The glorious thing about Nicki Minaj is that she is an extreme pop culture extrovert: an artist with vast multitudes, one who has persevered because she is willing to take on the world unvarnished. At this point in her unconventional, often controversial career, it’s clear that her firebrand aura is what binds everything together. Her sample choices and endless personas often don’t make any sense, but she keeps millions of listeners rapt because she is smart, funny and can sell a song hard, even when making moves that feel totally off-kilter.
The Trinidadian-born rapper’s success continues to be bolstered by the Barbz, her passionate and ruthlessly defensive online fan community, which alighted with enthusiasm on the release of last December’s ‘Pink Friday 2’; Twitter users feverishly created the ‘Gag City’ AI art trend in response to Minaj’s own lack of album promo at the time. Tonight (May 28), at the O2 Arena date of the resulting world tour, they reproduce Minaj’s distinctive aesthetic en masse – never before has there been a higher concentration of bubblegum pink wigs, Barbie merch and fluffy platform boots in this room.
When Minaj last graced this venue five years ago, she arrived off the back of a poorly-received record (2018’s largely disjointed ‘Queen’) and a series of cancelled tour dates due to slow sales, even offering discounted tickets in the days leading up to the London gig. Yet this evening, the air around her current stature feels wildly, positively different. 2023’s ‘Pink Friday 2’, which spawned a major chart hit in ‘Super Freaky Girl’, was preceded by a Wireless headline slot the year prior that served as a reminder of the 41-year-old’s animated, singular flow and stature as a generational rap artist.
After a stately rendition of ‘I’m The Best’, she hurls herself into the performance, zipping through tracks at high speed. ‘FTCU’ is emboldened by warped funhouse visuals, while ‘Cowgirl’, naturally, features a line dance sequence. Flame cannons almost as bright and unruly as those seen at the Chromatica Ball light up the stage for ‘Red Ruby Da Sleaze’. The more pared-back songs – like a reflective ‘Save Me’ or ‘Moment 4 Life’ – show what she can deliver without the trappings.
Flashing a million dollar smile, she refers to the crowd as “residents of Gag City”, avoiding any talk of recent headlines and instead giving a short speech on maintaining integrity. The road to this show hasn’t been without bumps. On Saturday, her Manchester gig was postponed at the eleventh hour after Minaj was arrested en route from Amsterdam on alleged drug charges. Earlier this year, meanwhile, she became embroiled in a public beef with Megan Thee Stallion, delivering a reductive and particularly spiteful diss track.
The interlude sections lag to the point of frustration; impatient fans pass time by whipping out raspberry ice vapes or filming Snapchat videos with mini ring lights attached to their phones. But each time Minaj returns to the stage, she works as hard as her dancers, as though wanting to reaffirm an indisputable legacy. Emerging from an LED doll’s box, she attacks ‘Chun-Li’ with vim, later going full-pelt during ‘Starships’ – despite recently calling the barnstorming EDM hit “stupid”.
Minaj plays with these contradictions all night, avoiding commitment to one idea or production set-up for more than a few moments at a time. After surprise appearances from Stylo G and Giggs, she then unexpectedly brings out pioneering dancehall artist Beenie Man as the clock starts to near midnight – time is, clearly, not of the essence in Gag City. But if a top-notch arena show is about letting go and giving it your all, then this is that in excelsis.
Nicki Minaj played:
‘Pink Birthday’
‘Favorite’