Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande And Billie Eilish Top 2019 MTV VMA Nominations

MTV announced the nominees for the 2019 Video Music Awards on Tuesday (23 July), with pop icons Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish leading the pack.

Grande and Swift are tied for most nominations with 10 each, while newcomer Eilish is close behind, with nine nominations. Grande’s up for the night’s biggest award, Video of the Year for her smash hit, ‘thank u, next’, along with Song of the Year, Best Pop, and Best Cinematography. Her other hit singles, ‘God is a woman’ and ‘7 rings’ are up for Best Visual Effects, Best Editing, and Best Art Direction, respectively.

This is Grande’s second consecutive nomination for Video of the Year, making her the fifth female artist to receive back-to-back Video of the Year nominations. Grande now follows Madonna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Beyoncé in that category.

Swift’s latest single ‘ME!” featuring Panic! At the Disco’s Brendon Urie was also nominated for Best Collaboration in addition to Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography. The pop star’s lively LGBT-celebrating single ‘You Need to Calm Down’ received seven nominations including Song of the Year, Video of the Year, Best Pop, Video for Good, Best Direction, Best Art Direction and Best Editing.

This is Swift’s third video nomination, as she won the award four years ago with her hit single ‘Bad Blood’ featuring Kendrick Lamar.

First-time nominee Eilish, is vying to become one of the youngest VMA winners for Best New Artist since 2010, when Justin Bieber won the award at age 16. Only four other solo artists – Avril Lavigne, Austin Mahone, Fiona Apple and Khalid – have won this category while still in their teens.

Eilish’s other nominations included Push Artist of the Year, Best Pop, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography.

Recognising the global influence that K-pop has gained this year, MTV also announced two new categories for this year’s awards including Best K-pop and video for good, which honours a video’s conscious-raising messages.

As for the K-pop category, BTS and Blackpink will battle it out, as BTS’s collaborative hit with Halsey, ‘Boy With Luv’, will go against Blackpink’s record-smashing ‘Kill This Love’.

Starting now until 15 August, fans can vote for their favourite artists across a total of 14 categories on the MTV website. Additionally, Twitter and Facebook Messenger users can direct message the VMAs to cast additional votes. Even Amazon Alexa owners can ask their device to “vote for the VMAs” within the device’s MTV subsection.

The official ceremony will be hosted by comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, and will air live from New Jersey’s Prudential Center on Monday, 26 August at 8:00 pm. ET/PT.

View the full list of nominees below and visit the official website to vote.

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
21 Savage ft. J. Cole – ‘a lot”
Billie Eilish – ‘Bad Guy”
Ariana Grande – ‘thank u, next”
Jonas Brothers – ‘Sucker”
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus – ‘Old Town Road (Remix)”
Taylor Swift – ‘You Need to Calm Down”

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Cardi B
Billie Eilish
Ariana Grande
Halsey
Jonas Brothers
Shawn Mendes

SONG OF THE YEAR
Drake – ‘In My Feelings”
Ariana Grande – ‘thank u, next”
Jonas Brothers – ‘Sucker”
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – ‘Shallow”
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus – ‘Old Town Road (Remix)”
Taylor Swift – ‘You Need to Calm Down”

BEST NEW ARTIST, presented by Taco Bell
Ava Max
Billie Eilish
H.E.R.
Lil Nas X
Lizzo
ROSALÍA

BEST COLLABORATION
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus – ‘Old Town Road (Remix)”
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper – ‘Shallow”
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – ‘Señorita”
Taylor Swift ft. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco – ‘ME!”
Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber – ‘I Don’t Care”
BTS ft. Halsey – ‘Boy With Luv”

PUSH ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Bazzi
CNCO
Billie Eilish
H.E.R.
Lauv
Lizzo

BEST POP
5 Seconds of Summer – ‘Easier”
Cardi B & Bruno Mars – ‘Please Me”
Billie Eilish – ‘Bad Guy”
Khalid – “Talk”
Ariana Grande – ‘thank u, next”
Jonas Brothers – ‘Sucker”
Taylor Swift – ‘You Need to Calm Down”

BEST HIP-HOP
2 Chainz ft. Ariana Grande – ‘Rule the World”
21 Savage ft. J. Cole – ‘a lot”
Cardi B – ‘Money”
DJ Khaled ft. Nipsey Hussle & John Legend – ‘Higher”
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus – ‘Old Town Road (Remix)”
Travis Scott ft. Drake – ‘SICKO MODE”

BEST R&B
Anderson .Paak ft. Smokey Robinson – ‘Make It Better”
Childish Gambino – ‘Feels Like Summer”
H.E.R. ft. Bryson Tiller – ‘Could’ve Been”
Alicia Keys – ‘Raise A Man”
Ella Mai – ‘Trip”
Normani ft. 6lack – ‘Waves”

BEST K-POP
BTS ft. Halsey – ‘Boy With Luv”
BLACKPINK – ‘Kill This Love”
Monsta X ft. French Montana – ‘Who Do You Love”
TOMORROW X TOGETHER – ‘Cat & Dog”
NCT 127 – ‘Regular”
EXO – ‘Tempo”

BEST LATIN
Anuel AA, Karol G – ‘Secreto”
Bad Bunny ft. Drake – ‘MIA”
benny blanco, Tainy, Selena Gomez, J Balvin – ‘I Can’t Get Enough”
Daddy Yankee ft. Snow – ‘Con Calma”
Maluma – ‘Mala Mía”
ROSALÍA & J Balvin ft. El Guincho – ‘Con Altura”

BEST DANCE
The Chainsmokers ft. Bebe Rexha – ‘Call You Mine”
Clean Bandit ft. Demi Lovato – ‘Solo”
DJ Snake ft. Selena Gomez, Ozuna & Cardi B – ‘Taki Taki”
David Guetta, Bebe Rexha & J Balvin – ‘Say My Name”
Marshmello & Bastille – ‘Happier”
Silk City & Dua Lipa – ‘Electricity”

BEST ROCK
The 1975 – ‘Love It If We Made It”
Fall Out Boy – ‘Bishops Knife Trick”
Imagine Dragons – ‘Natural”
Lenny Kravitz – ‘Low”
Panic! At The Disco – ‘High Hopes”
twenty one pilots – ‘My Blood”

VIDEO FOR GOOD
Halsey – ‘Nightmare”
The Killers – ‘Land of the Free”
Jamie N Commons, Skylar Grey ft. Gallant – ‘Runaway Train”
John Legend – ‘Preach”
Lil Dicky – ‘Earth”
Taylor Swift – ‘You Need to Calm Down”

BEST DIRECTION
Billie Eilish – ‘Bad Guy” – Directed by Dave Meyers
FKA twigs – ‘Cellophane” – Directed by Andrew Thomas Huang
Ariana Grande – ‘thank you, next” Directed by Hannah Lux Davis
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus – ‘Old Town Road (Remix)” – Directed by Calmatic
LSD ft. Labrinth, Sia, Diplo – ‘No New Friends” – Directed by Dano Cerny
Taylor Swift – ‘You Need to Calm Down” – Directed by Drew Kirsch & Taylor Swift

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Billie Eilish – ‘when the party’s over” – Visual Effects by Ryan Ross, Andres Jaramillo
FKA twigs – ‘Cellophane” – Visual Effects by Matt Chandler, Fabio Zaveti for Analog
Ariana Grande – ‘God is a Woman” – Visual Effects by Fabrice Lagayette, Kristina Prilukova & Rebecca Rice for Mathematic
DJ Khaled ft. SZA – ‘Just Us” – Visual Effects by Sergii Mashevskyi
LSD ft. Labrinth, Sia, Diplo – ‘No New Friends” – Visual Effects by Ethan Chancer
Taylor Swift ft. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco – ‘ME!” – Visual Effects by Loris Paillier & Lucas Salton for BUF VFX

BEST EDITING
Anderson .Paak ft. Kendrick Lamar – ‘Tints” – Editing by Elias Talbot
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus – ‘Old Town Road (Remix)” – Editing by Calmatic
Billie Eilish – ‘Bad Guy” – Editing by Billie Eilish
Ariana Grande – ‘7 Rings” – Editing by Hannah Lux Davis & Taylor Walsh
Solange – ‘Almeda” – Editing by Solange Knowles, Vinnie Hobbs, Jonathon Proctor
Taylor Swift – ‘You Need to Calm Down” – Editing by Jarrett Fijal

BEST ART DIRECTION
BTS ft. Halsey – ‘Boy With Luv” – Art Direction by JinSil Park, BoNa Kim (MU:E)
Ariana Grande – ‘7 Rings” – Art Direction by John Richoux
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus – ‘Old Town Road (Remix)” – Art Direction by Itaru Dela Vegas
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – ‘Señorita” – Art Direction by Tatiana Van Sauter
Taylor Swift – ‘You Need to Calm Down” – Art Direction by Brittany Porter
Kanye West and Lil’ Pump ft. Adele Givens – ‘I Love It” – Art Direction by Tino Schaedler

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
FKA twigs – ‘Cellophane” – Choreography by Kelly Yvonne
ROSALÍA & J Balvin ft. El Guincho – ‘Con Altura” – Choreography by Charm La’Donna
LSD ft. Labrinth, Sia, Diplo – ‘No New Friends” – Choreography by Ryan Heffington
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – ‘Señorita” – Choreography by Calvit Hodge, Sara Biv
Solange – ‘Almeda” – Choreography by Maya Taylor, Solange Knowles
BTS ft. Halsey – ‘Boy With Luv” – Choreography by Rie Hata

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Anderson .Paak ft. Kendrick Lamar – ‘Tints” – Cinematography by Elias Talbot
Billie Eilish – ‘hostage” – Cinematography by Pau Castejon
Ariana Grande – ‘thank you, next” – Cinematography by Christopher Probst
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – ‘Señorita” – Cinematography by Scott Cunningham
Solange – ‘Almeda” – Cinematography by Chayse Irvin, Ryan Marie Helfant, Justin Hamilton
Taylor Swift ft. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco – ‘ME!” – Cinematography by Starr Whitesides

Format: UK English