By Mesfin Fekadu, Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift are the top contenders at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, each scoring 10 nominations.
MTV announced Tuesday that Grande and Swift will compete in eight of the same categories, including video of the year. Swift's gay pride anthem "You Need to Calm Down" and Grande's breezy hit about her breakups "thank u, next" are nominated for the top prize alongside Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy," Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus' "Old Town Road," 21 Savage and J. Cole's "A Lot," and Jonas Brothers' "Sucker."
Eilish, 17, came in second with nine nominations, including artist of the year. Other nominees are Grande, Cardi B, Shawn Mendes, Halsey and Jonas Brothers.
Lil Nas X, whose "Old Town Road" tied the record for most weeks at No. 1 with 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week, earned eight nominations.
The 2019 VMAs will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Aug. 26. Post Malone and Khalid were surprisingly snubbed: They both received zero nominations despite dominating on streaming services, radio and the Billboard charts with multiple hit songs in the last year.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's Oscar- and Grammy-winning hit "Shallow" picked up two nominations: song of the year and best collaboration. Boy band BTS earned four nominations, including a bid in the new best K-pop category.
And late rapper Nipsey Hussle, who posthumously won best male hip-hop artist and the Humanitarian Award at last month's BET Awards, picked up a nomination for best hip hop for "Higher," his song and video with DJ Khaled and John Legend.
Swift will drop her album, "Lover," three days before the VMAs on Aug. 23, making it likely that she will attend and possibly perform at the show. Scooter Braun, who now owns Swift's music catalog, will likely be in attendance, too: He manages top nominee Grande as well as Justin Bieber, who earned a nomination for best collaboration with Ed Sheeran for "I Don't Care."
Comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco will host the 2019 VMAs. Fan-voting begins Tuesday at vma.mtv.com.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More