jumbledray55: Katy Perry, Adele, Kanye West Lead VMA Nominees

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Katy Perry, Adele, Kanye West Lead VMA Nominees

California Gurl Perry leads all nominees with nine nods for the August 28 show.
By Gil Kaufman

Katy Perry in her "Firework" video
Photo: Capitol

It's fitting that the leading nominee for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards is Katy Perry, since the California Gurl has had a massive year. Perry nabbed nine nominations for the August 28 awards show, including bids for Best Pop Video, Best Collaboration, Best Direction, Best Special Effects and the biggie, Video of the Year, for her smash "Firework" clip.

Close on her heels is another diva who's had a breakout year: British songbird Adele, who rolled up seven nominations for her hit "Rolling in the Deep" from 21, the best-selling album so far of 2011. Among her nominations are Video of the Year, Best Female Video and Best Pop Video.

It wasn't just about the ladies, though, as Kanye West earned seven nods for his high-concept clips "All of the Lights" and "Power," including Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Male Video and two shots at Best Collaboration for his Rihanna and Kid Cudi hook-up for "Lights" and his cameo in Perry's "E.T."

There was also plenty of love to go around for singer/songwriter Bruno Mars, whose four noms include Video of the Year, Best Pop Video and Best Male Video for "Grenade."

A trio of divas — Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj — were just behind with three VMA nominations each, with Nicki earning Best Hip-Hop Video and Best Female Video bids for "Super Bass," and Gaga and Beyoncé also in contention for the latter for their clips for "Born This Way" and "Run the World (Girls)," respectively. Gaga's other noms are for Best Art Direction and Best Choreography for the controversial "Judas," while B's "Girls" also got noticed in Best Choreography and Best Cinematography.

The #3 all-time VMA award winner, Eminem, picked up three nominations this time for Best Male Video, Best Direction and Best Cinematography for his Rihanna collaboration "Love the Way You Lie."

Among the acts with two nominations are such veterans as the Beastie Boys, Chris Brown, 30 Seconds to Mars and Pitbull, as well as first-time VMA nominees Tyler, The Creator; Foster the People; and Manchester Orchestra.

Other newbies making the nominee list include Wiz Khalifa and Big Sean for Best Hip-Hop Video and Mumford & Sons for Best Rock Video. For a complete rundown of this year's nominees, check out MTV's VMA nominations list.

Beginning Wednesday (July 20) at 11 p.m. ET, you can vote for general VMA categories, including Best New Artist, by visiting vma.mtv.com or m.mtv.com on your mobile phone. In addition, you can get in on Best New Artist text voting by texting BNA to 66333 on your wireless phone. Voting continues through the show, which airs live on August 28 at 9 p.m. ET. (Verizon subscribers can vote on all categories via SMS by texting VMA to 66333; standard message rates apply.)

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