DRAKE TO PERFORM VMA NOMINATED HIT SINGLE “STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM” LIVE FOR FIRST TIME ON TELEVISION DURING “MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS 2013”
DJ Cassidy To Serve as VMA Deejay rawdoggtv.com
Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jared Leto, Kevin Hart, Emeli Sandé and A$AP Rocky Confirmed to Present LIVE on Sunday, August 25th at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT
MTV announced via their various social media channels that Grammy® Award winner, multi-platinum selling, recording artist Drake will perform his VMA-nominated top-10 smash “Started from the Bottom,” for the first time on television live during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards live from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Sunday, August 25th at 9pm ET/PT.
Drake’s music video for “Started at the Bottom” is up for 2 VMAs this year including “Best Direction and “Best Hip Hop Video,” the category he won last year with “HYFR” with Lil Wayne. The song is the first single from his forthcoming third studio album “Nothing Was The Same,” to be released this fall, which also includes his latest hit single, “Hold On, We’re Going Home.” This marks Drake’s second overall VMA performance since “Fancy” in 2010. To celebrate the forthcoming performance, MTV Hits, MTV’s 24-hour music channel, and MTV Jams, MTV’s 24-hour hip hop music channel, will feature a block of Drake music videos and musical performances at 3pm ET/PT.
Fresh off touring with Jay Z and Justin Timberlake on their Legends of Summer stadium tour, DJ Cassidy, who will soon release his debut album on Columbia Records, will serve as the VMA deejay and spin throughout the show. MTV also announced that “Video of the Year” and “Best Female Video” nominee Taylor Swift, is confirmed to present at this year’s show, along with “Best Song of the Summer” nominee Selena Gomez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto who is nominated for “Best Rock Video,” Kevin Hart, Emeli Sandé and A$AP Rocky who is nominated for “Best Hip-Hop Video” for “F**kin Problems featuring Drake, 2Chainz and Kendrick Lamar. mtvvideomusicaward.blogspot.com
Drake joins previously announced performers Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke.
Justin Timberlake and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead the nominations with six each. Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke have each garnered four nominations. P!nk and Thirty Seconds to Mars are each up for three Video Music Awards. Other notable nominees receiving multiple 2013 “MTV Video Music Award” nods range from the worlds of Pop, Hip-Hop, EDM, R&B and Rock and include previously nominated artists such as Taylor Swift, Drake, fun., Calvin Harris, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as well as first-time VMA nominees Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, The Weeknd and Capital Cities. 2013 VMA winners will take home a special-edition Moonman, re-imagined by world-renowned, Brooklyn-based artist KAWS created exclusively for this year’s show. Justin Timberlake will be presented the coveted “Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award” joining a prestigious list of past recipients including Michael Jackson, Madonna, Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Britney Spears.
To build anticipation for the show, MTV launched a successful cross platform social campaign, #RoadToTheVMAs, which features the Moonman in a myriad of iconic locations throughout Brooklyn and NYC. Thus far, the campaign has garnered more nearly 100 million social media impressions to date including over half a million likes on Instagram, 48.5 million impressions on Twitter, nearly 40 million impressions on Facebook and over 1 million impressions on Tumblr.
For additional information on Drake, Bruno Mars, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke or any VMA nominated artist, including music, videos, interviews, and news, visit MTV’s Artist Platform (Artists.MTV.com) a music discovery site that powers MTV/CMT/VH1’s network of 60 million passionate music fans online and 100M homes on-air.
For updates, to see photos or for additional information on this year’s show, please head to VMA.MTV.com or www.mtvpress.com, and follow @mtv on Instagram or Twitter.
