Photo of Run the Jewels, by Red Bull
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The nominees for this year's MTVu Woodie Awards have been revealed.
This year's Artist to Watch category includes James Bay, Raury and Years & Years (all of whom are on Variance's 2015 Now List), as well as Rae Sremmurd, Kygo and MisterWives, the latter of which was one of our 2014 FutureSounds.
Woodie (Artist) of the Year will see J. Cole, Run the Jewels, FKA Twigs, Porter Robinson, Charli XCX and Sam Smith compete against each other. Fans can vote for their choice through March 10.
The Woodies will once again celebrate with a one-day performance festival on March 20 during SXSW in Austin, concluding with an hour-long TV special (in which the Woodie statuettes are awarded) at 9 p.m. EST. Unlike in previous years when the broadcast was tape-delayed until the following Sunday, this year's Woodies will air live on MTV.
Performers for the Woodies fest/broadcast have yet to be announced, but James Bay, Run the Jewels, Rae Sremmurd, Years & Years, Big Data, Raury and MisterWives have previously been confirmed to be at SXSW already. Additionally, J. Cole and Drake are both rumored to be appearing at SXSW as well, the former being the most likely due to his tour schedule.
See the full list of nominations below.
Woodie Of The Year (Artist of the Year)
J. Cole
Sam Smith
Charli XCX
Run the Jewels
Porter Robinson
FKA Twigs
Artist to Watch Woodie (Emerging Artist)
Years & Years
Rae Sremmurd
Raury
MisterWives
Kygo
James Bay
Best Video Woodie (Video of the Year)
Pendulum, FKA Twigs
Sober, Childish Gambino
7/11, Beyoncé
Never Catch Me, Flying Lotus featuring Kendrick Lamar
Salt, Bad Suns
Down on My Luck, Vic Mensa
Cover Woodie (Best Cover)
Drunk in Love, Ed Sheeran, Sia, and Grouplove (covering Beyoncé)
Take Me to Church, Kiesza (covering Hozier)
Don't Tell 'Em, Lorde (covering Jeremih)
Shake it Off, Charli XCX (covering Taylor Swift)
Riptide, Taylor Swift (covering Vance Joy)
How Will I Know, Sam Smith (covering Whitney Houston)
Next Level Performance Woodie (Finding New Ways to Reach Audiences)
Drake and Lil Wayne
Created an app that allowed the audience to decide who performed first on their joint tour
Childish Gambino
Created an app that allowed users to display messages onto his tour stage
Big Data
Used social media during their performances to acknowledge specific audience members in real time in front of the entire crowd
Sia
Performed in several TV appearances without showing her face by utilizing performance artists and actors to serve as a proxy for her
Skrillex
Performed Bonnaroo SuperJam session fusing EDM and live instrumentation with numerous surprise guests
Co-Sign Woodie (Best Collaboration Between Artists)
Heroes (We Could Be), Alesso featuring Tove Lo
All About It, Hoodie Allen featuring Ed Sheeran
Take Ü, Jack Ü featuring Kiesza
Arrows, Fences featuring Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Tuesday, iLoveMakonnen featuring Drake
Detroit vs. Everybody, Eminem featuring DeJ Loaf
College Radio Woodie (Best College Radio Station)
Arizona State University (KASC)
Boston University (WTBU)
Eastern Illinois University (WEIU)
Hofstra University (WRHU)
James Madison University (WXJM)
Loyola University Chicago (WLUW)
Marywood University (WVMW)
St. Edward's University (Topper Radio)
University of California, Berkeley (KALX)
University of Pittsburg (WPTS)