The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards is a short four weeks away, coming at you live in Manhattan at the world famous Madison Square Garden on August 28th. Now that we are in the month of August, the anticipation for this event is rising every single day, with some of the biggest names in music are nominated, will be performing, and showing up at the biggest award show of the year.
Leading up to the ceremony, Manhattan Digest will be your all access pass to all things VMA’s, including predictions, interviews, and more, so stay tuned for what we have in store for you. In the meantime, we are kicking off the VMA craziness with our first prediction article, and starting it off big. The most coveted award at the VMA’s is Video Of The Year. It is something that legends such as Van Halen, TLC and INXS have all taken home, and legends in the making like Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga have all snatched as well.
This year’s category for Video of the Year showcases one previous winner in Beyonce, two previous nominees in this category in Kanye West and Adele, and two new nominees that aren’t exactly new to the music industry in Justin Bieber and Drake. Each of these artists had monumental years in music, and it is not a surprise at all that each of them are nominated for the biggest award of the night.
The videos that are nominated for Video of the Year from each artist are Beyonce for “Formation”, Adele for “Hello”, Justin Bieber for “Sorry”, Drake for “Hotline Bling” and Kanye West for “Famous”. If we are talking strictly about the video itself, and not the impact each has made on in industry over the past couple of years, then it is my thoughts that Queen Bey, Beyonce, will take her second trophy home in this category for “Formation”. The highly controversial video raised a lot of questions about her views on police in our country, as well as a myriad of factors that show up in the video, but it truly is one of the standout tracks from the “Lemonade” album, and the variety of scenes, colorful outfits, and overall message of the video really makes it one for the record books and is my personal choice for Video of the Year.
“Hotline Bling” is great, but unfortunately it was a basic video with a basic backdrop, and is more known for the memes that it generated than the video itself. It would be hard for Bieber to really win VOTY for him to not even be in the video. The choreography is superbly done throughout, but just like Drake’s, didn’t really have much else besides that and a white backdrop.
Adele’s video for “Hello” could really contend with Beyonce, not only in this category but others that they are up against each other for. The video was beautifully shot, and the pain and angst in her voice for this monster track really illuminates in her presence throughout the video. The other video I could see contend is Kanye’s “Famous”, as it showcases a lot of his crew in bed together, including his wife Kim Kardashian, but I think he has done much better videos where he was nominated in the past and should’ve won like “Love Lockdown” and “Jesus Walks”. This might be his Susan Lucci award that he will always be nominated for, but never win.
For more information on The Video Music Awards, check out MTV’s official site.