Billie Eilish is nothing if not precocious. She’s only 17 years old, but in March she released one of the most successful and acclaimed albums of the year, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” Now she’s nominated for Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards for “Bad Guy” (watch it above). If she wins, she wouldn’t be the first teen to do so, but she would be the youngest.
The music business often favors youth, so naturally the VMAs do too. Plenty of 20-somethings have taken Video of the Year from Sinead O’Connor (“Nothing Compares 2 U,” 1990) to Camila Cabello (“Havana,” 2018). But only two teen acts have prevailed thus far. Panic! at the Disco members Brendon Urie (19) and Spencer Smith (18) were south of 20 when they won for “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” in 2006. The very next year Rihanna won for “Umbrella” when she was 19. Eilish, meanwhile, could prevail before she’s even eligible to vote.
“Bad Guy” is also nominated for Best Pop Video, Best Direction and Best Editing, but more importantly it has racked up more than 400 million YouTube views as of this writing; these awards are decided by fans voting online, so popularity is paramount. Is it enough to push her ahead of the devoted fan bases of Taylor Swift (“You Need to Calm Down“), Ariana Grande (“Thank U, Next“) and the Jonas Brothers (“Sucker”), or for that matter the unprecedented success of Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus (“Old Town Road”). These are her first VMA nominations, so it remains to be seen how her success on the charts and on streaming platforms will translate here.
Be sure to make your MTV Video Music Award predictions so that music executives and top name stars can see how they’re faring in our odds. Don’t be afraid to jump in now since you can keep changing your predictions until winners are announced on August 26. And join in the fierce debate over the 2019 VMAs taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our music forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
