Entertainment, TV, Television - Marine Corps Times

Jordin adds a certain spark to Sunday’s Video Music Awards

A year ago, Jordin Sparks decided to invest some career time watching TV.

She needed to see the Video Music Awards. “I thought, ‘VMA’s. That’s something I might be in some day,” she recalls.

That would happen quickly. Sparks will be at the VMA’s on Sunday, nominated for:

• Best new artist: She faces Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Tokio Hotel.

• Best female video: She faces Perry (again) and Rihanna, plus two video giants, Mariah Carey and Britney Spears.

Spears is also expected to open the show (talking, not singing) to signal that this is a big event. It’s the 25th VMA and will be done live from the Paramount studios.

Onstage will be performances by the Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Pink, T.I., Kid Rock, Paramore, Lil Wayne and more. Russell Brand (the rock star in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) hosts, with presenters including Michael Phelps, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus and the “High School Musical” crowd.

And in the audience will be Sparks. She’s accustomed to commotion, from winning “American Idol” and from touring with Jesse McCartney.

“Oh, the screams I’ve heard when Jesse comes out there,” Sparks says. “They can be ear-shattering.”

She’s also accustomed to the fact that you win some and lose some. Already this year, she’s won and lost Teen Choice and BET awards; for a while, she was even an “Idol” reject.

Sparks was 16 when she went to the “American Idol” auditions in Los Angeles. She never made it past a lone staffer.

“She said, ‘I really like you, but something’s missing,’” Sparks recalls.

“I said, ‘Can you tell me what it is?’”

“She said, ‘I’m not allowed to.’”

So Sparks’ “Idol” hopes crashed. Except she retreated home and won the “Arizona Idol” contest. That included a shot at another audition. This time, she became champion.

Success has followed. On Billboard’s overall chart, her album reached No. 10; her singles reached No. 15 for “This is My Now,” No. 8 for “Tattoo,” No. 3 for “No Air.”

It was “No Air” that brought Sparks her VMA nominations and a lesson in video-making.

Chris Brown has a supporting role in the song and on the video — which has emotional, face-to-face scenes. “That’s what the director called for,” Sparks says.

Chris Robinson, the director, also called for her to do some outdoor scenes in a light dress on a frigid New York day. “It was so cold,” she recalls. “By the time we got out there, it was 29 degrees.”

She’s not used to that. Sparks grew up in the warmth of Arizona. Her dad (Phillippi Sparks) was a high school and college football star there, before spending nine years with the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

“My family has always been very encouraging,” Sparks says. So she competed early. She won a Rising Star award at 12, cut an extended-play record at 13, won two gospel awards and appeared on “America’s Most Talented Kids” at 14.

What she wasn’t encouraged to do was watch music videos.

“My mother wouldn’t let me watch MTV at first,” she says. “Probably when I was about 10, she said, ‘OK, you can understand them now.’”

So Sparks enjoyed some videos. Still, it wasn’t until last year that she seriously sat down and watched the VMAs. Now she’s one of the nominees.

On the tube:

• What: Video Music Awards

• When: 9 p.m. Sunday, with red carpet at 8

• Where: MTV

• Did you know? Chris Brown sort of shows up in three top categories — best video, best male video and (supporting Sparks) best female video. For best video, his “Forever” faces Britney Spears’ “Piece of Me,” the Jonas Brothers’ “Burnin Up,” the Pussycat Dolls’ “When I Grow Up” and the Ting Tings’ “Shut Up and Let Me Go.” For male video, he faces Lil Wayne, Usher, T.I. and Flo Rida.