Kendrick Lamar leads the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards nominations pack with eight, while the Weeknd and Katy Perry both scored five. The VMAs will air live from the Forum in Los Angeles on August 27 at 8pm. Lamar will vie for Artist of the Year while his eye-popping video for Damn single “Humble” notched seven nods, including Video of the Year, Best Hip Hop Video and Best Direction. In the Video of the Year category, the rapper will compete against Bruno Mars for “24K Magic,” Alessia Cara for “Scars to Your Beautiful,” DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller for “Wild Thoughts” and the Weeknd for “Reminder.” Perry scored nominations for several songs. Her Witness single “Chained to the Rhythm” picked up Best Pop Video, Direction and Visual Effects, while her Migos collaboration, “Bon Appetit” is up for Best Art Direction. The pop star also received a nod for Calvin Harris’ “Feels” video in the Best Collaboration category. As for the Weeknd, the singer’s cameo-packed “Reminder” video is up in several creative categories. The VMAs will notably tweak its longstanding format this year, combining the Best Female and Male Video awards into Artist of the Year. That category features Lamar, the Weeknd, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Lorde. The coveted Best New Artist VMA boasts Khalid, Kodak Black, SZA, Young M.A, Julia Michaels and Noah Cyrus. The VMAs will also introduce a new category, Best Fight Against the System, two years after dropping its Best Video With a Social Message category. The nominees include: Logic’s “Black Spiderman,” The Hamilton Mixtape’s “Immigrants,” Big Sean’s “Light,” Alessia Cara’s “Scars to Your Beautiful,” Taboo’s “Stand Up/Stand N Rock #NoDAPL” featuring Shailene Woodley and John Legend’s “Surefire.” Other artists picking up multiple nominations include Mars, Sheeran, Halsey, Harry Styles, Chance the Rapper, the Chainsmokers, Calvin Harris, Migos and DRAM Perennial VMA favourite Kanye West even snuck in with a single nod for his “Fade” video. Published in Daily Times, July 27th 2017.