2007 MTV Video Music Awards Nominations Are In

MTV is unveiling the nominees for the 2007 Video Music Awards right now on TV at a painfully slow rate. Here's where they stand so far...

Monster Single: Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend," Chris Daughtry's "Home," Fall Out Boy's "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs," Lil Mama's "Lip Gloss," T-Pain's "Buy You A Drank," Timbaland's "The Way I Are," Mims' "This Is Why I'm Hot," Plain White T's "Hey There Delilah," Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Shop Boyz' "Party Like A Rock Star"

Female Artist of the Year: Amy Winehouse, Beyonce, Fergie, Nelly Furtado, Rihanna

Best New Artist: Amy Winehouse, Carrie Underwood, Gym Class Heroes, Lily Allen, Peter Bjorn and John

Best Choreography: Beyonce and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar," Chris Brown's "Wall to Wall," Ciara's "Like a Boy," Eve's "Tambourine"

Best Group: Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park, Gym Class Heroes, Maroon 5, The White Stripes

(Pete Wentz is now providing us with Pete's Suite Tour, a guided journey through the Palms Resort in Vegas where many VMA attendees will be staying; Shaquille O'Neal has arrived and is playing basketball ball with him. Also: Lily Allen is there. Guess she got over those visa issues. But will she perform at the big show? "I can't possibly reveal that to you at this moment," she says.)

Video of the Year: Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," Beyonce's "Irreplaceable," Justice's "Dance," Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around ... / ... Comes Around," Kanye West's "Stronger," Rihanna feat. Jay-Z's "Umbrella"

(Is this the year of Kanye? "I come to win, I don't come to lose," he responds. "You never know how the voting system works ... I think my video is the best." There's a shocker.)

Best Editing: Beyonce and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar," Gnarls Barkley's "Smiley Faces," Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around ... / Comes Around," Kanye West's "Stronger," Linkin Park's "What I've Done"

Earth-Shattering Collaboration: Akon and Eminem's "Smack That," Beyonce and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar," Justin Timberlake and Timbaland's "SexyBack," Gwen Stefani and Akon's "The Sweet Escape," U2 and Green Day's "The Saints Are Coming"

Male Artist of the Year (presented by a comically bored looking Lily Allen): Akon, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Robin Thicke, T.I.

Best Director: Beyonce and Sharkira's "Beautiful Liar," Christina Aguilera's "Candyman," Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around ... / ... Comes Around," Kanye West's "Stronger," Linkin Park's "What I've Done," Rihanna's "Umbrella"

Quadruple Threat of the Year: Beyonce, Bono, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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