, earning upwards of
six nods a piece. The ceremony is slated to take place August 26 at the
Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.
This year’s VMAs provide an interesting look into what is going
on in music culture right now. From the female dominated nominees list to the heightened
inclusion of Latin and K-Pop artists and more, diversity and progression are definitely
being highlighted this year.
Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look
at some of the highlights from this year’s VMA nominations. Here are five
noteworthy trends reflected on the list.
1.
Girl Power: Female artists have hit a new renaissance
over the last couple of years and that really
shows in the 2019 nominees list. Ariana
Grande and Taylor Swift have the most nominations of any artist this year
with 10 a piece, followed by Billie Eilish with 9. Out of six nominees for Best
New Artist, five are women. Four out of Six R&B nominees are female as
well. The only category that doesn’t feature any female nominees is Best Rock.
2.
K-Pop: New this year is a Best K-Pop category,
making the VMA’s the first award show to create an entire category for the
genre. While shows like the People’s Choice Awards and the Grammys were
starting to take notice of artists like BTS last year, the genre has been
growing in the United States exponentially. BTS, Blackpink, Monsta X, Tomorrow
X Together, NCT 127 and Exo are all up for the award in its inaugural year. BTS
is also up for two categories outside of their genre, including Best
Collaboration, Best Art Direction and Best Choreography for the Halsey-featuring
“Boy With Luv.”
3.
Latin: Latin music is at its most active in the
US since the late 1990s when Ricky
Martin and Enrique
Iglesias were big. After not having the Best Latin category in 2017 when Luis
Fonsi’s “Despacito” was tearing things up, MTV brought it back last year and
again for 2019. Daddy
Yankee, J Balvin and Maluma return to the Best Latin category this year
with newcomers like Anuel AA, Karol G, Bad Bunny, Benny Blanco and Rosalia
joining in on the mix. Rosalia continues her domination outside of the category
with a Best New Artist nod, as well as Best Choreography for her J Balvin collaboration,
“Con Altura.”
4.
Lil Nas X: As the VMAs come before any of the
other music award shows, they are the first to be able to give Lil Nas X due
credit for his breakout song “Old Town Road.” The song’s remix with Billy Ray
Cyrus has racked up 16 weeks at number one, tying the record for most weeks at
number one with Mariah
Carey & Boys II Men’s “One Sweet Day” and Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito,” and
is possibly set to break it next week. The rap-country crossover got Lil Nas X
eight nominations, the fourth highest behind Grande, Swift and Eilish,
including Video of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. Even his
recent coming out hasn’t stopped his growing popularity like it has other
artists in the past, which is pretty progressive. (Because of Lil’ Nas X’s
remix, country mainstay Billy Ray Cyrus has also earned his first VMA
nominations.)
5.
Videos “Doing Good”: Though MTV has done similar
categories in years past, the new Video for Good category is a great way to
honor the recent resurgence of videos for a cause. Right now you have a lot of big
name artists taking a stand against injustice and merging it into their art. Taylor
Swift, John
Legend, The
Killers and Halsey are all nominated. Nominations were also given to newcomers
Lil Dicky and Jamie N Commons & Skylar Grey, whose videos would likely have
gone under the radar without the category.
The nominations for this year’s MTV VMAs are fairly
reflective of where music culture is right now. It’s a list that expands on trends
highlighting women in music, global influence, inclusion and more. The full
list of nominees and online voting can be found on the MTV website.
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Find music from VMA nominees past and present at Vinyl Bay
777. As Long Island’s top new independent record shop, we have thousands of
titles to choose from in a variety of genres. Browse our wide selection of new
and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs, memorabilia and more in
store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles
being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find
at Vinyl Bay 777.
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