Vance Joy and Sia are officially repping for the Aussies at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, in a year of nominations pretty much dominated by Taylor Swift.
Everyone’s favourite paper bag-rocking popstar Sia is up for the Best Female Video gong for her controversial Elastic Heart clip, which as you may recall features child dance prodigy Maddie Ziegler wrestling in a leotard with Shia LaBeouf.
She’s facing some stiff competition in the category, not the least from T-Swizzle herself, who’s been nominated for her Blank Space video, as well as Nicki Minaj for Anaconda, Ellie Goulding for Love Me Like You Do and last year’s awards ceremony conqueror Beyonce for 7/11.
Vance, meanwhile, has been given the MTV nod in the Artist To Watch category for his breakout hit Riptide, pitting him against the likes Fetty Wap, George Ezra, James Bay and FKA Twigs.
Not to eclipse the huge honour of seeing our homegrown artists nominated for such international accolades, but to give you an idea of how much Taylor Swift is just winning at life right now, the Bad Blood singer has raked in a total nine nominations, including the top Video Of The Year gong for, well, Bad Blood.
Someone who wasn’t nominated for that particular award was Nicki Minaj, who has been quick to voice her outrage, firing off a series of strongly-worded tweets, which may or may not have inadvertently started a beef with Tay Tay.
“If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well,” Minaj stated, along with a series of somewhat passive-aggressive smile emojis. “When the ‘other’ girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination,” she continued with at least ten times the emojis as before.
“If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year,” Minaj concluded, with yet more cagey smile emojis.
Swift, perhaps accurately perceiving the tweets as a slight against herself, retorted: “I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other… Maybe one of the men took your slot..”
“Huh? U must not be reading my tweets,” Minaj replied. “Didn’t say a word about u. I love u just as much. But u should speak on this.”
To which Taylor responded with this:
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/623628086614036480
In other VMA’s news, Miley Cyrus will be hosting this year’s ceremony, apparently because organisers “won’t let her perform”, presumably after twerkgate 2013.
Finally, this year’s nominations in the Best Rock Video category are once again a bit of a head-scratcher. As well as Arctic Monkeys and Fall Out Boy, and OK we’ll give you Walk The Moon as well MTV, there were also nods for Florence + The Machine and Hozier. Both great artists, don’t get us wrong, but the whole thing really makes you want to march up to MTV HQ and demand a written definition of what they think “rock” means.
Check out the full list of this year’s MTV Video Music Award nominees, by category, below.
Watch: Sia – Elastic Heart
Watch: Vance Joy – Riptide
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Beyoncé – 7/11
Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar – Bad Blood
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
Kendrick Lamar – Alright
BEST MALE VIDEO
Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
Kendrick Lamar – Alright
The Weeknd – Earned It
Nick Jonas – Chains
BEST FEMALE VIDEO
Beyoncé – 7/11
Taylor Swift – Blank Space
Nicki Minaj – Anaconda
Sia – Elastic Heart
Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
BEST HIP HOP VIDEO
Fetty Wap – Trap Queen
Nicki Minaj – Anaconda
Kendrick Lamar – Alright
Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth – See You Again
Big Sean feat. E-40 – IDFWU
BEST POP VIDEO
Beyoncé – 7/11
Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
Taylor Swift – Blank Space
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
Maroon 5 – Sugar
BEST ROCK VIDEO
Hozier – Take Me To Church
Fall Out Boy – Uma Thurman
Florence + the Machine – Ship to Wreck
Walk the Moon – Shut Up and Dance
Arctic Monkeys – Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
ARTIST TO WATCH
Fetty Wap – Trap Queen
Vance Joy – Riptide
George Ezra – Budapest
James Bay – Hold Back The River
FKA Twigs – Pendulum
BEST COLLABORATION
Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar – Bad Blood
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mar – Uptown Funk
Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth – See You Again
Ariana Grande & The Weekn – Love Me Harder
Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj – Bang Bang
VIDEO WITH A SOCIAL MESSAGE
Jennifer Hudson – I Still Love You
Colbie Caillat – Try
Big Sean feat. Kanye West and John Legend – One Man Can Change the World
Rihanna – American Oxygen
Wale – The White Shoes
Fuck yeah VMAs!!!!! #VMAs on @MTV Aug 30 at 9pm pic.twitter.com/iiBzMm0l3C
— Miley Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) July 20, 2015
If I was a different "kind" of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well. ???
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
When the "other" girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination. ??????????????????????????????????????
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year ?????????????
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/623616796277506048
Huh? U must not be reading my tweets. Didn't say a word about u. I love u just as much. But u should speak on this. @taylorswift13
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
