UK Music Video Awards 2023: nominations revealed

It’s a tie for the top in this year’s UK Music Video Awards shortlists with six nominations apiece for Harry Styles, and breakthrough US artist, Mette. 

Styles wins two spots in the Best UK Pop Video category for his videos for Music For a Sushi Restaurant and Satellite, where he’ll be attempting to fight off competition from Labrinth, Lewis Capaldi, Raye and Sam Smith. Meanwhile, newcomer to the UKMVAs, Mette (American singer, actor and dancer Mette Towley) launches herself into the spotlight with two videos on the Best International Pop Video list, Mama’s Eyes and Van Gogh, where she takes on videos by Christina Aguilera, Tove Lo, BTS star Jung Kook and Priya Ragu.

Harry Styles’ Music For A Sushi Restaurant wins the most nominations for a single video in the 2023 shortlist with five mentions. Little Simz follows close behind with four nominations for her video Gorilla, helmed by renowned US director, Dave Meyers and is contending to retain her title for the Best UK Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Video. She faces competition in that category from AntsLive, J Hus, Jords, Loyle Carner and Stormzy. Meanwhile, US singer and rapper Audrey Nuna also notches up four nominations for her video, Locket, the creative brainchild of the late Valentin Petit, a Best Director nominee from 2022 who tragically died earlier this year, alongside The Blaze’s
Madly – The Poem directed by the artists, whose work has also previously been honoured at the ceremony.

Harry Styles and Little Simz head a list of British artists which includes Stormzy, James Blake, The 1975, The Chemical Brothers, Jungle, Royal Blood, Labrinth, Rudimental, Gorillaz, Jords, Hak Baker and AntsLive who have won multiple nominations for their visual projects at this year’s UK Music Video Awards, in the shortlists announced on 27th September, demonstrating that creativity in their videos remains an essential part of their art.

International artists Kendrick Lamar, Doja Cat, The Hives, Yves Tumor, The Blaze, Troye Sivan, Dominique Fils Aimé and Fatoumata Diawara also receive multiple mentions alongside Mette and Audrey Nuna in this year’s list of nominations for over 30 awards, celebrating the best work in music videos in the UK and around the world, and the creative and technical talent behind them. 

The winners at this year’s UKMVAs, the premier global awards programme for music video creativity – will be announced at the awards ceremony which takes place at Magazine London, a state-of-the-art events venue near The O2 in North Greenwich, on October 26th, on what is always a significant night in the calendar for the music video-making community.

In a tough year for global filmmaking, the nominations at this year’s UKMVAs reflect the enduring creativity in music video production, with both previously nominated directors and new talent breaking into the shortlist, as well as spotlighting the standout creative work in other filmmaking departments, including Cinematography, Colour grading, Production Design, Choreography, Styling, Editing, Animation and Visual Effects.

Among the directors on this year’s list, Aube Perrie, Camille Summers-Valli and Charlie di Placido score multiple mentions in the video categories. Frenchman Aube Perrie, the director behind Harry Styles’ Music For a Sushi Restaurant and Satellite, also picks up a nomination for The Hives’ Bogus Operandi in the Best International Rock Video category. French-Australian director Camille Summers Valli’s collaboration with Mette sees her notch up 3 nominations in the video categories, two in the International Pop category and one for Best Performance in a Video. British director Charlie di Placido sees his long-term collaboration with Jungle land him two directing nominations for his latest set of videos for the band, one for Back on 74 in the Best Dance/Electronic Video – UK category and one for Best Special Visual Project for the visual album ‘Volcano’. All 3 are in contention for the Best Director award, up against the 2021 and 2022 winner Tanu Muino, US-based directing duo rubberband and French auteurs, The Blaze.

In the Best New Director category, AboveGround, Aidan Zamiri, Tom Emmerson, Hugh Mulhern, Kassandra Powell and Uncanny will contend for the title. In addition, young British director, Jay Green, wins 3 nominations for his work across the Newcomer categories, with videos for Kam-bu. Sans Soucis and Everyone You Know. His tally is matched by another up-and-coming British directing talent, Tyrus in the Newcomer categories with films for Artyn, Kamal and Louis Culture.