Best of luck to anyone daring to release new music today, as we're not really interested in anything else but these new Nicki Minaj tracks.
Ahead of the premiere of "Chun-Li" and "Barbie Tingz," Minaj joined Zane Lowe on Beats 1 this beautiful #NickiDay to discuss what fans should expect with this next chapter. After Lowe ran through a selection of Minaj catalog highlights, the two started breaking it down.
"It feels like an album release," Minaj said of the approach behind dropping this batch of new songs. Asked to give her reasoning behind her recent social media hiatus, she said it was inspired by her need to get in the right creative zone. "I needed to focus on my album," she said. "This is the best album I've ever in my life created. I needed to focus and I just didn't know, you know, I wanted to make sure I was writing something that was meaningful to me and that would inspire and captivate my audience. But most importantly, I wanted to have fun again. I didn't want to see anything."
Later, Minaj credited Drake with giving her some of the best advice of her career. "Even when there were things happening, even when I couldn't speak to him, I think he felt the love that I will always have for him," she said. She also spoke candidly about the difficulty of being in a relationship with Meek Mill amid the now-defunct Drake feud. According to Minaj, Drake was worried about what would happen if Minaj entered the feud with some bars of her own.
Minutes ahead of the back-to-back track premiere, Minaj revealed that she's been working on this new album since December. "Some songs were written a year and a half ago," she added. "That's important to know." A new documentary is also in the works.
Minaj first teased "Chun-Li" and "Barbie Tingz" (both produced by J. Reid Da Producer (a.k.a. Lil Chevi)) earlier this week in a pair of Instagram posts. Later, she briefly took control of Lil Uzi Vert's account to give "Chun-Li" some extra promo space. Now, you can finally enjoy the songs in full below:
Later today, we will also be getting a new Minaj collab with Young Thug. Though Minaj declined to reveal the album title during her Lowe chat, she did tout it as something fans will love. Expect it all to be announced soon.
