Beyonce, Jay Z Lead BET Awards Nominations

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Music Videos, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, R&B / Soul, New Releases,

Beyonce and Jay Z lead this year's BET Awards nominations.

The superstar couple have garnered five nods apiece at the annual awards ceremony celebrating the best in black entertainment, while rapper Drake is also up for five gongs.

Beyonce is nominated for Best Female R&B/Pop Artist, Video of the Year for "Partition," and also shares two nods with husband Jay - Best Collaboration and Video of the Year for their hit single, "Drunk in Love."

Jay is also up for Best Male Hip Hop Artist and has a Best Collaboration nod with Justin Timberlake for their track together, "Holy Grail."

"This year's nominees represent the best of the culture. It's great to see our talented new artist's right alongside our more beloved ones with long careers. We appreciate our BET Awards nomination committee, over 300 strong, for their efforts and congratulate all the nominees," said BET's president of music programming and specials Stephen Hill.

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Academy of Country Music Award Nominations Announced

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Country, Pop, New Releases,

Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Eric Church and Hunter Hayes lead nominations for the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards.

Eric has the most nods for the event with seven, including Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year for Chief. Hunter follows with six nominations; Miranda and Taylor have five each. The female singers will go head to head in the Entertainer of the Year category, a title won by Taylor three times, including the last two years in a row. Miranda also has an impressive winning streak, in the Female Vocalist Of The Year category. If she wins again this year it will be her fourth consecutive victory.

Clocking up four awards each are Luke Bryan, Little Big Town and Kacey Musgraves, while Blake Shelton - who will co-host the awards - is up for three trophies, as are Jason Aldean, Eli Young Band, and Florida Georgia Line.

Fans can vote in the New Artist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year categories from March 25, at the academy's website acmcountry.com.

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Rihanna, Taylor Swift to Perform at Grammys

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Performances, Alternative, Blues, Country, Folk, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, R&B / Soul, Rock, Soundtracks, New Releases,

Mumford & Sons, Rihanna and Taylor Swift are among the first performers confirmed for the 2013 Grammy Awards. Fun. and The Black Keys will also hit the stage at the biggest night in American music, which takes place on February 10.

All of the performers are nominated at the 55th annual music industry awards, with Mumford & Sons, The Black Keys and Fun. leading the pack with six nods apiece, along with Jay-Z, Kanye West and Frank Ocean.

Fun. are nominated in categories including Album of the Year for their debut, Some Nights, Record of the Year and Song of the Year for the Janelle Monae-featuring hit "We Are Young," and Best New Artist.

The Black Keys' seventh album El Camino is up for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album, while single "Lonely Boy" is nominated for Record of the Year. Mumford & Sons' chart-topping album Babel will also compete for Album of the Year.

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Nicki Minaj and Rihanna Lead AMA Nominations

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Country, Electronic, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, R&B / Soul, Rock,

Nicki Minaj and Rihanna lead the nominations for the 2012 American Music Awards (AMAs).

The two singers are each in the running for four awards, with Drake, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, One Direction and Usher following narrowly behind with three nods apiece.

Justin, Rihanna, Maroon 5, Drake and Katy Perry will battle it out for the coveted Artist of the Year prize, while J. Cole, fun., Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen and One Direction are all up for New Artist of the Year.

Nicki's four nominations are for Favorite Female Artist - Pop/Rock, Favorite Artist - Rap/ Hip Hop, Favorite Album - Pop/Rock and Favorite Album - Rap/ Hip Hop for Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. As well as Artist of the Year, Rihanna is also up for Favorite Female Artist - Pop/Rock, Favorite Female Artist - Soul/R&B and Favorite Album - Soul/R&B for Talk That Talk.

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Heidi Klum to Host MTV Europe Music Awards

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Alternative, Country, Dance, Electronic, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, R&B / Soul, Rock,

Heidi Klum is to host the MTV Europe Music Awards.

The German supermodel will take control of the ceremony when it takes place in Frankfurt, Germany, on Sunday, November 11 and can't wait for the event to take place in her home country. "I'm honored to host the 2012 MTV EMAs in its return to my home country of Germany. The MTV EMAs are one of the biggest nights in global music, fashion and culture, and I'm thrilled to play a part in bringing this one-of-a-kind show to audiences all over the world. We're going to have a blast!" she said in a statement.

Rihanna is the most nominated artist for the ceremony with nods in six categories, including Best Pop Act, Best Look, Biggest Fans and Best Female. Taylor Swift follows with five nominations for prestigious prizes such as Best Live Act and she will battle Rihanna for the Best Female statuette as well as Katy Perry, Pink and Nicki Minaj. Justin Bieber and Katy received four nods each, while several acts picked up a hat-trick of nominations including Nicki, Lady Gaga and Carly Rae Jepsen.

The event takes place at the Festhalle Frankfurt and fans can vote for the winners by visiting www.mtvema.com.

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Carly Rae Jepsen Stunned by VMA Nomination

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Pop, New Releases,

Carly Rae Jepsen thinks her VMA nomination is "crazy."

The "Call Me Maybe" singer is stunned at how much her life has changed since her sudden rise to fame and says discovering she was up for the Best New Artist award at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards was the most surreal feeling ever.

"I have to pinch myself. I mean, a year ago I was touring Canada in a soccer mom van, and all of the sudden, my life's just taken off in a completely different direction. Moments like that just let it really sink in. It's crazy," Carly, 26, told MTV News.

The Canadian starlet thinks even being considered for the title is an honor because of the stiff competition from international acts One Direction with their chart-topping tune "What Makes You Beautiful," Frank Ocean with "Swim Good," The Wanted with "Glad You Came" and Fun with "We Are Young" featuring Janelle Monae.

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First CMA Nominations Revealed

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Country, Pop, New Releases,

Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson were among the nominees unveiled for this year's Country Music Association (CMA) Awards.

Five categories - Female Vocalist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year, Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year - were announced live on Good Morning America this morning by Jason Aldean, with the singer finding himself in the running for two awards.

Taylor and Kelly will battle it out with Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood in the Female Vocalist category, while the "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" singer is also in the running for Entertainer of the Year. For that prize, she faces competition from Jason, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton.

Jason and Blake are also up for Male Vocalist of the Year alongside Eric Church, Luke Bryan and Keith Urban. Eli Young Band, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, The Band Perry and Zac Brown Band are shortlisted for Vocal Group of the Year.

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Kanye West Leads BET Awards

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Music Videos, Performances, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, R&B / Soul,

Kanye West leads nominations at the BET Awards with seven.

The "Stronger" rapper's Watch the Throne project with Jay-Z dominated nominations, earning nods in the Best Group, Collaboration, and Viewer's Choice categories, while its videos to "N****s in Paris" and "Otis" both got nods for Video of the Year.

Following Kanye is Jay-Z's wife, Beyonce Knowles, who is up for six trophies including Best Female R&B Artist, Best Collaboration for "Party" with J. Cole and two Video of the Year nods for her songs "Countdown" and "Love on Top" from her 4 album.

Rapper Big Sean was excited to learn he is up for three awards, including Best Male Hip Hop Artist. He told "It's perfect. My grandma gonna be watching, my mom, my family, the whole city. It's just tight that I can represent those people, everybody who had that dream, everybody who used to ride to school listening to their idols, now I'm with them. It's just tight that I can show people that it's possible," he told MTV.

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Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lamber Lead CMT Awards Nominations

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Country, Pop,

Carrie Underwood leads nominations for the Country Music Television (CMT) Music Awards 2012. The former American Idol winner has five nods at the 2012 CMT Awards, including Female Artist of the Year and Video of The Year for "Good Girl."

Miranda Lambert follows with four nods, two in the Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year categories for her single "Over You" and two with her band, Pistol Annies who are up for Group Video and "USA Weekend" Breakthrough Video.

Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, The Civil Wars and Lady Antebellum all received three nominations.

Ten artists are currently nominated in the night's biggest category, "Video of the Year," but the number will be narrowed down to five during the awards show, which will be broadcast live from Nashville on June 6. The 11th annual ceremony will also stream live on the channel's website, CMT.com, where fans can also vote up until June 4.

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Adele Leads Billboard Music Award Nominations

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Awards, Alternative, Dance, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, R&B / Soul, Rock,

Adele is up for 18 Billboard Music awards.

The "Someone Like You" hitmaker leads the nominations with her huge haul which includes Top Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist while her single "Rolling In The Deep" is a contender in seven song categories.

LMFAO received 17 nominations, while Rihanna - who was nominated in 18 categories last year - made the shortlist for 13 awards. Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne both received nods in 10 different categories and each will compete against Adele, Rihanna and Katy Perry for the prestigious Top Artist prize. Nominees for the Top New Artist gong include Bad Meets Evil, Big Sean, Foster The People, Scotty McCreery and Wiz Khalifa.

The awards - which features many additional categories - celebrate artists who have appeared in the Billboard charts between the end of February 2011 and March this year, with winners determined by album, single and digital sales, touring, streaming and data from social websites such as Facebook and Myspace. The Billboard Music Awards will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 20.

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