The king of all award shows is on the horizon, the MTV Video Music Awards. Yes the last couple years have been disappointing, especially last year host-less edition that spawned zero water cooler moments. This year we do have a host, P. Diddy, who could do a good job as long as Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle are writing jokes for him. Already set to perform are Green Day, Kanye West, and Kelly Clarkson. The Viewers Choice is still in the preliminary stages so if you would like to vote for that or the MTV2 Award, or Best Soundtrack From a Video Game, hop over to MTV.com and voice your oppinian. As for the nominees:
Video of the Year
Coldplay, "Speed of Sound"
Green Day, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
Gwen Stefani, "Hollaback Girl"
Kanye West, "Jesus Walks"
Snoop Dogg w/Pharrell, "Drop It Like It's Hot"
Who Should Win: Jesus Walks
Who Will Win: Jesus Walks
Should Have Been Nominated: Vertigo
Jesus Walks is the best video by far the best video on this list and MTV loves rap, so it looks like it’s Kanye’s year this year. Although MTV also loves Stefani as I think No Doubt has the highest winning percentage in VMA history. I find it odd that U2’s Vertigo was left off as Speed of Sound is just Coldplay playing in front of light show and Drop it Like it’s Hot really isn’t visually striking.
Best Male Video
50 Cent, "Candy Shop"
Beck, "E-Pro"
John Legend, "Ordinary People"
Kanye West, "Jesus Walks"
Usher, "Caught Up"
Who Should Win: Jesus Walks
Who Will Win: Jesus Walks
Should Have Been Nominated: John Mayer, Daughters
Kanye should take this one too, but E-Pro and Ordinary People are worthy contenders. Usher is so 2004 and 50 has gone way downhill since his mix-tape days
Best Female Video
Amerie, "1 Thing"
Gwen Stefani, "Hollaback Girl"
Kelly Clarkson, "Since U Been Gone"
Mariah Carey, "We Belong Together"
Shakira w/Alejandro Sanz, "La Tortura"
Who Should Win: Since U Been Gone
Who Will Win: Hollaback Girl
Should Have Been Nominated: Joss Stone, You Had Me
Personally, I’ll go with the video with a chick breaking stuff. That’s totally my form of entertainment. Plus throw in a blatent rip-off of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Maps and I’m set. I always find it interesting when a dude shows up in the best Female catergory. MTV always seems to throw one in every year.
Best Group Video
Black Eyed Peas, "Don't Phunk With My Heart"
Destiny's Child w/T.I & Lil' Wayne, "Soldier"
Green Day, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
The Killers, "Mr. Brightside"
U2, "Vertigo"
Who Should Win: Vertigo
Who Will Win: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Should Have Been Nominated: Jimmy Eat World, Pain
The one thing that is hard to peg the winners so early with the VMA is that they tend to award those who show up. If U2 show up this year, they most likely take home this award. But since they weren’t nominated for the top prize, I’m thinking they turned down a performance and won’t show up and show Green Day win by default. I have already explained why I dislike Destiny’s Child’s Soldier (If You Know What I Mean), so I won’t go into that again.
Best Rap Video
Eminem, "Just Lose It"
The Game & 50 Cent, "Hate It or Love It"
Ludacris, "Number One Spot"
T.I., "You Don't Know Me"
Ying Tang Twins, "Wait (The Whisper Song)"
Who Should Win: Number One Spot
Who Will Win: Just Lose It
All these songs suck massively so I’ll give my award to the video that sports Slick Rick and Mini Me. It’s interesting to compare this award with Best Hip-Hop Video where are but Missy Elliot are quality rappers where the Best Rap Nominees only appeal to kids in Middle School. And as an added bonus, we get the Antoine Merriwether himself, T.I. to boot in this catergory.
Best R&B Video
Alicia Keys, "Karma"
Ciara w/Ludacris, "Oh"
John Legend, "Ordinary People"
Mariah Carey, "We Belong Together"
Usher w/Alicia Keys, "My Boo"
Who Should Win: Ordinary People
Who Will Win: My Boo
Ordinary People has heart, My Boo has the star power. If Alicia Key was to win, it should be for Karma instead, but the voters will kill two stars with one stone with hear song with Usher.
Best Hip-Hop Video
Common, "Go"
Kanye West, "Jesus Walks"
Missy Elliott w/Ciara & Fat Man Scoop, "Lose Control"
Nas w/ Olu Dara, "Bridging the Gap"
Snoop Dogg w/Pharrell, "Drop It Like It's Hot"
Who Should Win: Jesus Walks
Who Will Win: Drop it Like it’s Hot
Should Have Been Nominated: Mobb Deep, Got it Twisted
Sans Missy Elliot, all the videos are worthy. But I would have gone with Common’s The Corner rather than Go.
Best Dance Video
Ciara, "1, 2 Step"
Destiny's Child, "Lose My Breath"
Jennifer Lopez, "Get Right"
Missy Elliott w/Ciara & Fat Man Scoop, "Lose Control"
Shakira w/Alejandro Sanz, "La Tortura"
Who Should Win: La Tortura
Who Will Win: Lose My Breathe
Should Have Been Nominated: 1 Thing
Seriously, nothing beats the Shakira patented breast shake in her video. Aside from Destiny’s Child, I don’t know anyone who could actually dance to the other three nominees, so they should be thrown out by default. Amerie on the other hand is one of the few songs that could get me dancing.
Best Rock Video
Foo Fighters, "Best of You"
Green Day, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
The Killers, "Mr. Brightside"
My Chemical Romance, "Helena"
Weezer, "Beverly Hills"
Who Should Win: Mr. Brightside
Who Will Win: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Should Have Been Nominated: Vertigo
For me it a toss up between Playmates and Eric Roberts, and you can see by my prediction who wins that battle. Too bad there is no Best Pseudo-Celebrity Cameo award so we can see Roberts take on himself with his other video with Mariah Carey.
Best Pop Video
Ashlee Simpson, "Pieces of Me"
Gwen Stefani, "Hollaback Girl"
Jesse McCartney, "Beautiful Soul"
Kelly Clarkson, "Since U Been Gone"
Lindsay Lohan, "Rumors"
Who Should Win: Since U Been Gone
Who Will Win: Hollaback Girl
Should Have Been Nominated: Vanessa Carlton, White Houses
They should really change this award to best Teen-Pop award because not many people above the age of twenty or male like any artist that MTV has thrown into this category. Pop is short for popular which means it should be something everybody likes, not just under-aged females. But enough for a semantics lesson, No Doubt has ruled this category in the past, so expect them to win. Simpson and Lohan are throwaway video, although Rumors has some nostalgia appeal since it harkens back to a day when Lohan actually was attractive. And should I even know who Jessie McCartney is? Is he related to Paul?
Best New Artist in a Video
Ciara, "1, 2 Step"
The Game, "Dreams"
John Legend, "Ordinary People"
The Killers, "Mr. Brightside"
My Chemical Romance, "Helena"
Who Should Win: Ordinary People
Who Will Win: Mr. Brightside
Should Have Been Nominated: Anna Nalick, Breathe (2 A.M.)
This is a two way battle because Ciara, the Game, and My Chemical Romance suck massively. Although if Best New Artist of the past are any indication, maybe I should root for one of the three instead.
MTV2 Award
Akon w/Styles P, "Locked Up"
The Bravery, "An Honest Mistake"
Daddy Yankee, "Gasolina"
Fall Out Boy, "Sugar, We're Going Down"
Mike Jones w/Slim Thug & Paul Wall, "Still Tippin'"
My Chemical Romance, "Helena"
Who I Voted For: Still Tippin'
Who Will Win: Helena
Remember the good old day when MV2 didn’t become a haven for all things frat boys? So what we get is an award to see who is most metro. And since MTV allows you to vote as many times as you want, the award doesn’t go to the most popular, rather it goes whoever fans are the biggest losers (think AFI). And since fans of My Chemical Romance have nothing better to do than sit in front of the computers and vote all day, they’ll win. Even though I hate blatant self promotion, Mike Jones is so over the top when he does it, it become entertaining.
Breakthrough Video
Eminem, "Mosh"
Gorillaz, "Feel Good Inc."
Missy Elliott w/Ciara & Fat Man Scoop, "Lose Control"
Sarah McLachlan, "World on Fire"
U2, "Vertigo"
Who Should Win: World on Fire
Who Will Win: Lose Control
Let play a little “Which One of These Videos is Not Like the Other.” If you said World on Fire, go get yourself a cookie. The breakthrough behind that video is that it only cost $15. McLachlan turned around and donated the $150,000 allotted to the video to various international charities. But I’m sure the charity will go unnoticed again as the video outlets ignored it when it initially came out.
Best Choreography in a Video
Amerie, "1 Thing"
Gwen Stefani, "Hollaback Girl"
Jennifer Lopez, "Get Right"
Missy Elliott w/Ciara & Fat Man Scoop, "Lose Control"
My Chemical Romance, "Helena"
Who Should Win: Helena
Who Will Win: Hollaback Girl
Should Have Been Nominated: Vanessa Carlton, White Houses
Stafani can’t dance, J-Lo gets a pity nomination because he album tanked, and the daning in 1 Thing and Lose Control weren’t even memorial. Helena should win by default.
Best Direction in a Video
Green Day, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (Director: Samuel Bayer)
Jennifer Lopez, "Get Right" (Director: Francis Lawrence/Diane Martel)
Missy Elliott w/Ciara & Fat Man Scoop, "Lose Control" (Director: Dave Meyers/Missy Elliott)
White Stripes, "Blue Orchid" (Director: Floria Sigismondi)
U2, "Vertigo" (Director: Alex & Martin)
Who Should Win: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Who Will Win: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
I really have no comment on direction.
Best Special Effects in a Video
Coldplay, "Speed of Sound"
Gorillaz, "Feel Good Inc."
Ludacris, "Number One Spot"
The Mars Volta, "The Widow"
Missy Elliott w/Ciara & Fat Man Scoop, "Lose Control"
U2, "Vertigo"
Who Should Win: Vertigo
Who Will Win: Lose Control
I was unaware that there were any special effects in Speed of Sound. And the effects in Number One Spot and Feel Good Inc. were not that special. I’d give the U2 because unlike Missy Elliot, their music doesn’t make my ears bleed.
Best Art Direction in a Video
Green Day, "American Idiot"
Gwen Stefani, "What You Waiting For?"
The Killers, "Mr. Brightside"
System of a Down, "B.Y.O.B"
White Stripes, "Blue Orchid"
Who Should Win: Mr. Brightside
Who Will Win: What You Waiting For?
I have no comments on art direction.
Best Editing in a Video
Coldplay, "Speed of Sound"
Foo Fighters, "Best of You”
Green Day, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
Gwen Stefani, "What You Waiting For?"
Jennifer Lopez, "Get Right"
Simple Plan, "Untitled"
Who Should Win: Best of You
Who Will Win: What You Waiting For?
Editing is a hard category to choose because all you have to do is make sure the lips move with the words of the song. Untitled was a cool video, it just too sad that it was paired up with one of the worst songs of the year. Man those Canadians are a whiny bunch.
Best Cinematography in a Video
Coldplay, "Speed of Sound"
Green Day, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
Modest Mouse, "The Ocean Breathes Salty"
Simple Plan, "Untitled"
U2, "Vertigo"
White Stripes, "Blue Orchid"
Who Should Win: Speed of Sound
Who Will Win: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
I really shouldn’t comment here because I’m not entirely sure what cinematography is.
Best Soundtrack From A Video Game
Def Jam: Fight for NY
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme
Madden 2005
Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition
Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
Who I Voted For:: Def Jam: Fight for NY
Who Will Win: Tony Hawk's Underground 2
Should Have Been Nominated: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
He in lies the biggest snub at the awards with that absence of GTA. OK, so no one on the soundtrack has been on MTV since Dr. Dre last appeared in an Eminem video. But unlike all the games on the list, when playing GTA, there is no need to reach for the remote to throw the mute on because you keep on hearing the same songs ad nausea.
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