Everything You Need to Know About the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards
After months of talk about nominations and performers, the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards will finally arrive on Sunday (Aug. 30). So you know what that means: brace yourself for the crazy antics that will be going down that evening. With Miley Cyrus hosting this year, we're sure that there will be plenty of memorable (and weird) moments at the awards show.
So in order to prepare you for what will happen at the ceremony, here is a guide for everything you need to know about the 2015 MTV VMAs.
With hip-hop and R&B artists dominating the nominations this year, there's a lot of ground to cover. Let's start with the year's biggest nominees. Kendrick Lamar is one of the VMAs front-runners with nominations in 10 categories. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that he's nominated twice in a number of categories including Best Cinematography, Best Direction and Video of the Year for "Alright" and his feature in Taylor Swift's visual for "Bad Blood."
Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth pick up nods for "See You Again" in the Best Collaboration and Best Hip-Hop Video categories. Fetty Wap's “Trap Queen,” Nicki Minaj's “Anaconda,” Kendrick's “Alright" and Big Sean's “I Don’t F--- With You" featuring E-40 compete in the latter category as well.
While Nicki wasn't too pleased that "Anaconda" was snubbed for a Video of the Year nod, she certainly isn't lacking in the nominations department. The rapper is recognized in the Best Female Video and Best Collaboration categories for "Bang Bang" with Jessie J and Ariana Grande. Barbz will be pleased that their charming leader is opening up the show with a performance. What will Nicki treat her fans to while onstage? "Feeling Myself"? "The Night Is Still Young"? You'll just have to tune in to find out.
Meanwhile, Ariana will be competing against herself in the Best Collaboration category with "Love Me Harder" featuring The Weeknd. In addition to the collab nod, the Weeknd is also nominated in the Best Male Video category for his smash hit "Earned It." Look out for him to likely perform a medley of that track and his newest pop banger "Can't Feel My Face" when he takes the stage to perform this year.
Beyonce has been known for her big announcements and memorable performances at the MTV VMAs in previous years. And it's no surprise that she grabbed five nominations this year for "7/11" including Video of the Year, Best Choreography, Best Editing, Best Pop Video and Best Female Video. Jennifer Hudson also received one nomination in the Best Video With a Social Message category for "I Sill Love You" and she'll go up against Colbie Caillat's “Try,” Big Sean's “One Man Could Change the World,” Rihanna's “American Oxygen” and Wale's “The White Shoes.”
Kanye West may not have been nominated for an award this year, but he is getting something much better. Yeezus is being honored with the 2015 Video Vanguard Award -- making him the first rapper in 17 years to be honored. The Beastie Boys received the same award in 1998. While he'll be present at the show to accept the award -- hopefully with a very pregnant Kim Kardashian and their little girl, North -- it still unclear if he will also be performing. At previous VMAs, Justin Timberlake (2013) and Beyonce (2014) grabbed the mic to perform before receiving their awards.
We do know that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis will take the stage to showcase their new song "Downtown" (the epic video debuted Thursday). Pharrell will also be performing and A$AP Rocky will be doing a special set with the band Twenty One Pilots. Tori Kelly, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato are scheduled to grace the stage too.
When it comes to presenters, Ice Cube will be in the building (likely shouting out the massive box office sales of the Straight Outta Compton movie) in addition to Kylie Jenner, Ne-Yo, Empire star Jussie Smollett, Rita Ora, John Legend and Miguel, among others.
Plus the list of confirmed attendees continues to grow with Big Sean, FKA twigs, OMI, Bruno Mars and Wale, to name a few.
All of this will certainly make for an entertaining and can't-miss awards show ceremony, but like with any event where major celebrities gather in one room, drama can go down. Host Miley Cyrus may run into a bit of a dilemma if she crosses Nicki Minaj backstage since she recently sounded off about comments between the rapper and Taylor Swift last month regarding the MTV VMAs nominations. According to Cyrus, "Nicki Minaj is not too kind." This will be interesting to see play out at the show.
Be sure to tune in to MTV on Sunday (Aug. 30) to see your favorite artists collect their Moonman at the Microsoft Theater at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
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