Variety
LOS ANGELES: Ashley McBryde, Dan + Shay, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs, Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett top the 2020 CMT Music Awards nominations with three each.
In nominations announced Wednesday for the pandemic-delayed show, 14 videos are vying for the top prize of video of the year. The fan-voted show will air on CMT and other networks on Oct 21 with outdoor performances. The Chicks return to the list of nominees for the first time since 2007 for their video for “Gaslighter” and country icon Tanya Tucker gets her first ever nomination for “Bring My Flowers Now,” both nominated for video of the year. Also nominated in the category are Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Keith Urban, Old Dominion, Carrie Underwood and Blanco Brown, who is recovering after a vehicle accident earlier this month.
A number of artists are getting their first ever nominations this year, including
Caylee Hammack, Gabby Barrett, Ingrid Andress, Riley Green and Travis Denning. The Highwomen, a group made up of Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby and
Amanda Shires, also got their first nomination for group video.
With categories that include collaborations and performances from other CMT shows, pop stars Halsey and Gwen Stefani both earned their first ever nominations for their duets with Ballerini and Blake Shelton, respectively. Electronic producer and DJ Marshmello also earned a nomination in collaborative video for the crossover hit “One Thing Right” with Kane Brown. Pop star
Justin Bieber has a chance to win another CMT Music Award for his duet with Dan + Shay on “10,000 Hours,” after winning one as a teenage heartthrob in 2011 for “That Should Be Me” featuring Rascal Flatts. (AP)
❑ ❑ NEW YORK: An enigmatic painting from Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli will go on auction next year and art watchers will be seeing if it fetches more than its eye-watering $80 million estimate, despite the pandemic.
Botticelli’s 15th-century portrait of a nobleman in “Young Man Holding a Roundel” is the highlight of Sotheby’s Masters Week sale series in New York in January.
“Just the sheer beauty of this has been a joy,” said Christopher Apostle, who has for more than three decades handled Old Masters and is now head of the division. “I can’t think of a Botticelli like this that’s been on the open international market.”
Opportunities to acquire a Botticelli - the artist behind such masterpieces as “Primavera” and “The Birth of Venus” - are very rare.
“The fact that there are 12 known portraits
by Botticelli puts it in an elite type of situation,” said Apostle. “These are the most personal things he produced, in a way. It’s just something he’s doing with one individual.”
The auction house believes it could get over $100 million. The last painting to achieve that level at auction was Claude Monet’s “Meules” at Sotheby’s New York in 2019, going for $110 million.
If it reaches those dizzying heights, it