Macklemore & Lewis, Timberlake lead 2013 MTV Music Video Awards nominations

Once a year, music’s biggest stars come together to celebrate the best in music videos, and to hope that they will be the one to take home the coveted Moonman trophy. The nominees for the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards have been released, and Justin Timberlake and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead the nominations.

Justin Timberlake and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis each received six award nominations with Timberlake receiving four nominations for the song “Mirrors”, including for “Video of the Year,” “Best Male Video of the Year,” “Best Pop Video,” and “Best Direction” categories respectively. He received two additional nominations for his “Suit & Tie” collaboration with Jay Z for “Best Collaboration” and “Best Direction”. Timberlake has previously won seven VMA, including “Best Pop Video” for his “Cry Me A River” music video.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis received their first ever VMA nominations in categories including “Video of the Year,” “Best Hip-Hop Video,” “Best Cinematography,” and “Best Direction,” for their satirical hit “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us featuring Ray Dalton” snagged a nomination for “Best Editing.” Their anti-homophobia song “Same Love” which includes the lyric, “America the brave still fears what we don’t know. And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten,” received a nomination for “Best Video with a Social Message.”

MTV announced the nominees for the “Video of the Year” award via their Instagram and Vine accounts—becoming the first award show to do so. The nominees are “Mirrors” by Justin Timberlake; “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis; “Locked Out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars; “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell; and “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift. Previous winners have included legendary music videos like R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion,” Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” and Madonna’s “Ray of Light.”

Bruno Mars was the third most nominated artist with four VMA nods. Three were for “Locked out of Heaven” including “Video of the Year,” “Best Pop Video,” and “Best Male Video” and one was for “Best Choreography” for “Treasure.”

P!nk, Robin Thicke, Miley Cyrus and Thirty Seconds to Mars each snagged three VMA nominations. “Just Give Me A Reason” featuring Nate Ruess earned P!nk nominations for “Best Female Video,” “Best Collaboration” and “Best Editing.” Robin Thicke’s stylish and dirty music video for “Blurred Lines” featuring T.I. and Pharrell received nods for “Video of the Year,” “Best Male Video” and “Best Collaboration.” “We Can’t Stop” a party song for Millennials and readers of Thought Catalog by Miley Cyrus received nominations for “Best Female Video,” Best Pop Video” and “Best Editing.” Thirty Seconds to Mars also got three nominations for their montage style video for “Up In The Air.”

The “Best New Artist” category has been changed to “Artist to Watch” because of the general Artist to Watch campaign on MTV’s television channels, websites and social networking sites. Previous winners include the Eurythmics, Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and One Direction. Nominees include up-beat fast talker Twenty One Pilots for “Holding On To You,” poppy Zedd featuring Foxes for “Clarity,” boy band style “What About Love” by Austin Mahone, “Wicked Games” by The Weeknd and sassy hip-hop single “Work” by Iggy Azalea.

The 2013 VMA’s will be broadcast live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday, August 25 at 9p.m. EST. Fans are able to vote online in certain VMA categories including “Video of the Year” and “Artist to Watch”.

The 2013 VMA nominations 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”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “Same Love”
Snoop Lion – “No Guns Allowed”
Miguel – “Candles In The Sun”
Beyoncé – “I Was Here”

Best Rock Video

Imagine Dragons – “Radiocative”
Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)”
Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”
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”

Justin Timberlake photo courtesy of Instagram.