August 18, 2008

Britney Spears, Jonas Brothers Battle It Out For VMA Video Of The Year

By Chris Harris (MTV.com)

Britney Spears made last year's MTV Video Music Awards a memorable one with her performance of "Gimme More" - albeit in ways she may not have intended. But on September 7, Spears will get a chance at VMA glory: Her "Piece of Me" video has been nominated for the coveted Video of the Year Moonman.

Thanks to votes from thousands of MTV viewers, Spears netted her third nomination of this year's VMAs (she's scored two others in theBest Female and Best Pop Video categories) on Friday (August 15), but she faces some stiff competition for the awards' most sought-after prize. The Jonas Brothers are also up for Video of the Year, for their "Burnin' Up" clip, along with Chris Brown's "Forever," the Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up" and, in typical VMA fashion, a relative newcomer. The Ting Tings scored their first VMA nod for "Shut Up and Let Me Go."

This year's VMAs, hosted by British comic and Forgetting Sarah Marshall co-star Russell Brand, will feature live performances from the Jonas Brothers, Lil Wayne and Kid Rock. The big show will be broadcast live at 9pm on September 7 from the legendary Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood.

Also on Friday, MTV revealed the nominees in the Best Rock Video category: Paramore scored a nod for their "CrushCrushCrush" clip, and they'll contend with the likes of Slipknot ("Psychosocial"), Linkin Park ("Shadow of the Day"), Foo Fighters ("The Pretender"), and Fall Out Boy ("Beat It").