Macklemore and Ryan Lewis sure have had a break out year with the phenomenal success of “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us.” Of course, their other song, “Same Love,” has made waves as being one of the first same-sex anthems to take over the airwaves. The song recently has seen success on the charts following the Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and Prop 8. Now, it is up for an MTV Video Music Award (yes, those still exist) for “Best Music Video With A Message.” The new category represents artists’ recent socially-conscious music.
The rap duo is also up for several coveted awards such as Video Of The Year (“Thrift Shop”) and Best Hip-Hop Video (“Can’t Hold Us”), tying Justin Timberlake in video noms.
The show airs August 25, 2013 from the Barclays Center. Check out the complete list of nominees below.
Video of the Year
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- Justin Timberlake — “Mirrors”
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (featuring Wanz) — “Thrift Shop”
- Bruno Mars — “Locked Out of Heaven”
- Robin Thicke (featuring T.I. & Pharrell) — “Blurred Lines”
- Taylor Swift — “I Knew You Were Trouble”
Artist To Watch
- Austin Mahone — “What About Love”
- Iggy Azalea — “Work”
- The Weeknd — “Wicked Games”
- Twenty One Pilots — “Holding on to You”
- Zedd (featuring Foxes) — “Clarity”
Best Male Video
- Justin Timberlake — “Mirrors”
- Kendrick Lamar — “Swimming Pools (Drank)”
- Bruno Mars — “Locked Out of Heaven”
- Robin Thicke (featuring T.I. & Pharrell) — “Blurred Lines”
- Ed Sheeran — “Lego House”
Best Female Video
- Miley Cyrus — “We Can’t Stop”
- Pink (featuring Nate Ruess) — “Just Give Me A Reason”
- Demi Lovato — “Heart Attack”
- Taylor Swift — “I Knew You Were Trouble”
- Rihanna (featuring Mikky Ekko) — “Stay”
Best Pop Video
- Fun. — “Carry On”
- Justin Timberlake — “Mirrors”
- Miley Cyrus — “We Can’t Stop”
- Bruno Mars — “Locked Out of Heaven”
- Selena Gomez — “Come & Get It”
Best Rock Video
- Fall Out Boy — “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
- Imagine Dragons — “Radioactive”
- Mumford & Sons — “I Will Wait”
- Thirty Seconds To Mars — “Up In The Air”
- Vampire Weekend — “Diane Young”
Best Hip-Hop Video
- J. Cole (featuring Miguel) — “Power Trip”
- Drake — “Started from the Bottom”
- A$AP Rocky (featuring 2 Chainz, Drake & Kendrick Lamar) — “Fuckin’ Problems”
- Kendrick Lamar — “Swimming Pools (Drank)”
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (featuring Ray Dalton) — “Can’t Hold Us”
Best Collaboration
- Pink (featuring Nate Ruess) — “Just Give Me A Reason”
- Robin Thicke (featuring T.I. & Pharrell) — “Blurred Lines”
- Calvin Harris (featuring Ellie Goulding) — “I Need Your Love”
- Justin Timberlake (featuring Jay-Z) — “Suit & Tie”
- Pitbull (featuring Christina Aguilera) — “Feel This Moment”
Best Video with a Message
- Beyoncé — “I Was Here”
- Kelly Clarkson — “People Like Us”
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (featuring Mary Lambert) — “Same Love”
- Miguel — “Candles in the Sun”
- Snoop Lion (featuring Drake & Cori B.) — “No Guns Allowed
Best Choreography
- Chris Brown – “Fine China”
- Ciara – “Body Party”
- Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull – “Live It Up”
- will.i.am featuring Justin Bieber – “#thatPOWER”
- Bruno Mars – “Treasure”
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[Photo: Greg Nissen]
Brian
Note how none of the nominated acts are openly gay or bi men. Not even one.
You are more likely to find an openly gay or bisexual man at Pat Robertson’s house-warming party than on the list of nominees for the MTV video music awards.
jeff4justice
Who knew MTV still had anything to do with music videos.
There’s a difference between a good song and a good music video. MTV used to award artistically creative music vids. Since the late 90’s they began awarding whatever was most popular.
Visually, even though it’s not a great song, the best vid of the past year was Of Monsters and Men – Little Talks.
fredo777
Fortunately, this is a fan-voted category. I just voted for this video:
http://on.mtv.com/1bpNMrI
Aside from the face that I like the duo, I appreciate the message of this song.
fredo777
* aside from the fact
grrr
longpastdue
Of course the ulterior motive of this is that this is one of the few songs with an openly gay rights message as opposed to just a pro gay message or having it hidden in the subtext. It is also one of the few songs that is actually getting airplay. I was pleasantly shocked the other day when I heard it over the radio, I live in the bottom of Alabama and wasn’t expecting it. I don’t know if it is a sign of change or if it does any good in and of itself but I would vote for it just because it’s catchy and I do like gospel-influenced R&B even if it is rap.