2015 MTV Video Music Awards

The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2015.[3] The 32nd installment of the event was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by Miley Cyrus.[4][5] Taylor Swift led the nominations with a total of ten, followed by Ed Sheeran, who had six,[6][a] bringing his total number of mentions to 13. Swift's "Wildest Dreams" music video premiered during the pre-show.[7] Cyrus also announced and released her studio album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, right after her performance at the end of the show.[8] During his acceptance speech, Kanye West announced that he would be running in the 2020 United States presidential election.[9] Taylor Swift won the most awards with four, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[10] The VMA trophies were redesigned by Jeremy Scott.[11]

2015 MTV Video Music Awards
DateSunday, August 30, 2015 (2015-08-30)
VenueMicrosoft Theater (Los Angeles, California)
CountryUnited States
Hosted byMiley Cyrus
Most awardsTaylor Swift (4)
Most nominationsTaylor Swift (10)
Websitewww.mtv.com/vma/2015/
Television/radio coverage
Network
Runtime190 minutes
Produced byAmy Doyle
Jesse Ignjatovic
Dave Sirulnick
Van Toffler
Directed byHamish Hamilton
← 2014 · MTV Video Music Awards · 2016 →

This 2015 edition was seen by 9.8 million people in the United States during its simulcast across ten Viacom-owned networks.[12][13] However, the ceremony's airing on the flagship MTV network alone had one of the lowest audience in the ceremony's 31-year history (with the following year's ceremony being the lowest of all time). According to Nielsen, it logged 5.03 million viewers on MTV, 39% less than the previous year, while cumulative viewers drew 9.8 million with the nine other simulcasting networks. The lowest viewed edition since Nielson began tracking in 1994 was in 1996, with 5.07 million viewers. This broadcast, however, broke the "US Twitter record", being the most tweeted about non-sports program, with 21.4 million tweets delivered by 2.2 million people.[14] It was also streamed live through the MTV app for authenticated users on mobile devices and television sets via iOS, Android and Chromecast. Through its website, viewers could also get to see un-aired audience shots and backstage coverage.[15] mtvU aired a behind-the-scenes feed and MTV Hits went dark.

Performances

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Artist(s) Song(s)
Pre-show
Walk the Moon "Shut Up and Dance"
"Different Colors"
Todrick Hall Video of the Year nominees' covers
("Uptown Funk", "7/11", "Bad Blood")
Nick Jonas "Levels"
Main show
Nicki Minaj
Taylor Swift
"Trini Dem Girls" (Minaj)
"The Night Is Still Young"
"Bad Blood"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Eric Nally
Melle Mel
Kool Moe Dee
Grandmaster Caz
"Downtown"
(Live from outside The Orpheum Theatre)
The Weeknd "Can't Feel My Face"
Demi Lovato
Iggy Azalea
"Cool for the Summer"
(Live from outside The Orpheum Theatre)
Justin Bieber "Where Are Ü Now"
"What Do You Mean?"
Tori Kelly "Should've Been Us"
Pharrell Williams "Freedom"
(Live from outside The Orpheum Theatre)
Twenty One Pilots
ASAP Rocky
"Heavydirtysoul"
"M's"
"Message Man"
"Lane Boy"
"LSD"
Miley Cyrus "Dooo It!"

Presenters

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Pre-show

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Main show

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Winners and nominees

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The nominations were announced on July 21, 2015 via Apple Music's Beats 1.[17] Nominees for the social media-driven category, Song of Summer, were announced on August 18, 2015.[18] Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar were tied with most nominations, 10. Ed Sheeran had 6, Nicki Minaj had 4.

Video of the Year

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Taylor Swift (featuring Kendrick Lamar) – "Bad Blood"

Best Male Video

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Mark Ronson (featuring Bruno Mars) – "Uptown Funk"

Best Female Video

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Taylor Swift – "Blank Space"

Artist to Watch

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Fetty Wap – "Trap Queen"

Best Pop Video

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Taylor Swift – "Blank Space"

Best Rock Video

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Fall Out Boy – "Uma Thurman"

Best Hip-Hop Video

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Nicki Minaj – "Anaconda"

Best Collaboration

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Taylor Swift (featuring Kendrick Lamar) – "Bad Blood"

Best Direction

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Kendrick Lamar – "Alright" (Directors: Colin Tilley and the Little Homies)

Best Choreography

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OK Go – "I Won't Let You Down" (Choreographer: OK Go, air:man and Mori Harano)

Best Visual Effects

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Skrillex and Diplo (featuring Justin Bieber) – "Where Are Ü Now" (Visual Effects: Brewer, GloriaFX, Tomash Kuzmytskyi and Max Chyzhevskyy)

Best Art Direction

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Snoop Dogg – "So Many Pros" (Art Director: Jason Fijal)

Best Editing

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Beyoncé – "7/11" (Editors: Beyoncé, Ed Burke and Jonathan Wing)

Best Cinematography

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Flying Lotus (featuring Kendrick Lamar) – "Never Catch Me" (Director of Photography: Larkin Seiple)

Best Video with a Social Message

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Big Sean (featuring Kanye West and John Legend) – "One Man Can Change the World"

Song of Summer

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5 Seconds of Summer – "She's Kinda Hot"

Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award

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Kanye West

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Another nominee, Kendrick Lamar, received four nominations for his video "Alright." The videos for Swift's "Bad Blood" and Flying Lotus' "Never Catch Me" (both of which he features on) earned seven and two nominations respectively—however, those are not counted since he is not the lead artist.

References

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  1. ^ Yahr, Emily (August 30, 2015). "VMAs 2015 FAQ: Where to watch the show, who's performing, red carpet details". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  2. ^ "2015 MTV Video Music Awards". Zap2it. Archived from the original on September 2, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  3. ^ Linder, Emilee (November 13, 2014). "Save The Date! The 2015 VMAs Are Set For…". MTV.com. Archived from the original on November 20, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  4. ^ Alexis, Nadeska (July 20, 2015). "Start Freaking, The 2015 MTV VMA Nominations Are Coming". MTV.com. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  5. ^ Lindner, Emilee (July 20, 2015). "Miley Cyrus Is Hosting The 2015 VMAs. This Is Not A Drill". MTV.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  6. ^ Lindner, Emilee (July 21, 2015). "2015 VMA Nominations: Get The Full List Now". MTV.com. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015. The list... is lead [sic] by Taylor Swift, who is up for nine Moonmen.
  7. ^ Hosken, Patrick (August 23, 2015). "Taylor Swift's 'Wildest Dreams' Video Will Premiere During The VMA Pre-Show". MTV.com. Archived from the original on August 26, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
  8. ^ Bell, Crystal (August 31, 2015). "Miley Cyrus Just Dropped A Free Surprise Album – Here's Where You Can Hear It". MTV News. Archived from the original on August 31, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  9. ^ Stone, Natalie (August 30, 2015). "Kanye West: 'I Have Decided in 2020 to Run for President'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  10. ^ "MTV Video Music Awards 2015: The Winners Are…". Billboard. August 30, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  11. ^ Lindner, Emilee (August 17, 2015). "Jeremy Scott Redesigned The VMA Moonman, And It's Totally Rad". MTV.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  12. ^ O'Connell, Michael (September 1, 2015). "2015 VMAs Ratings: Miley-Hosted Show Suffers 3 Million Viewer Drop From 2014 on MTV". Billboard. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
  13. ^ "2015 MTV Video Music Awards". Zap2it. Archived from the original on September 2, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
  14. ^ Kissell, Rick (September 1, 2015). "Video Music Awards Viewership Plummets on MTV". Variety. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  15. ^ "MTV VMAs 2015 Live Stream: How To Watch Online". Heavy.com. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  16. ^ "Here Are All The Beautiful People In Miley's Happy Hippie Squad". MTV. Archived from the original on August 31, 2015.
  17. ^ "MTV VMAs: Taylor Swift leads way with nine nominations". Guardian. July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  18. ^ Stutz, Colin (July 21, 2015). "2015 MTV Video Music Awards Nominees Revealed: Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran & More". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
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