6 hidden messages in this year's "Best Video With A Message" VMA nominees

by Nicole Villeneuve

August 1, 2012

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Last year, the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) launched a new award category for “Best Video With A Message,” made to honour the apparently brand-new emerging trend of musicians expressing feelings in their music. Let’s take a look at this year’s nominees, and what that hidden “messages” they could actually be broadcasting.

Last year, the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) launched a new award category for “Best Video With A Message,” made to honour the apparently brand-new emerging trend of musicians expressing feelings in their music.

“During the past year, we’ve seen a remarkable number of artists use their music to explore deeply personal experiences and issues they were passionate about to create powerful videos that resonated with and inspired millions of their fans,” MTV president Stephen Friedman said in a statement when the category was announced last year.

Lady Gaga took home the inaugural trophy for her “Born This Way” clip, beating out other nominees Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie,” Katy Perry’s “Firework,” Pink’s “Fuckin’ Perfect,” Rise Against’s “Make It Stop (September’s Children),” and Taylor Swift’s “Mean.”

Let’s take a look at this year’s nominees, and what that hidden “messages” they could actually be broadcasting.

VIDEO: Demi Lovato, “Skyscraper”

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Demi Lovato’s had a rough go of fame — from addiction to violence to eating disorders, the singer/actor has had very public struggles, and “Skyscraper” is a stripped-down emotional expose. “The shoot was twelve hours in the desert, and it was both physically and mentally tough. Every time they said ‘cut’ on the set, I would break down and cry because this song is so personal,'” she told Ryan Seacrest. “That video was an emotional release for me, like therapy…I kept crying,” she said. “I was so emotionally invested…That’s when I realized, that’s what music videos are all about.”

THE REAL MESSAGE: Few Barney & Friends cast members make it out okay.

VIDEO: Rise Against, “Ballad of Hollis Brown”

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Rise Against nab their second “Best Video With A Message” nominee with their cover of Bob Dylan’s tale of a farmer’s severe poverty. The video’s actually pretty heavy, featuring true-life vignettes of the current struggle of independent American agricultural workers. Not your typical modern-day MTV fare.

THE REAL MESSAGE: Poverty. Shit’s deep. Rise Against still care, and they still want you to, too.

VIDEO: Kelly Clarkson, “Dark Side”

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Your standard “love everybody, accept everybody” poptimistic video set to montages of bullying, weight struggles, addiction, etc. Heavy issues, light treatment.

THE REAL MESSAGE: Clarkson performed in “a ghetto area” for this video, apparently, so she knows darkness.

VIDEO: Gym Class Heroes, “The Fighter”

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Okay VERY TIMELY, GYM CLASS HEROES. With the Olympics dream-achieving happening in this video. Nice one.

THE REAL MESSAGE: You too can overcome adversity and achieve anything you put your mind to, like making it to the Olympics or like getting the guy from OneRepublic in your video.

VIDEO: K’Naan feat. Nelly Furtado, “Is Anybody Out There?”

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: See: Kelly Clarkson’s “Dark Side”

THE REAL MESSAGE: K’NAAN’s after-school special angle is ubiquitous these days. The real message here, and always, is “somebody is out there. It’s me, K’NAAN.”

VIDEO: Lil Wayne, “How to Love”

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Wayne gets pretty heavy in this self-written clip, depicting the effects a broken home and perpetuating cycles of violence have on a young girl. The video rewinds to show the girl’s mother making different choices and then their lives turn out perfect.

THE REAL MESSAGE: Um…you’re gonna need a time machine.

Tags: Music, Featured, News, demi lovato, K'naan, Kelly Clarkson, Lil Wayne, Nelly Furtado, Rise Against

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