VMAs see BTS go head to head with Ariana Grande, Drake and more

BTS has once again bagged multiple nominations for the MTV Music Video Awards show. The show will air live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and will be hosted by the popular 'Need To Know' singer, Doja Cat.

For the 2021 VMAs, BTS is going up against Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, Justin Beiber, Billie Eilish, Drake, Maroon 5, and more in as many as five categories.

In the K-pop category, BTS is going head to head with some of the biggest bands in Korea, such as BLACKPINK, MONSTA X, TWICE and more.

BTS bags five nominations at the 2021 VMAs

The global superstar septet has previously won multiple awards at the VMAs. Yet, they only made history last year in 2020 by winning the Best Pop award, before which they only received Best Group and Best K-pop awards.

For the 2021 VMAs, BTS is nominated for Best Pop, Best K-pop, Best Choreography, Best Editing, Song of Summer and Group of the Year. The first five nominations are all for the group's summer release that smashed multiple records, their second all-English single, Butter.

In the Best Pop category, they're going against Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Shawn Mendes and Taylor Swift.

In the Best K-pop category, they're nominated along with BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez's Ice Cream, (G)I-DLE's DUMDi DUMDi, MONSTA X's Gambler, SEVENTEEN's Ready To Love and TWICE's Alcohol-Free.

For Best Choreography, Ariana Grande's 34+35, Ed Sheeran's Bad Habits, Foo Fighters Shame Shame, Harry Styles' Treat People with Kindness and Marshmellow and Halsey's Be Kind will go against BTS' Butter.

For Best Editing, BTS is competing with Bruno Mars' Leave the Door Open, Drake's What Next, Harry Styles' Treat People with Kindness, Justin Bieber's Peaches and Miley Cyrus ft. Dua Lipa's Prisoner.

As for Group of the Year, they're going up against some of the classic Hollywood bands such as Maroon 5, Jonas Brothers, Twenty One Pilots, Silk Sonic, Foo Fighters, CNCO and none other than BLACKPINK.

The Group of the Year VMAs is a boss battle, with the two biggest K-pop bands earning a nomination. The 2020 VMAs had BTS earn four awards. It'll be interesting to see how many awards the seven members sweep off this year.

However, there has been no news of BTS performing or attending the VMAs, which has led ARMYs to decide not to watch the show.

About the author

Afreen has been a K-Pop Content Specialist at Sportskeeda since 2021. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, along with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication. Afreen has over 4+ years of working in various positions including being an entertainment content writer with Pinkvilla’s K-pop division Hallyutalk and CineDope, and as a copywriter at Flying Cursor.

As per Afreen, she loves her work because she gets to write about the things she is obsessed with. Her thorough research and following the two-genuine-source rule of journalism helps her produce the most accurate content, along with helping her be up-to-date with the industry.

Afreen has had the privilege to interview The Rose's frontrunner, WOOSUNG, and LIONESSES, K-pop's first openly LGBTQ+ group. She is a big fan of SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, BTS, and The Rose for their hard work, sincerity, and the comic relief their shows provide.

When she is off her shift, Afreen explores the streets of Nottingham in the UK, cooks, and listens to new music.

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