Female Artists Set to Dominate MTV Europe Music Awards

FILED - 13 November 2022, North Rhine-Westphalia, Duesseldorf: American singer Taylor Swift walks the red carpet at the MTV Europe Music Awards in front of the PSD Bank Dome. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
FILED - 13 November 2022, North Rhine-Westphalia, Duesseldorf: American singer Taylor Swift walks the red carpet at the MTV Europe Music Awards in front of the PSD Bank Dome. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
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Female Artists Set to Dominate MTV Europe Music Awards

FILED - 13 November 2022, North Rhine-Westphalia, Duesseldorf: American singer Taylor Swift walks the red carpet at the MTV Europe Music Awards in front of the PSD Bank Dome. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
FILED - 13 November 2022, North Rhine-Westphalia, Duesseldorf: American singer Taylor Swift walks the red carpet at the MTV Europe Music Awards in front of the PSD Bank Dome. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa

Taylor Swift, Charli XCX and Billie Eilish are among the female artists tipped to dominate the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards to be held in Manchester, northwest England, on Sunday.
The ceremony's 30th edition, which brings together the biggest names in world music, gets under way at the city's new Co-op Live venue from 8:00 pm (2000 GMT).
British singer Rita Ora will host the awards, which are being held in Britain for the seventh time, said AFP.
Ten of the eleven artists with the most nominations are women, with megastar Taylor Swift leading the way.
The American, whose ongoing "Eras" tour is the most lucrative in history, is nominated in seven categories following the release this year of her 11th album "The Tortured Poets Department".

In the Best Artist category she will go up against compatriots Beyonce, Eilish, male rapper Post Malone and British star Raye, who won a record six gongs at this year's Brit Awards.
Sabrina Carpenter, one of the stars of the summer with her hit "Please Please Please", completes the nominees.
Best Song is between Eilish's "Birds of a Feather", Carpenter's "Espresso", Beyonce's "Texas Hold 'Em", "Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone, Chappell Roan's "Good Luck, Babe!", and "We Can't Be Friends" by Ariana Grande.
Rising female stars in contention in other categories include Lisa of the ultra-popular K-pop group Blackpink, and Nigerian star Ayra Starr.
As with the US music industry's Grammy awards, Latino artists, including stars such as Puerto Rican Bad Bunny and Colombian Karol G were left out of the top categories this year despite their global hits.
Both have been included in the Best Latin field, alongside Shakira, who has revived her career with the hit "Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53", about her separation from ex-footballer Gerard Pique.
Other artists up for awards include Travis Scott, Dua Lipa and Charli XCX, who is nominated in four categories. Busta Rhymes is due to receive the global icon award.
This is the first MTV Europe Music Awards since 2022 after last year's edition, to be held near Paris, was canceled because of the war between Israel and Hamas.



Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson Get Songwriters Hall of Fame Nods

Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
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Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson Get Songwriters Hall of Fame Nods

Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)

Eminem, Boy George, George Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, the Doobie Brothers, N.W.A. and Alanis Morissette are among the nominees for the 2025 class at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an eclectic group of rap, rock, hip-hop and pop pioneers.

Joining them on the ballot are Bryan Adams, with radio staples like “Summer of ’69” and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?,” and Mike Love of the Beach Boys, hoping to get in 25 years after band founder Brian Wilson. David Gates, co-lead singer of the pop-music group Bread, is also looking for entry.

The Hall annually inducts performers and non-performers alike, and the latter category this year includes Walter Afanasieff, who helped Mariah Carey with her smash “All I Want for Christmas Is You;” Mike Chapman, who co-wrote Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield;” and Narada Michael Walden, the architect of Whitney Houston's “How Will I Know″ and Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love.”

Eligible voting members have until Dec. 22 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from the songwriter category and three from the performing-songwriter category. The Associated Press got an early copy of the list.

Several performers are getting another shot at entry, including Clinton, whose Parliament-Funkadelic collective was hugely influential with hits like “Atomic Dog” and “Give Up the Funk,” and The Doobie Brothers — Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald — with such classics as “Listen to the Music” and "Long Train Runnin.’” Steve Winwood, whose hits include “Higher Love” and “Roll With It,” has also been on the ballot before.

Hip-hop this year is represented by Eminem — whose hits include “Lose Yourself" and “Stan” — and N.W.A. members Dr. Dre, Eazy E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella. Already in the Hall are hip-hop stars like Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliot. Tommy James, with hits including ”Mony Mony,″ ”Crimson and Clover″ and ”I Think We’re Alone Now,″ has also earned a nod.

If Jackson, whose 1989 album “Rhythm Nation” was a landmark, gets into the Hall, it will be more than two decades after her late brother Michael. The Canadian songwriter Morissette, whose influential “Jagged Little Pill” has won Grammys, Tonys, Junos and MTV awards would also add to the Hall's rocking women. (Glen Ballard, who helped produce and write the album, is already in.)

As would Crow, the “All I Wanna Do” and “Everyday Is a Winding Road” singer-songwriter, is having a critical resurgence after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. Boy George lifts the flag for '80s New Wave with the Culture Club hits “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.”

Other nominees for the non-performing category include Franne Golde, who co-wrote Selena’s ”Dreaming of You;″ Tom Douglas, who wrote country hits for Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert; Ashley Gorley, fresh off his co-writing smash “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen; and Roger Nichols, who co-wrote The Carpenters’ ″We’ve Only Just Begun.″

They join Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who contributed to the hit ″The Boy Is Mine″ by Brandy and Monica; Sonny Curtis, former member of the Crickets who wrote and performed the theme song for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show," ”Love is All Around,” and British composer Tony Macaulay, who wrote “Build Me Up Buttercup.”

The Hall also put forward three songwriting teams: Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan, who wrote “Secret Agent Man;” and Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who penned the Four Tops hit “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got);” and Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, who wrote the Percy Sledge tune “Out of Left Field.”

The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those creating popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.

Some already in the hall include Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil Diamond and Phil Collins. Last year saw R.E.M., Steely Dan, Dean Pitchford, Hillary Lindsey and Timbaland inducted.