For the first time in history, the MTV VMAs have nominated only women in one of its biggest categories – Artist of the Year. Plus, for Video of the Year, the nominees include all women and Sam Smith, who is nonbinary.
On Tuesday, Aug. 8, the nominees for the famed awards show were announced, and fans immediately noticed that the Artist of the Year category was stacked with legendary female performers like Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj.
The nominees that round out the six contenders are Taylor Swift, Doja Cat, Karol G, and Shakira, marking the first time that Artist of the Year has been dominated by only women since the category was introduced in 2017. At that time, the category replace the Best Male Video and Best Female Video categories in order to eliminate gendered awards.
The award for Artist of the Year went to Latin pop star Bad Bunny in 2022 and was last won by a woman in 2020 when Lady Gaga nabbed the Moonman.
According to the Miami Herald, it’s also the first time that two Latin artists (Shakira and Karol G) have been nominated for the honor at the same time.
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Similarly, the nominees for Video of the Year, the show’s biggest award, include women such as Miley Cyrus and SZA, and Sam Smith, who was nominated for “Unholy” with Kim Petras.
In 2022, the award went to Swift for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version),” which starred Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink. She’s also the only artist to have won the award three times – including “Bad Blood” and “You Need to Calm Down.”
Now, Swift leads the nominations overall with eight total nods for “Anti-Hero” from her massive tenth studio album Midnights, and SZA follows with six for “Kill Bill” and “Shirt” from her sophomore album SOS.
The firsts don’t stop there, because according to The Hollywood Reporter, 35 artists are first-time nominees this year, including Ice Spice and K-pop girl group FIFTY FIFTY, who had a viral song with “Cupid.”
The MTV VMAs will air live on Sept. 12.