On Sunday, August 28, 2016, MTV will air their annual Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York City. For the past 31 years, the VMA’s have been a highlight in the music industry. Since MTV is the original home for music videos, this year’s awards are just as prestigious as they have always been. Among some of the highlighted awards are Video of the Year and Best Collaboration, which gives each artist even more credibility than before.
Here are some of the nominations at this year’s VMA Awards and whom I think has the greatest shot at taking home the "Moonman" trophy:
Best Cinematography
- Adele — "Hello"
- Alesso — "I Wanna Know"
- Beyoncé — "Formation"
- David Bowie — "Lazarus"
- Ariana Grande — "Into You"
This category highlights not only the photography in the video, but also the camera angles and the way the video is presented as a whole. Although Adele’s “Hello” was one of this year’s biggest songs, expect to see Beyonce’s “Formation” take home the award for Best Cinematography.
Best Collaboration Video
- Beyoncé (featuring Kendrick Lamar) — "Freedom"
- Fifth Harmony (featuring Ty Dolla Sign) — "Work from Home"
- Ariana Grande (featuring Lil Wayne) — "Let Me Love You"
- Calvin Harris (featuring Rihanna) — "This Is What You Came For"
- Rihanna (featuring Drake) — "Work"
Best Collaboration is simple: the combination of two or more artists. It’s true that all of these songs were major hits in 2016, but I’m predicting the highly controversial track “This Is What You Came For (feat. Rihanna)” by Calvin Harris to take home the award. With all of the publicized drama with writers Calvin Harris and Taylor Swift, it would be interesting to see this video take home the prize.
Best Male Video
- Drake — "Hotline Bling"
- Calvin Harris (featuring Rihanna) — "This Is What You Came For"
- Bryson Tiller — "Don't"
- The Weeknd — "Can't Feel My Face"
- Kanye West — "Famous"
With Best Male Video, winners in the past include David Bowie (1984), Justin Timberlake (2003/2007), and Kanye West (2005). Proving to be a tough category this year, expect to see the famously controversial video “Famous” by Kanye West to take home the award. After the buzz that occurred with the naked portraits of celebrities including Taylor Swift, Donald Trump, and Caitlyn Jenner all laying in a bed together, it would be shocking to see any other male take this from Kanye.
Best Female Video
- Adele — "Hello"
- Beyoncé — "Hold Up"
- Ariana Grande — "Into You"
- Rihanna (featuring Drake) — "Work"
- Sia — "Cheap Thrills"
It’s hard to turn on the radio these days without hearing any of these songs on rotation. With a tough category of amazing female videos, expect the unexpected. This category has often surprised viewers with the winner each year. With that being said, it would be interesting to see "Hold Up" by Beyonce take the award over Adele’s comeback hit “Hello.” Since fans vote for the awards, there could be some tough competition in this category.
Video of the Year
- Adele — "Hello"
- Beyoncé — "Formation"
- Justin Bieber — "Sorry"
- Drake — "Hotline Bling"
- Kanye West — "Famous"
With the most prestigious award of the night, the Video of the Year Award is kind of similar to who we could expect to see winning Album of the Year at the Grammy’s in February. With just over 20 million copies sold of her blockbuster-hit album 25, expect to see “Hello” by Adele take home the most talked about award at the VMA’s.
To read about the rest of the nominations and voting, click here.
Tune in this Sunday, August 28, 2016 at 9:00pm on MTV to see who wins!
