Nicki Minaj’s fourth studio album is decidedly on the way, and if you think you’re excited for it, just imagine how Nicki is feeling. In a recent interview with The Australian, Nicki opened up about the recording process and just how this album will be different from all the rest.
“Sonically, I know what the album’s about to sound like. I know what this album is gonna mean to my fans. This album is everything in my life coming full circle and me being truly, genuinely happy,” she said. “It feels almost like a celebration.”
The title of the album is still a secret, but Minaj herself promises that it will be “super, super iconic.”
She has been spending quite a lot of time in the studio working on the album, even sleeping in the studio for two nights because she was so excited. She said she was able to “write and record and listen back and have excitement in all three of those stages.”
It’s been three years since the release of Nicki’s last studio album, The Pinkprint. That album feels like “a diary” to her. “I was really writing about feeling unsure,” she says of Pinkprint.
“Now, I can tell you guys what happened for the last two years of my life. I know who I am. I am getting Nicki Minaj figured out with this album and I’m loving her,” she gushed.
And this year has definitely been shaping up to be quite a good one for Nicki. Earlier this year, she surpassed Aretha Franklin for the most appearances by a woman on the Billboard Hot 100 with 76 appearances. Franklin held that title for almost 40 years. She’s been featured on many tracks this year, including some fire verses alongside Migos and Cardi B on “MotorSport” and on Yo Gotti’s “Rake It Up.” She’s also been featured on Future’s “You Da Baddest” and Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish.” She even released two videos back in May for “Regret in Your Tears” and “No Frauds,” showing fans that there's no shortage of music from her.
She may have broken up with Meek Mill earlier in the year, but she’s been linked to Nas more than a few times, so it doesn’t sound like she’s too hung up about the break up. And who could forget the epic Remy Ma vs. Nicki Minaj feud from earlier this year?
“This is definitely the most inspired and free and excited I’ve been since I started releasing albums through a label,” Nicki said in her interview. “I wanted to get back to the place where I wasn’t second-guessing things so much. Sometimes simple is OK.”
Even though she admits she had times when she doubts herself and her ability to make it in the rap game, she also believes she has the “ability to withstand what would break the normal girl.”
Her confidence is as strong as ever, which is a great indicator that what she’s working on probably sounds great. “I believe in my gift wholeheartedly,” she says.
“I kind of love that I’ve had to go through so many hurdles to get where I am because I feel like I deserve it,” she says. “I had so much going against me in the beginning: being black, being a woman, being a female rapper. No matter how many times I get on a track with everyone’s favorite MC and hold my own, the culture never seems to want to give me my props as an MC, as a lyricist, as a writer. I got to prove myself a hundred times, whereas the guys that came in around the same time as I did, they were given the titles so much quicker without anybody second-guessing.”
You can read the rest of her interview by heading over to The Australian.
