Well, folks, we’re in the thick of music award show season. The MTV Video Music awards kicked things off at the beginning of September, and the season concludes at the end of January with the Grammy Award ceremony. Smack dab in the middle, we have Dick Clark’s American Music Awards: an almost 40-year old institution that prides itself on being the people’s choice. Unlike the Grammy nominees, which are chosen by a “blue-ribbon” panel of music industry professionals, AMA nominees are chosen using hard sales and airplay data, and the winners are chosen by polling a sample of music fans across the nation. This explains why some artists who would never be considered Grammy favorites (Garth Brooks, New Kids on the Block, ‘Nsync) have amassed several of these shiny trophies while some Grammy favorites (U2, for example), have been a bit underrepresented at the AMAs. Quiet as kept, it’s also (allegedly) one of those shows where some, if not all, of the winners are notified of their fates prior to the telecast, completely taking away the element of surprise that makes many of these shows watchable.
This year, though, something tells me that the two ceremonies just might wind up with quite a bit in common. The leading nominees for the 2010 ceremony (scheduled to air in November) are Eminem and Lady Antebellum, who have five nods each. Of course, those two artists have the year’s biggest selling albums, with “Recovery” and “Need You Now”, respectively. Justin Bieber (who I’m assuming won’t be a Grammy favorite come December, when the nominations are announced) scored four nods, while Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Usher and B.O.B. all scored three nominations. A quick look through the nominations doesn’t reveal anything all that groundbreaking. Basically, the most popular artists in each field were nominated. There’s a minor surprise or two (like why Lady Antebellum is nominated in the “Breakthrough Artist” category when their first album was a platinum success), but everything here is pretty status quo..which does not bode well for the ceremony itself.
Ke$ha, Perry, Usher and Bon Jovi are among the artists who have already agreed to perform on the show, which means that I’ll be gritting my teeth while sitting through it when I live blog it! Let’s hope some performers who might add a little spice to the proceedings are added, otherwise we are gonna be sitting through one boring-ass show. Hell, last year’s show was bad enough, seeing as we had to sit through Adam Lambert’s desperate attempts at being controversial and Greasy Jermaine accepting awards on behalf of his late brother.
Full list of nominees after the jump…
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Justin Bieber
Eminem
Ke$ha
Lady Gaga
Katy Perry
BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST
B.o.B
Justin Bieber
Taio Cruz
Jason Derülo
Ke$ha
Lady Antebellum
Travie McCoy
Mike Posner
POP/ROCK
Favorite Male Artist
Justin Bieber
Eminem
Usher
Favorite Female Artist
Ke$ha
Lady Gaga
Katy Perry
Favorite Band, Duo or Group
The Black Eyed Peas
Lady Antebellum
Train
Favorite Album
Justin Bieber, “My World 2.0”
Eminem, “Recovery”
Katy Perry, “Teenage Dream”
COUNTRY
Favorite Male Artist
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Brad Paisley
Favorite Female Artist
Miranda Lambert
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Favorite Band, Duo or Group
Zac Brown Band
Lady Antebellum
Rascal Flatts
Favorite Album
Jason Aldean, “Wide Open”
Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now”
Carrie Underwood, “Play On”
RAP/HIP-HOP
Favorite Male Artist
B.o.B.
Drake
Eminem
Favorite Album
B.o.B., “B.o.B. Presents”
Drake, “Thank Me Later”
Eminem, “Recovery”
SOUL/R&B
Favorite Male Artist
Chris Brown
Trey Songz
Usher
Favorite Female Artist
Alicia Keys
Rihanna
Sade
Favorite Album
Alicia Keys, “The Element of Freedom”
Sade, “Soldier of Love”
Usher, “Raymond v. Raymond”
ALTERNATIVE ROCK
Favorite Artist
Muse
Phoenix
Vampire Weekend
SOUNDTRACK
Favorite Album
AC/DC, “Iron Man 2”
“Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers”
“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”
ADULT CONTEMPORARY
Favorite Artist
Michael Bublé
Lady Antebellum
Train
LATIN
Favorite Artist
Daddy Yankee
Enrique Iglesias
Shakira
CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL
Favorite Artist
Casting Crowns
MercyMe
TobyMac