VMA Cage Match: Gaga Vs. Bieber (Officiated By Kanye?)

  • Share
  • Read Later

Eugene Gologursky ./Retna Ltd./Corbis

As if NFL training camps and a new season of Mad Men weren’t enough to remind us that summer is almost over, MTV announced the nominations for this year’s Video Music Awards today. Who came away with the most?

The answer shouldn’t be surprising. It was Lady Gaga, who according to MTV’s historians (we imagine them sitting in a room full of leather-bound volumes of TRL transcripts) has the most nominations for one artist ever in a single year: 13. The camp-loving pop star was nominated once each for Best Pop Video, Best Female Video and Best Dance Music Video — and twice in the Video of the Year category, for “Bad Romance” and “Telephone.”

The rest of the list was — as expected — a mixed bag, filled both with songs NewsFeed loves (“Dog Days are Over” by Florence + the Machine, for Video of the Year) and hates with a fiery passion (“California Gurls” by Katy Perry, for Best Female Video) and many, many songs we are utterly indifferent to.

The Best New Artist category, meanwhile, looks to be a showdown between two people who remind us of a high-school talent show: Justin Bieber and Ke$ha.

Last year’s VMAs were the most memorable in a long while, thanks to Kanye West’s bizarre drunken confrontation with Taylor Swift. Could another awards swipe be in the making? Since MTV awards shows are known for their lame pre-planned ‘stunts,’ the answer is: Probably!

Go here to vote for the winners!