Yard Act, Sam Fender Among Nominees At 2022 UK Music Video Awards

Adele, Arlo Parks, alt-J, black midi, FKA twigs, Florence + The Machine, Gorillaz, IDLES, Jeshi, Kylie Minogue & Jessie Ware, Little Simz, Loyle Carner, Sam Fender, Wet Leg and Yard Act are among the British artists who have notched multiple nominations for their music videos and other visual projects at this year’s UK Music Video Awards, in the shortlists announced on September 28.

International artists Kendrick Lamar, Doechii, Lil Nas X, Pharrell (ft 21 Savage & Tyler The Creator), Stromae and Tove Lo also feature with multiple nods in this year’s list of nominations for over 30 awards, celebrating the best work in music videos in the UK and around the world, and the creativity and technical achievements of the filmmakers who made them.

The winners at the 2022 UK Music Video Awards will be announced at the awards ceremony which takes place for the first time at Magazine, the new state-of-the-art events venue near The O2 in North Greenwich, on October 27, in what promises to be a big night for the music video-making industry.

Leading the way in the nominations is FKA twigs with a stunning haul of 8 nominations, including 5 nods for her video for “Tears In The Club”, featuring The Weeknd. She is followed by fellow British artist Little Simz with 6 nominations, who similarly gained 5 nominations for a single video – Point and Kill, featuring Obongjayar. UK alt rock outfit black midi also have 6 nods at the UKMVAs, divided between three videos made for tracks from their new album Hellfire.

The black midi video for Sugar/Tzu is one of several videos with 3 nominations in the 2022 UK Music Video Awards shortlist. That includes Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Pt 5”, the video that launched his new album; Doechii’s “Crazy”, one of the most controversial videos of the past year; the all-animated video for Pharrell’s “Cash In Cash Out”, featuring 21 Savage and Tyler The Creator; and Nadie, a video for Mexican/Argentine vocal duo Sin Bandera.

Following the upheavals caused by COVID, the nominations at the 2022 UK Music Video Awards also reflect the world of music video production bouncing back, with the shortlist featuring a plethora of burgeoning directing talent making their debut among the nominations, as well as honouring the skills displayed in numerous film departments, including Cinematography, Production Design, Editing and VFX.

Among the ‘behind-the-camera’ talent, British-Ghanaian director Ebeneza Blanche leads the pack with a remarkable 7 nominations – including five nominations for their video for Little Simz’s Point and Kill and a place in the Best New Director list. US director Amber Grace Johnson’s video for “Tears In The Club” for FKA twigs has 5 nominations, and “like Point and Kill” it is nominated in several Technical Achievement categories, including Best Wardrobe Styling and Best Hair & Make-up. C Prinz, who directed Doechii’s “Crazy”, sees her video pick up 4 nominations, and also wins a nod in the Best New Director list.

Henry Scholfield, a former winner of the Best Director award at the UKMVAs, is nominated again for that award while his video for Stromae’s “Fils de Joie”, gains 2 nods, and one for Ed Sheeran’s “2Step”, featuring Lil Baby. US director Noel Paul’s videos for black midi’s “Sugar/Tzu”, and Ezra Furman’s “Forever In Sunset” get a total of 4 nods.

Also on the Best Director list is Ukranian director Tanu Muino, who won the award last year, and is also nominated for her direction of Harry Styles’ video for “As It Was”, and Foals’ “2am”. She is joined by French directors Arnaud Bresson and Valentin Petit, and British directors Scholfield, Duncan Loudon and Aidan Zamiri. The Best New Director list is completed by French directing duo Bleu Desert, US-based STILLZ, Italian director Giada Bossi and British director Edem Wornoo.

For the second time, the 2022 UK Music Video awards has an award for Best Performance in a Video, designed to spotlight outstanding on-camera performances by artists, actors and dancers in music videos. The shortlist features mesmerizing turns by Kendrick Lamar, Loyle Carner, and Lil Nas X, hard-hitting performances by young Italian actors in Giada Bossi’s video for electronic act Arssalendo, and celebrated actor David Thewlis in his debut music video appearance for Leeds band Yard Act.

The UK Music Video Awards also recognises work in shortform live video and special visual projects. The Live Video category features an eclectic mix of international artists including Belgian superstar Stromae, Jamaican pop sensation Koffee, Irish band Fontaines DC, Norwegian artist Aurora, Nigerian singer-songwriter Obongjayar and breakout US singer Dijon. Special Visual Projects includes films by Moses Sumney, Lykke Li and Sad Night Dynamite, as well as the much-nominated Little Simz and FKA twigs.

Since its inception in 2008, the UKMVAs has grown into the leading global awards programme for music video creativity, the most important annual event in the calendar for the world of music video production. The global reach of the competition once again saw entries from over 30 different territories.

Nominees for the 2022 UK Music Video Awards:

Best Pop Video – UK in association with Cinelab Film & Digital
Harry Styles – As It Was
George Ezra – Green Green Grass
Kylie Minogue & Jessie Ware – Kiss of Life
Adele – OMG
The 1975 – Part Of The Band
Arlo Parks – Softly

Best Dance/Electronic Video – UK
Gorillaz ft Thundercat – Cracker Island
Chase & Status – Mixed Emotions
Franc Moody – Raining in LA
Orbital – Smiley
Lewis Thompson ft David Guetta – Take Me Back
Tourist – Your Love

Best R&B/Soul Video – UK
Joy Crookes – 19th Floor
Michael Kiwanuka – Beautiful Life
FKA Twigs – Jealousy
Greentea Peng – Look To Him
Labrinth – Mount Everest
FKA twigs ft The Weeknd – Tears in the Club

Best Rock Video – UK
Foals – 2am
Muse – Compliance
IDLES – Crawl!
Sam Fender – Getting Started (Director’s Cut)
Florence + The Machine – King
Sam Fender – Spit Of You

Best Alternative Video – UK
Yard Act – 100% Endurance
Bakar – Build Me A Way
black midi – Eat Men Eat
alt-J – Hard Drive Gold
Radiohead – If You Say The Word
black midi – Sugar/Tzu

Best Hip Hop / Grime / Rap Video – UK
Jeshi – 3210
Jeshi – Generation
Loyle Carner – Hate
Big Zuu ft JME & Novelist – Offline
Little Simz ft Obongjayar – Point And Kill
Dave – Verdansk

Best Pop Video – International
Lizzo – About Damn Time
Stromae – Fils De Joie
Desirée Dawson – Meet You At The Light
Tove Lo – No One Dies From Love
Rosalía – Saoko
Lil Nas X – That’s What I Want

Best Dance/Electronic Video – International
Meduza, James Carter ft Elley Duhe & Fast Boy – Bad Memories
Kavinsky – Cameo
DJ Snake – Disco Maghreb
Arca – Prada/Rakata
Flume ft May-A – Say Nothing
Ásgeir – Snowblind

Best R&B/Soul Video – International
IDK – Breathe
Omar Apollo ft Daniel Caeser – Invincible
Lucky Daye ft Lil Durk – N.W.A.
The Weeknd – Out Of Time
Steve Lacy – Sunshine
UMI – Wish That I could

Best Rock Video – International
The Lumineers – Brightside
Ezra Furman – Forever in Sunset
Pretty Sick – Human Condition
Imagine Dragons – Sharks
Måneskin – Supermodel
The Black Keys – Wild Child

Best Alternative Video – International
MorMor – Far Apart
Joji – Glimpse of Us
Stephan Moccio – Halston
GENER8ION x 070 Shake x SURKIN – Neo Surf
Jean-Michel Blais – Passepied
ZNTNDR – Untitled Us

Best Hip Hop / Grime / Rap Video – International
SCREW – 22
Pharrell ft 21 Savage & Tyler The Creator – Cash In Cash Out
Doechii – Crazy
Sopico – Slide
Kendrick Lamar – The Heart Part 5
Residente ft Ibeyi – This is Not America

Best Pop Video – Newcomer
Cavetown x beabadoobee – Fall In Love With A Girl
Flowerovlove – I Love This Song
Taura Lamb – Love Song
Empress Of – Save Me
Mads Langer – Ukendt land
Sad Night Dynamite – What Does That Make Me

Best R&B/Soul Video – Newcomer
Khazali – Better With The Devil
Lava La Rue – High Fidelity
Sipho – I Don’t Get It
Nightmares On Wax – Isolated
Ivy Sole – Talk That Talk
Murkage Dave – Us Lot

Best Dance/Electronic Video – Newcomer
Cheap Electric Pink Wool – 01G
Confidence Man – Feels Like A Different Thing
Duvall ft Sam Gray – Good Feeling
David Lindmer ft Johanson – Omen
Adibanti – One Door Closes
Ross from Friends – The Daisy

Best Rock Video – Newcomer
Didirri – Begin Again
Wu-Lu – Blame
Alex Orma – Du Sang du Singe
Cafuné – Tek It
Wet Leg – Ur Mum
Wet Leg – Wet Dream

Best Alternative Video – Newcomer
Baby Dave – Clarence’s Dead Dad
Nick Leng – Morning / Midnight
Arssalendo- Quattro Pareti
ALASKALASKA – Still Life
Nother – Us
Marina Satti – Yiati Pouli M’

Best Hip Hop / Grime / Rap Video – Newcomer
Bxks ft Oscar Worldpeace – 321
Fly Anakin – Class Clown
Flohio – Cuddy Buddy
WU-LU – Ten
Rodney Chrome – To The Money
AntsLive – Tweakin

Best Live Video
Aurora – A Touch of the Divine
Dijon – Annie
Obongjayar – I Wish It Was Me
Fontaines DC – Jackie Down The Line (The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon)
Stromae – Santé
Koffee – Where I’m From (Vevo LIFT Live Session)

Best Special Visual Project in association with LEAP
Moses Sumney – Blackalachia
FKA twigs – Caprisongs
Dream Diver – Dream Diver
Lykke Li – EYEYE
Little Simz – I Love You, I Hate You
Sad Night Dynamite – Volume II Mix Tape

Best Performance in a Video
Yard Act – 100% Endurance
Belief – Dreams
Loyle Carner – Hate
Arssalendo – Quattro Pareti
Lil Nas X – That’s What I Want
Kendrick Lamar – The Heart Part 5

Best Production Design in a Video
Hikaru Utada – Bad Mode
Thom Draft – Breathtaking
Angèle – Bruxelles Je t’aime
Tove Lo – No One Dies From Love
Adele – OMG
Arlo Parks – Softly

Best Choreography in a Video
Doechii – Crazy
Florence + The Machine – Heaven Is Here
Jean-Michel Blais – Passepied
FKA twigs – Ride the Dragon
FKA twigs ft The Weeknd – Tears in the Club
alt-J – The Actor

Best Wardrobe Styling in a Video in association with i-D
Stromae – Fils de Joie
Kylie Minogue & Jessie Ware – Kiss of Life
Sin Bandera – Nadie
Sampa The Great – Never Forget
Little Simz ft Obongjayar – Point and Kill
FKA twigs ft The Weeknd – Tears in the Club

Best Hair & Make-up in a Video
Gloria Groove – A Queda
Priyanka – Come Through
Sin Bandera – Nadie
Sudan Archives – NBPQ (Topless)
Little Simz ft Obongjayar – Point and Kill
FKA twigs ft The Weeknd – Tears in the Club

Best Cinematography in a Video in association with CHEAT
Taylor Swift – All Too Well
Doechii – Crazy
Sin Bandera – Nadie
Little Simz ft Obongjayar – Point and Kill
black midi – Sugar/Tzu
ZNTNDR – Untitled Us

Best Colour Grading in a Video in association with Studio RM
Ethan P Flynn – Distraught
Sam Fender – Get You Down