Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 07/28/2011 at 12:00 PM Live at the VMAs, News

The Popdust Files: adele, amy winehouse, chris brown, lil wayne, MTV Video Music Awards

With the nominees announced for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, attention turns to what really matters—who’s going to be performing? The channel released its first wave of announced performers today, and the names are predictably big—Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, and of course, Adele, who was even one of our five choices for dream opener, though at what point in the evening she will be playing of course remains to be seen. All three performers are also nominees for the night, with Adele up for seven awards (including Best Video, Best Female Video and Best Pop Video) for “Rolling in the Deep,” and Chris Brown and Lil Wayne join nominees in Best Hip-Hop Video and Best Collaboration for “Look At Me Now.”

As for one performer who, unfortunately, definitely won’t be there, MTV executive vice president of music and talent Amy Doyle says that Amy Winehouse still could possibly play a role in the evening’s proceedings. “We don’t know yet,” Doyle told Billboard when asked if a tribute to Amy might be in order. “But certainly she is top of mind, in our thoughts and in our hearts.” Given the outpouring of heartfelt dedications from some of our top pop stars after Amy’s tragic death, it seems like an all-star tribute to Amy at the awards would be entirely plausible. How about Beyoncé doing “You Know I’m No Good”? Lady Gaga trying on “Back to Black”? Rihanna doing a medley of “Rehab” with her own “Rehab”? We think there’s potential, and we’d like to see it.