Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke Among MTV's 2013 VMA Nominees; Full List Announced!

By: Jul. 17, 2013
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MTV, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), today revealed the nominations for the 30th annual MTV "Video Music Awards" airing LIVE from Barclays Center on Sunday, August 25th at 9pm ET/PT. Every artist who wins a 2013 Video Music Award will take home a limited-edition KAWS Moonman, created exclusively for this year's historic show set to take place in Brooklyn for the first time ever. Beginning today, fans can vote in general VMA categories, including "Video of the Year," "Artist to Watch," and more by visiting vma.mtv.com.

At 8:00 AM ET this morning, the VMA's most coveted award, "Video of the Year," was unveiled via the @MTV Instagram and Vine video accounts - making the VMAs the first awards show to announce nominations via these social media video platforms. Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors," Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop," Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven," Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" featuring T.I. and Pharrell, and Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble," are set for an epic battle to take home Video of the Year. Previous "Video of the Year" winners have included R.E.M's "Losing My Religion," Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," Madonna's "Ray of Light," Eminem's "Without Me," Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," and Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)."

Justin Timberlake and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead this year's VMA pack with six overall nominations each. Timberlake's nominations include "Video of the Year," "Best Male Video," "Best Pop Video" and "Best Editing" for "Mirrors," while his "Suit & Tie" featuring JAY Z, scored nods for "Best Collaboration," and "Best Direction." Previously, Timberlake has taken home seven Video Music Awards, including "Best Pop Video" for "Cry Me A River."

Fresh off their show stopping performance at the MTV Movie Awards and mtvU Woodies, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis score their first-ever Video Music Award nominations with six nods (tying Timberlake in total nods) including "Video of the Year" for their smash hit "Thrift Shop," "Best Hip-Hop Video," "Best Cinematography," "Best Direction," and "Best Editing" for "Can't Hold Us featuring Ray Dalton," while "Same Love" received a nod for "Best Video with a Social Message."

As a previous performer at the 2011 "Video Music Awards," Bruno Mars continues his hugely successful VMA run by garnering four nominations this year including "Video of the Year," "Best Pop Video," and "Best Male Video" for "Locked Out of Heaven," and "Best Choreography" for the smooth summer groove, "Treasure."

P!nk, Robin Thicke, Miley Cyrus and Thirty Seconds to Mars are each up for three Video Music Awards. P!nk's powerful "Just Give Me A Reason" featuring Nate Ruess garnered multiple nominations for "Best Female Video," "Best Collaboration" and "Best Editing." Robin Thicke's sexy video for "Blurred Lines" feat T.I. and Pharrell received VMA nods for "Video of the Year," "Best Male Video" and "Best Collaboration." Miley Cyrus' millennial anthem "We Can't Stop" is up for "Best Female Video," "Best Pop Video" and "Best Editing" while Thirty Seconds To Mars' "Up In The Air" received nominations for "Best Rock Video," "Best Art Direction" and "Best Cinematography."

Other notable nominees receiving multiple 2013 Video Music Award nods range from the worlds of Pop, Hip-Hop, EDM, R&B and Rock and include previously nominated artists such as Taylor Swift, Drake, fun., Calvin Harris, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well as first-time VMA nominees Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, The Weeknd and Capital Cities.

This year, the VMA for "Best New Artist" has been re-named "Artist to Watch" presented by Taco Bell. This change was inspired by the positive response to MTV's Artist to Watch campaign, a new music discovery initiative across all of MTV's television channels, websites and social networks. The nominees for "Artist to Watch" are: Twenty One Pilots for "Holding On To You," Zedd featuring Foxes for "Clarity," Austin Mahone for "What About Love," The Weeknd for "Wicked Games" and Iggy Azalea for "Work." Previous "Best New Artist" VMA winners have included iconic names in music such as Eurythmics, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, Eminem, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and One Direction.

Celebrating the union between music and social activism, the nominees for this year's "Best Video with a Social Message" include Kelly Clarkson's "People Like Us," Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Same Love," Snoop Lion's "No Guns Allowed," Miguel's "Candles in the Sun," and Beyoncé's "I Was Here." First debuting in 2011, this category is presented in conjunction with MTV Act, which spotlights young people and celebrities who are taking positive action.

Beginning today, fans can vote in general VMA categories, including "Video of the Year," "Artist to Watch," and more by visiting vma.mtv.com or by texting VOTE to 22444 (standard message and data rates apply.) In addition, "Artist to Watch" is available for voting via MTV's official Facebook page. Voting for all VMA categories, except "Artist To Watch," will end on August 12th at 6.00 p.m. ET. Voting for "Artist to Watch" continues through the show and will be announced LIVE on August 25th.

To build anticipation for the show, MTV launched a successful cross platform social campaign, #RoadToTheVMAs, which features the Moonman in a myriad of iconic locations throughout Brooklyn and NYC. Thus far, the campaign has garnered more than 25 million social media impressions to date including a quarter of a million likes on Instagram, 16 million impressions on Twitter, 8 million impressions on Facebook and 1 million impressions on Tumblr. Throughout the day, MTV will continue its creative use of social media by rolling out the 2013 VMA nominations as a series of imaginative stop motion videos created by 23-year old artist, Khoa, on the @MTV Instagram and Vine accounts.

Official sponsors of the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards adidas Originals, COVERGIRL, Kia Motors, Pepsi, State Farm, Taco Bell, and Windows Phone.

A full list of categories and nominations are below. Nominees for an additional new socially voted category, "Best Song of the Summer" will be announced on August 12th.

The 2013 MTV Video Music Awards Nominees are:
Video Of The Year
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - "Thrift Shop"
Bruno Mars - "Locked Out of Heaven"
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - "Blurred Lines"
Taylor Swift - "I Knew You Were Trouble"
Best Hip-Hop Video
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - "Can't Hold Us"
Drake - "Started From The Bottom"
Kendrick Lamar - "Swimming Pools"
A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar - "F**kin Problems"
J. Cole feat. Miguel - "Power Trip"
Best Male Video
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - "Blurred Lines"
Bruno Mars - "Locked Out of Heaven"
Ed Sheeran - "Lego House"
Kendrick Lamar - "Swimming Pools"
Best Female Video
Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko - "Stay"
Taylor Swift - "I Knew You Were Trouble"
Miley Cyrus - "We Can't Stop"
P!nk feat. Nate Ruess - "Just Give Me A Reason"
Demi Lovato - "Heart Attack"
Best Pop Video
Bruno Mars - "Locked Out of Heaven"
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"
fun. - "Carry On"
Miley Cyrus - "We Can't Stop"
Selena Gomez - "Come and Get It"
Artist To Watch Presented by Taco Bell
Twenty One Pilots - "Holding On To You"
Zedd Feat. Foxes - "Clarity"
Austin Mahone - "What About Love"
The Weeknd - "Wicked Games"
Iggy Azalea - "Work"
Best Collaboration
Justin Timberlake feat. JAY Z -"Suit & Tie"
Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera - "Feel This Moment"
Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding - "I Need Your Love"
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - "Blurred Lines"
P!nk feat. Nate Ruess - "Just Give Me A Reason"
Best Video With A Social Message
Kelly Clarkson - "People Like Us"
Snoop Lion - "No Guns Allowed"
Miguel - "Candles In The Sun"
Beyoncé - "I Was Here"
Best Rock Video
Imagine Dragons - "Radiocative"
Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy - "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)"
Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons - "I Will Wait"
30 Seconds To Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars - "Up In The Air"
Vampire Weekend - "Diane Young"
Best Art Direction
Capital Cities - "Safe and Sound"
Thirty Seconds To Mars - "Up In The Air"
Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu - "Q.U.E.E.N"
Lana Del Rey - "National Anthem"
Alt-J - "Tesselate"
Best Choreography
Chris Brown - "Fine China"
Ciara - "Body Party"
Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull - "Live It Up"
will.i.am feat. Justin Bieber - "#thatPOWER"
Bruno Mars - "Treasure"
Best Cinematography
Thirty Seconds To Mars - "Up In The Air"
Lana Del Rey - "Ride"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Sacrilege"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - "Can't Hold Us"
A-Trak & Tommy Trash - "Tuna Melt"
Best Direction
Justin Timberlake feat. JAY-Z - "Suit & Tie"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - "Can't Hold Us"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Sacrilege"
fun. - "Carry On"
Drake - "Started From The Bottom"
Best Editing
P!nk feat. Nate Ruess - "Just Give Me A Reason"
Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch - "Sweet Nothing"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - "Can't Hold Us"
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"
Miley Cyrus - "We Can't Stop"
Best Visual Effects
Flying Lotus - "Tiny Tortures"
Skrillex feat. The Door - "Breakin' A Sweat"
The Weeknd - "Wicked Games"
Duck Sauce - "It's You"
Capital Cities - "Safe and Sound"
MTV Video Music Awards?
Since the first "MTV Video Music Awards" aired in 1984, the VMAs instantly earned its reputation for delivering the most popular bands and artists to create the loudest, most influential and at times, the most controversial, annual live celebration of music in the world. No other award show has been responsible for creating more memorable or bigger musical moments in pop culture history than the MTV Video Music Awards. From Madonna, Michael Jackson, Guns N' Roses and Nirvana to Britney Spears, Taylor Swift,Beyoncé and Kanye West, an appearance on the VMA stage can forever change the trajectory of an artist's career in one single night. ??The 2012 "MTV Video Music Awards," broadcast live from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, was the #1 telecast across all TV for the night of September 6, 2012 in P12-34, scoring a 5.3 P12-34 rating with 6.1 million total viewers. Across the Viacom networks (MTV, VH1, MTV2 and Logo) the simulcast of the premiere averaged 8.0 million total viewers. Encore presentations of the 2012 show on MTV earned a 2.4 P12-34 rating at 10:00 p.m., and a 1.2 P12-34 rating at 12:00 a.m., for a total rating of 8.9 for the evening.
At the time, the telecast was also the #1 social TV event of the year according to Trendrr. With more than 19 million mentions, the 2012 VMAs more than tripled the full-day social-media response of 2012's record breaking telecast. In addition, MTV drove more online streams on this date than any other VMA show ever, and generated nearly a whopping 200 topics trended throughout the night, both in the U.S. and worldwide.
The 2013 "MTV Video Music Awards" will air across MTV's global network of more than 60 channels reaching more than a half-billion households around the world as well as through syndication. In addition, its convergent programming and content will reach the entire interactive community, via MTV's more than 200 digital media properties around the world. The 2012 VMAs was one of MTV's top performers in key markets across Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia.
Jesse Ignjatovic/Den of Thieves is the Executive Producer for the 2013 "MTV Video Music Awards." Amy Doyle, Garrett English and Dave Sirulnick are Executive Producers. Joanna Bomberg, Jen Jones and Lee Lodge are Co-Executive Producers. Hamish Hamilton is Director. Wendy Plaut is Celebrity Talent Executive.
About MTV
MTV is the world's premier youth entertainment brand. With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people. MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its Emmy, Grammy and Peabody award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile. MTV's sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unparalleled customized content for young males, music fans and college students, and its online hub MTV.com is a leading destination for music, news and pop culture. MTV is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.


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