There’s one reason Macklemore & Ryan Lewis started making videos: to get to the VMAs. Well, thanks to three #1 hits and their three amazing videos, the Seattle duo are not only invited to the August 25 show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, they’re tied with Justin Timberlake for the most nominations!
“When we started making music videos, it’s always the goal is to get a VMA nomination — it’s really to take home a Moonman,” Macklemore told MTV News on Wednesday, just hours after he found out about the pair’s six nominations .
“Once the song [‘Thrift Shop’] started doing better, it was like, ‘Maybe we might actually get a nomination, maybe that might happen,'” he said. Well, it happened, with their massive hit up for the coveted Video of the Year and it’s equally huge follow-up, landing nods for Best Hip Hop Video, Best Cinematography, Best Direction and Best Editing.
The latter is a wide-screen epic that took 16 days to shoot and found them hopping across six continents, where they starred alongside camels, got chased by wolves, mushed on dogsleds, partied on a clipper ship and planted their flag all over the globe. Mack and Lewis also got recognized in the Best Video with a Social Message for their equality anthem
Even after all their success, the fiercely independent Macklemore said he was really not expecting all that VMA love. “[We were] hoping for it and the news came in today that we got nominated six times, tied with JT,” he said. “We just all celebrated. It was a beautiful morning. I think that no one expected it, but the fact that MTV acknowledged our art on that level and the time and dedication that we put into the videos and the fact that we got those nominations because of it is an amazing thing.”
And, given their grinding work ethic, Mack said they celebrated the only way they know how. He wouldn’t say which song from The Heist it was for, but he confirmed that they’re filming a new music video as we speak.
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