It’s that time of year! The nominees for MTV’s 2023 Video Music Awards have officially been released.
Who Runs The World?
Taking place on September 12 in Newark, New Jersey, the Video Music Awards is kicking off its 2023 season with a stacked list of nominees. For the first time in VMA history, women have taken over the nominations- particularly, the Artist of the Year category. Since its introduction in 2017, the AOTY category has always had at least one male nominee. However, history has been made this year! Nominees include Beyonce, Doja Cat, Karol G, Nicki Minaj, Shakira, and Taylor Swift.
Apart from AOTY, the VMA’s host numerous categories for artists to receive recognition from. These categories include Video of the Year, Best Editing, Best Pop, Best Cinematography, and so much more. In each respective category, women come out on top yet again. Taylor Swift leads the group with an iconic 8 nominations of her own. Many of her nominations come from her hit song “Anti-Hero” and its music video, released earlier this year. Following behind Taylor is SZA with 6 of her own nominations. Despite the widespread praise, she will not be competing for Artist of the Year. However, “Kill Bill” is up for the Video of the Year category against some of our other favorite tracks, like Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers” and Doja Cat’s “Attention.” Doja Cat, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, Kim Petras, Nicki Minaj, and Sam Smith all tie at five nominations each.
2023’s Historical VMA Nominees
To add on, there are many other iconic nominations during this years VMA’s. Sam Smith and Kim Petras are up for video and song of their year with their collaborative track, “Unholy.” This marks the first time an openly non-binary and transgender artists have received nominations in VMA history. Despite the ceremony not occurring just yet, these are momentous moments already for artists like Smith and Petras!
Lastly, there are 35 artists who are first-time nominees this go-around. And some of them are names you may be familiar with! Boygenius, Ice Spice, PinkPantheress, Reneé Rapp, and Peso Pluma are just a few names that you may recognize. Moreover, other nominees that are gracing the nominations include artists like Lana Del Rey, Paramore, Adele, Metallica, Bad Bunny, and Janelle Monae.
Here’s a list of the nominees in the top categories for MTV’s Video Music Awards. For a full list of nominees in other categories, click here.
Video of the Year
Doja Cat – “Attention”
Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”
Nicki Minaj – “Super Freaky Girl”
Olivia Rodrigo – “Vampire”
Sam Smith & Kim Petras – “Unholy”
SZA – “Kill Bill”
Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero”
Artist of the Year
Beyoncé
Doja Cat
Karol G
Nicki Minaj
Shakira
Taylor Swift
Song of the Year
Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”
Olivia Rodrigo – “Vampire”
Rema & Selena Gomez – “Calm Down”
Sam Smith & Kim Petras – “Unholy”
Steve Lacy – “Bad Habit”
SZA – “Kill Bill”
Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero”
Best New Artist
GloRilla
Ice Spice
Kaliii
Peso Pluma
PinkPantheress
Reneé Rapp
