MTV Japan Unveils VMAJ 2013 Nominees

MTV Japan today announced nominees, hosts, and the first three performers to be featured in its annual biggest music event, MTV VMAJ 2013, set to take place at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture on 22^nd June 2013 (Saturday).

Bruno Mars, Fun., One Direction, Taylor Swift, and Kana Nishino received three nominations each. Kana Nishino and Taylor Swift will vie for “Best Female Video”, as well as Fun. and One Direction for both “Best Group Video” and “Best New Artist Video”. In addition, Bruno Mars, Kana Nishino and Taylor Swift battle it out for VMAJ’s own “Best Karaokee! Song”. Kana Nishino is also confirmed to hit the stage with the memorable performance, along with Carly Rae Jepsen and Imagine Dragons.

Additional performers and presenters will be announced at a later date.

Nominations in all sixteen award categories are as follows:

Best Male Video     

• BRUNO MARS “Locked Out of Heaven” (Dir: Cameron Duddy)
• EXILE ATSUSHI “MELROSE ~Aisanai Yakusoku~” (Dir: Tetsuo Inoue)
• GOTYE “Somebody That I Used to Know feat. KIMBRA” (Dir: Natasha Pincus)
• JUSTIN BIEBER “Beauty and a Beat feat. NICKI MINAJ” (Dir: Jon M. Chu)
• Daichi Miura “Two Hearts” (Dir: tatsuaki)

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Best Female Video

• ALICIA KEYS “Girl on Fire feat. NICKI MINAJ” (Dir: Sophie Muller)
• JUJU “Arigatou” (Dir: Tsugihisa Tanaka)
• Kana Nishino “Always” (Dir: Nobu Sueyoshi)
• RIHANNA “Diamonds” (Dir: Anthony Mandler)
• TAYLOR SWIFT “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (Dir: Declan Whitebloom)

Best Group Video

• FUN. “We are Young feat. JANELLE MONAE” (Dir: Marc Klasfeld)
• MAROON 5 “Payphone feat. WIZ KHALIFA” (Dir: Samuel Bayer)
• ONE DIRECTION “What Makes You Beautiful” (Dir: John Urbano)
• TOHOSHINKI “Catch Me -If you wanna-“ (Dir: JAE-HYUK JANG)
• J Soul Brothers III “Hanabi” (Dir: Mika Ninagawa)

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Best New Artist Video

• CARLY RAE JEPSEN “Call Me Maybe” (Dir: Ben Knechtel)
• FUN. “We are Young feat. JANELLE MONAE” (Dir: Marc Klasfeld)
• GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE “BRAVE IT OUT” (Dir: Shigeaki Kubo)
• ONE DIRECTION “What Makes You Beautiful” (Dir: John Urbano)
• SALU “The Girl On A Board feat. H.TEFRON” (Dir: SITE)

Best Video of the Year

• Namie Amuro “In The Spotlight(TOKYO)(from ALBUM “Uncontrolled”)” (Dir: Shigeaki Kubo)
• BRUNO MARS “Locked Out of Heaven” (Dir: Cameron Duddy)
• EXILE TRIBE “24karats TRIBE OF GOLD” (Dir: Shigeaki Kubo)
• Mr.Children “Marshmallow day” (Dir: Shinji Kawamura+Kazuaki Seki+Kei Takahashi)
• MUSE “Follow Me (Tekken Version)” (Dir: Tekken)

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Best Rock Video

• FUN. “We are Young feat. JANELLE MONAE” (Dir: Marc Klasfeld)
• MAN WITH A MISSION “distance” (Dir: Takayuki Kojima)
• MUSE “Follow Me (Tekken Version)” (Dir: Tekken)
• ONE OK ROCK “The Beginning” (Dir: maxilla)
• Sakanaction “Yoru no Odoriko” (Dir: Yusuke Tanaka)

Best Pop Video

• GReeeeN “Orange” (Dir: Taro Okagawa)
• JUSTIN BIEBER “Beauty and a Beat feat. NICKI MINAJ” (Dir: Jon M. Chu)
• Kyary Pamyu Pamyu “Fashion Monster” (Dir: Jun Tamukai)
• NEGOTO “nameless” (Dir: Kazuaki Seki)
• TAYLOR SWIFT “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (Dir: Declan Whitebloom)

Best R&B Video

• ALICIA KEYS “Girl on Fire feat. NICKI MINAJ” (Dir: Sophie Muller)
• Namie Amuro “In The Spotlight(TOKYO)(from ALBUM “Uncontrolled”)” (Dir: Shigeaki Kubo)
• FRANK OCEAN “Pyramids” (Dir: Nabil Elderkin)
• MILIYAH KATO “LOVERS partII feat.waka-danna” (Dir: Tomoo Noda)
• RIHANNA “Diamonds” (Dir: Anthony Mandler)

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Best Hip Hop Video

• AKLO “RED PILL” (Dir: Ryoji Kamiyama)
• AK-69 “START IT AGAIN” (Dir: RIK CORDERO)
• A$AP ROCKY “F**kin’ Problems feat. DRAKE, 2 CHAINZ & KENDRICK LAMAR” (Dir: Sam Lecca)
• KENDRICK LAMAR “Swimming Pools (Drank)” (Dir: JeromeD)
• CYPRESS UENO & ROBERTO YOSHINO “YOKOHAMA SHIKA feat.OZROSAURUS” (Dir: GhettoHollywood)

Best Reggae Video

• HAN-KUN “ROAD TO ZION” (Dir: Tsuyoshi Nakakuki)
• lecca “Clown Love” (Dir: tatsuaki)
• PUSHIM “Yuuhi” (Dir: PUSHIM)
• SEAN KINGSTON “Back 2 Life (Live it Up) feat. T.I.” (Dir: Benny Boom)
• SEAN PAUL “Dream Girl (Remix feat. lecca)” (Dir: Masaki Ohkita)

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Best Dance Video

• BIGBANG “FANTASTIC BABY -Ver. Final-” (Dir: Hyun Seung Seo)
• group_inou “9” (Dir: Ryu Okubo)
• livetune adding Megumi Nakajima “Transfer” (Dir: fantasista utamaro × Kazuma Ikeda)
• SKRILLEX “Bangarang” (Dir: Tony T. Datis)
• ZEDD “Spectrum feat. MATTHEW KOMA” (Dir: Petro)

Best Video from a Film

• ADELE “Skyfall (Lyric Video)” from “Skyfall” (Dir: Nick Chappell)
• FLORENCE + THE MACHINE “Breath of Life” from “Snow White and the Huntsman” (Dir: Scott Murray)
• Mr.Children “Inori ~Namida no kidou” from “Bokura ga Ita Zenpen” (Dir: Genki Ito)
• ONE OK ROCK “The Beginning” from “Rurouni Kenshin” (Dir: maxilla)
• PITBULL “Back in Time (featured in “MEN IN BLACK III”)” from “Men in Black 3” (Dir: David Rousseau)

Best Collaboration Video   

• BACK DROP BOMB “The Beginning and The End feat. AKLO” (Dir: Hiromasa Sasaki)
• CALVIN HARRIS “Sweet Nothing feat. FLORENCE WELCH” (Dir: Vincent Haycock)
• MAROON 5 “Payphone feat. WIZ KHALIFA” (Dir: Samuel Bayer)
• MIYAVI vs YUKSEK “DAY 1” (Dir: Yasuhiko Shimizu)
• Keiichiro Shibuya + Hiroki Azuma feat. Hatsune Miku “Initiation” (Dir: YKBX)

Best Album of the Year

• CARLY RAE JEPSEN “KISS”
• LINKIN PARK “LIVING THINGS”
• Kana Nishino “Love Place”
• ONE DIRECTION “TAKE ME HOME”
• 2PM “LEGEND OF 2PM”

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Best Karaokee! Song

• BRUNO MARS “Locked Out of Heaven” (Dir: Cameron Duddy)
• Kyary Pamyu Pamyu “Fashion Monster” (Dir: Jun Tamukai)
• Kana Nishino “Always” (Dir: Nobu Sueyoshi)
• TAYLOR SWIFT “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (Dir: Declan Whitebloom)
• J Soul Brothers III “Hanabi” (Mika Ninagawa)

Best Choreography

• CHRIS BROWN “Turn Up the Music” (Dir: Chris Brown & Godfrey Tabarz)
• Momoiro Clover Z “Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimitachiyo” (Dir: Hideki Kuroda)
• P!NK “Try” (Dir: Floria Sigismondi)
• WILLY MOON “Yeah Yeah” (Dir: Alex Courtes)
• WORLD ORDER “PERMANENT REVOLUTON” (Dir: GENKI SUDO)

Voting for all categories is now available at MTV Japan’s official Facebook page until 5pm on June 11/Tokyo time (in Japanese only). The show will premiere on MTV Japan on 23^rd June 2013 (Sunday) at 8PM (Tokyo), and will air across MTV’s global network including MTV Asia (details to be announced).