Last Updated on January 17, 2013 by
2013 Grammy prediction: Best Short Form Music Video nominees
• “Houdini,” Foster the People
• “No Church in the Wild,” Jay-Z & Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream
• “Bad Girls,” M.I.A.
• “We Found Love,” Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris
• “Run Boy Run,” Woodkid
The leading contenders for the Best Music Video, Short Form Grammy are “Bad Girls” and “No Church in the Wild,” both cinematic productions directed by Romain Gavras. The former was a female empowerment video shot in Morocco, while the latter depicts an intense urban warfare experience.
Rihanna’s “We Found Love” video wasn’t as good as those two, but often, this award goes to the biggest name rather than the best video (see last year, when Adele’s boring “Rolling in the Deep” video won the award, even though it consisted mostly of footage of her sitting in a chair.)
Foster the People’s “Houdini” is a catchy song, but the “Pumped Up Kicks’ band is old news by now. And the video depicts the band getting crushed by stage rigging, which actually happened just a couple months later to a roadie from Radiohead who was killed. Given that reality, who would vote for “Houdini” here?
The final, unexpected nominee is Woodkid’s “Run Boy Run.” Woodkid is a little-known act who hasn’t even released a full album. So how did he get nominated? Woodkid is Yoann Lemoine, an accomplished video director who has helmed clips for Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. People in the music video field know very well who he is.
Woodkid’s slow-motion fantasy video “Run Boy Run” is well done, but it’s unlikely that he will prevail given the superstar competition.
The clear omission from this group is Psy’s “Gangnam Style.” Yes, it was cheesy and overplayed, and perhaps that’s why the Academy shied away from it, but its humor was brilliant and it clearly deserved the Grammy in this category.
Since Psy isn’t nominated, who will win? Kanye and Jay-Z will do battle with M.I.A., but since their videos are so similar, they could cancel each other out and allow the big name – Rihanna – to walk away with the prize. We predict “No Church in the Wild” takes it in a tight race, but either of the two could win out.
2013 Grammy Awards: Best Music Video prediction
Deserves to win: Bad Girls, M.I.A.
Will win: No Church in the Wild, Kanye West & Jay-Z
Should have also been nominated: Gangnam Style, Psy
