2011 MTV VMAs: Who Will Win Video Of The Year?

Robbie Daw | August 25, 2011 11:02 am

This week we’ve highlighted the Best Pop Video, Best Female Video and Best Male Video categories for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards (which we’ll be live-blogging on Sunday, so be sure to crack a soda and join us for the party). And today we round things out by focusing on the big prize — Video Of The Year. Head below to see who we think will win, and who we think should win. First, the nominees, followed by our thoughts. (Also, we’ve had our Video Of The Year poll up in the right sidebar all week. Head over and click away.)

BEST FEMALE VIDEO Adele, “Rolling In The Deep” Beastie Boys, “Make Some Noise” Bruno Mars, “Grenade” Katy Perry, “Firework” Tyler, The Creator, “Yonkers”

THOUGHTS ON THE NOMINEES: We simply can’t skip commenting on what is either the ironic twist or MTV’s naughty sense of humor with having both Bruno Mars and Tyler, The Creator up for Video Of The Year — mainly because in Tyler’s “Yonkers,” the Odd Future MC angrily declares, among other things, that he’ll “stab Bruno Mars in his goddamn esophagus.” Geez — let’s at least hope those two aren’t sitting near each other on Sunday. And keep Tyler away from the catering cutlery, MTV!

At any rate, both of the above-mentioned gents’ respective videos are pretty torturous: Bruno is left pulling a piano behind him while walking across Los Angeles, and Tyler swallows a giant creepy crawler, vomits, gets a bloody nose and then hangs himself.

Katy Perry’s “Firework,” which was shot last fall in Budapest, is far more upbeat with its message of tolerance and inner strength, while Beastie Boys left no celeb un-cameo’d in their “Make Some Noise” clip (Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood and Danny McBride play the boys in an epic NYC-set video that also features the likes of Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson, Steve Buscemi, Chloe Sevigny, Kirsten Dunst, Orlando Bloom, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and Jack Black.)

And then there’s Adele’s juggernaut hit “Rolling In The Deep,” which, regardless of whether you’ve actually ever watched the chaotic, fine China-shattering video or not, has been inescapable this year.

WILL WIN: It’s a toss-up between Beastie Boys, who have a long and storied history of their quirky music videos finding a comfy home at MTV, and undeniable-in-2011 Adele. We’re betting that MTV will go with honoring the year’s best-selling artist  this time around.

SHOULD WIN: This is Adele’s year. Was the video for “Rolling In The Deep” all that epic? No. But the London powerhouse truly deserves any accolades for pretty much lifting slumping album sales out of the red in 2011.

Now have your say by voting in our Video Of The Year poll in the right sidebar, and by letting us know your thoughts below! We’ll post the results of the poll tomorrow.