VMA Predictions

I will be watching the VMA's with some friends tonight (the same ones I watched the Movie Awards with, actually, and for the very same reason: a new New Moon clip/trailer) so I won't be around to bitch about it all with those people I usually bitch about all the award shows with. So, since I'll be gone, I thought I would share my predictions and who I will be rooting for tonight. The VMA's are notoriously hard to predict, so I don't expect to get many of these right but it's worth a shot!

Video of the Year
Should Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
Will Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
I think I made it perfectly clear here.

Best Male Video
Should Win: Kanye West 'Love Lockdown'
Will Win: Eminem 'We Made You'
Even when his video is the best of the bunch, Kanye always seems to get raped in the ass at the VMAs. Expect tonight to be no different.

Best Female Video
Should Win: Taylor Swift 'You Belong to Me'
Will Win: Lady GaGa 'Poker Face'
Clearly, Beyoncé's video is the best of the year, but I think Taylor's 'You Belong to Me' is so much fun even with its limited scope and simple story that it deserves to win something. Don't worry, B, there will plenty more wins in store for you. Lady GaGa feels like she needs to win something big based on her huge breakthrough this year and I can definitely see it happening here--especially if B wins Video of the Year like expected.

Best New Artist
Should Win: Lady GaGa 'Poker Face'
Will Win: 3OH!3 'Don't Trust Me'
Lady GaGa seems like the obvious choice here to win, so that means she won't. I expect 3OH!3 to nab prize solely based on the fact that they were a trending topic on Twitter the other day. Silly, I know, but weirder things have happened.

Best Rock Video
Should Win: Kings of Leon 'Use Somebody'
Will Win: Paramore 'Decode'
None of these videos are especially interesting, so I'll go with 'Use Somebody' which starts off with an interesting premise but quickly turns ordinary after the first verse (it doesn't hurt that it's also the best song of the bunch). Paramore's song was off the Twilight Soundtrack so expect it to easily win if the fans are voting. If MTV votes, I expect it will either go to Coldplay or Green Day.

Best Hip-Hop Video
Should Win: Jay-Z 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)'
Will Win: Flo Rida 'Right Round'
I heard/saw Jay-Z's 'D.O.A.' for the first time today and I was impressed at how interesting the song is musically and how mellow and cool the video was. He's up against Kanye, but expect Flo Rida to emerge as the winner here since Best Hip-Hop Video is often given to the "naughtiest" song of the year ('Lollipop', 'My Humps' and 'The Thong Song' have all won here).

Best Pop Video
Should Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
Will Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
Easy pick.

Breakthrough Video
Should Win: ?
Will Win: Gnarls Barkley 'Who's Gonna Save My Soul?'
I don't have time to wade through 10 nominated videos (seriously, they couldn't narrow it down?) filled with crappy indie rock from artists I'll never hear from again, so I'll just go with Gnarls Barkely since they're the only group I've actually heard of and the video is odd enough for this category.

Best Choreography
Should Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
Will Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
The most imitable choreography in ages. Expect an easy win here.

Best Direction
Should Win: Lady GaGa 'Paparazzi'
Will Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
'Paparazzi' could have been a gratuitous mess so thank goodness there was a steady director on board who made sure everything fell in to place. I wonder, however, if MTV will go for the simple, tidy direction of 'Single Ladies' over the visual excess of GaGa and Spears (And, as a side note, what in the hell is 'Good Girls Go Bad' doing in this category? When you can't even get a natural performance from Leighton FUCKING Meester in your video, you know you have problems).

Best Editing
Should Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
Will Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
Miley's '7 Things' is obviously here because it had the most editing of any video this year, but that doesn't mean it's any good. 'Single Ladies' used a minimal amount of cuts and made them in the most natural way possible.

Best Cinematography
Should Win: Beyoncé 'Single Ladies'
Will Win: Coldplay 'Viva la Vida'
Coldplay has to win one artistic award some where, right? It's like a VMA law or something. I still think 'Single Ladies' tops everything in this category because of its simplicity and using that for an intense dramatic effect.

Best Art Direction
Should Win: Britney Spears 'Circus'
Will Win: Lady GaGa 'Paparazzi'
Both 'Circus' and 'Paparazzi' were gay visual porn but I like the somewhat muted colors of the Britney video over the flashy and loud palette of the GaGa's. But, honestly, they're neck and neck in my book and, I'm sure, MTV's (now watch Beyoncé win this category for her gray wall).

Best Special Effects
Should Win: Gnarls Barkley 'Who's Gonna Save My Soul?'
Will Win: Gnarls Barkley 'Who's Gonna Save My Soul?'
The talking heart wins every time.