Moonman Maybe? Carly Rae Jepsen Up for Best New Artist at VMAs

Chris Polk/Getty Images via ABC(NEW YORK) — Carly Rae Jepsen had everyone from Cookie Monster to Colin Powell singing “Call Me Maybe” this summer. Now Jepsen, with her mega-hit single, is up for Best New Artist at Thursday’s MTV Video Music Awards.

Jepsen’s competition includes Frank Ocean for “Swim Good,” One Direction for “What Makes You Beautiful,” The Wanted for “Glad You Came” and fun. featuring Janelle Monae for “We Are Young.” Best New Artist is one of two categories that fans can vote for. The other is Most Share-Worthy Video, which Jepsen is also competing for with “Call Me Maybe,” which she co-wrote.

“I think she is certainly a favorite to win,” Andy Greene, associate editor at Rolling Stone, told ABC News. “It was the song of the summer, and it was crazily catchy. Even people who don’t really like pop couldn’t resist it, and it was just inescapable.”

Jepsen was introduced to the music world in 2007 when she finished third on the fifth season of Canadian Idol. She is ecstatic about the nomination and the success of her hit song.

“I have to pinch myself. I mean, a year ago I was touring Canada in a soccer mom van, and all of the sudden, my life’s just taken off in a completely different direction,” she told MTV. “Moments like that just let it really sink in. It’s crazy.”

“Even to be listed among those names is honestly just crazy to me. I’m a big fan of all of them,” Jepsen said.

But since breaking out “Call Me Maybe” last year, Jepsen has yet to have another solo single, leaving many wondering if she’s destined to be a one-hit wonder. Greene said perhaps “Call Me Maybe” became too big a hit.

“It was just a little too out there, and I think people are thinking all right enough of this thing,” Greene said. “When artists break with a song that big it can be hard to get out of the shadow of it.”

The singer’s album Kiss comes out Sept. 18. Jepsen, 26, needs just one more great song for the album to move on, Greene said. She is getting there with the hit “Good Time,” which she performs with Owl City. Greene said the fact that Jepsen can write could help her career, but her failure to define herself, the way Britney Spears has, could hurt her.

“It’s just tough when you’re teen pop,” Greene said. “Miley Cyrus seemed to be the biggest thing in the world, and now she makes straight-to-DVD movies. It can be a swift fall, particularly if you mature in the wrong way as she seemed to.”

Winning the VMA for Best New Artist hasn’t always proved to be all that important, Greene said. In recent years, stars such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber have gone home with the Moonman and gone on to international success. But in 2008, Tokio Hotel, who beat out major stars Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift for the award, disappeared from the main stage. Greene believes if Jepsen does walk away with the Moonman, it won’t really matter.

“I don’t think Bieber was helped or hurt that much by it,” Greene said. “I don’t think Tokio Hotel was really helped by it.”

Jepsen’s biggest competition is One Direction, Greene said, which, unlike Jepsen, has a passionate fan base.

But if Jepsen does walk away with the award, it won’t help in her journey to move on from “Call Me Maybe,” Greene said, because the VMAs are not that important anymore.

“The VMAs now aren’t what they used to be,” he said. “They [MTV] don’t even seem to be making a huge deal out of them this year. Three years ago, there would be commercials for months, billboards everywhere, you couldn’t get away. They’re giving awards to videos that they never show. It’s this weird disconnect.”

“Their [MTV] priorities are in Jersey Shore and Teen Mom,” Greene said. “This [VMAs] just seems like something they have to do.”

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