MTV has announced the list of this year’s VMA nominees, with Drake and Rihanna leading all other artists with five each. Katy Perry, the star of last year’s show, is listed in four categories this time around. Kanye West and Justin Bieber are double nominees. Best male video will be one of the more highly contested awards, with the competition including Chris Brown, Drake, Bieber, Usher and Frank Ocean.
Rihanna managed to get nominated twice over for video of the year, with her solo video We Found Love getting a nod alongside her Take Care duet with Drake. Super Bowl bad girl M.I.A is also in the running with her video for Bad Girls, competing with Katy Perry’s Wide Awake and Gotye’s hit Somebody That I Used to Know.
Lady Gaga was a surprising snub, though she had been eligible in two categories. Rihanna is certainly the most impressive out of the nominees, having earned nominations for 4 different videos, including Best Visual Effects for Where Have You Been, Cinematography for both Take Care and the song Princess of China with Coldplay. Coldplay earned a separate nomination for Best Rock Video with Paradise, making them the only artist besides Rihanna and Kanye West to be nominated for more than one video.
As is the standard, viewers can vote for their favorites in general VMA categories, including video of the year, best new artist and others, via vma.mtv.com. The show will air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 6, where the winners will be crowned. Scheduled performances already include Alicia Keys and One Direction, whose video for What Makes You Beautiful was nominated for best pop video. British comedian Russell Brand will be hosting the festivities once again, his first time back on the job since 2009.
