The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly renamed Best Director. The category acquired its current name with the 2008 awards.
Diane Martel is an American music video director and choreographer.
Robin Alan Thicke is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 hit single "Blurred Lines", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, he received two nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid competing with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, as was the case in 2010.
The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 24, 2014 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. It was the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé and Iggy Azalea led the nominees with eight nominations each, while Eminem followed them with seven. Beyoncé received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, following a 16-minute medley of her self-titled fifth studio album. The show had an audience of 8.3 million viewers, while 10.1 million cumulative with the other three Viacom networks that simulcast the presentation.
"Blurred Lines" is a song by American singer Robin Thicke featuring fellow American musicians T.I. and Pharrell Williams from Thicke's sixth studio album, Blurred Lines (2013). Solely produced by Williams, it was released as the album's lead single in 2013, through Star Trak Recordings and Interscope Records. For the lyrics, Thicke said the song is about his then-wife Paula Patton. Musically, "Blurred Lines" is an R&B and pop track with instrumentation consisting of bass guitar, drums, and percussion.
The 13th BET Awards were held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles, California on June 30, 2013. The awards ceremony recognized Americans in music, movies, sports and other fields of entertainment over the past year. Comedian and actor Chris Tucker hosted the event for the first time.
"We Can't Stop" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus, from her fourth studio album Bangerz (2013). It was released on June 3, 2013, by RCA Records as the lead single from the album. The song was written and produced by Mike Will Made It, P-Nasty, and Rock City, with additional songwriting provided by Cyrus, Doug E. Fresh, and Slick Rick. "We Can't Stop" is a pop, R&B and electropop song about a house party and recreational drug use.
"Give It 2 U" is a song by American singer-songwriter Robin Thicke from his sixth studio album, Blurred Lines (2013). It was written and produced by Dr. Luke and Cirkut, with additional writing by Thicke, the featured artist Kendrick Lamar, and will.i.am. Originally titled "Give It to Me", a demo version of the song premiered on the radio show Sway in the Morning on May 2, 2013. Featuring guest vocals from Lamar, it was released as the third single from the album on August 27, 2013. "Give It 2 U" is an uptempo hip hop and electropop song with elements of dubstep. Lyrically, Thicke sings about sexually pleasing a partner.
The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing singles of the United States. Its data, published by Billboard magazine and compiled by Nielsen SoundScan, is based collectively on each single's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as airplay and streaming. Throughout a year, Billboard will publish an annual list of the 100 most successful songs throughout that year on the Hot 100 chart based on the information. For 2013, the list was published on December 13, calculated with data from December 1, 2012, to November 30, 2013.
The 2014 Billboard Music Awards ceremony was held on May 18, 2014, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It aired live on ABC at 8:00/7:00 PM Central. The show was hosted by Ludacris.
The 14th BET Awards were held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles, California on June 29, 2014. Chris Rock was unveiled as the host for the upcoming BET Awards on May 14 during the network's 106 & Park music video countdown show. Beyoncé lead the nominations with 6, followed by Jay-Z with 5. Drake, Pharrell Williams and August Alsina were tied for 4. Beyoncé was the big winner of the night winning 3 BET Awards, while Nicki Minaj, Drake, August Alsina and Pharrell Williams with 2.
The 2013 Soul Train Music Awards ceremony took place on December 1, 2013 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada and was hosted by comedian and actor Anthony Anderson. The ceremony was aired on BET and Centric and included special tributes to Dionne Warwick, who received the Soul Train Legend Award and Keith Sweat given the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2015. The 32nd installment of the event was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by Miley Cyrus. Taylor Swift led the nominations with a total of ten, followed by Ed Sheeran, who had six, bringing his total number of mentions to 13. Swift's "Wildest Dreams" music video premiered during the pre-show. Cyrus also announced and released her studio album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, right after her performance at the end of the show. During his acceptance speech, Kanye West announced that he would be running in the 2020 United States presidential election. Taylor Swift won the most awards with four, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video. The VMA trophies were redesigned by Jeremy Scott.
The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 27, 2017 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, honoring music videos released between June 25, 2016 and June 23, 2017. It was hosted by Katy Perry. The 34th annual award show aired live from the venue for the second time in its history. The music video for Taylor Swift's song "Look What You Made Me Do" premiered during the broadcast. Lil Yachty co-hosted the pre-show with Terrence J, Charlamagne Tha God, and MTV News' Gaby Wilson, while Gabbie Hanna hosted backstage for the show. It was broadcast across various Viacom networks and their related apps.
