Nicki Minaj is getting closer to the release of Pink Friday 2, and she just re-asserted her status as Queen of Hip Hop with the reveal of its regal cover art.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday (September 4), the Queens rapper unveiled the first of two covers for the forthcoming follow-up to her 2010 debut. Set in a pink retro-futuristic city, the New York superstar is draped in white with a beautiful crown covering her platinum blonde hair with hot pink tips.
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In the comments, Minaj thanked stylist Jean Baptiste Santens for designing the crown. “Thank you for this incredible headpiece,” she wrote. “So HARAJUKU. SO SPECIAL. Thank you babe.”
Check out the beautiful cover artwork below:
Queen Sleeze is Nicki Minaj’s primary alter ego for Pink Friday 2. After releasing the warm-up track “Red Ruby (Da Sleeze)” earlier this year, the New York artist officially released what she’s dubbed her “greatest song yet” on Friday (September 1) — “Last Time That I Saw You.”
In a conversation with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe about the song, Nicki Minaj revealed that she didn’t plan on releasing it as a single at first.
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“I knew for the album, of course, I would have to discuss certain things or whatever,” she said. “I just didn’t intend on it being a single. A lot of times people forget that I do a lot of features, and so these are not my actual songs.
“These are not songs from my album. And so sometimes people forget the kind of music that I’m able to create because it’s been a long time since they heard an album, and most of the times they get those kind of cuts on the album.”
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She continued: “This time when I heard the beat, the first thing I did was I wrote the hook. And when I wrote the hook, to me, it felt it was… The vibe of it was really talking about a loss, a real loss you know. But to not make the song feel only directed at one kind of loss. When I wrote the singing verse, I tried to expand it and think even about relationships.”
“And then by the time I got to the rap, it was like I had included all relationships that I had lost before, because I mentioned even best friends and stuff like that. I just wanted the next song that I put out, Zane, to represent my growth, but not just as an artist, but as a human being. I’ve experienced so many things that I hadn’t experienced five years ago, and that’s just the truth.”
Nicki Minaj first announced Pink Friday 2 back in June, and shared that her long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Queen would serve as the sequel to her 2010 debut.
“Dear Barbz, I’ve been trying to find the right time to tell you this for a few days. Due to some really exciting news that I’ll share with you guys @ a later time, I’ve shifted the album date just a tad bit,” she wrote.
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“Trust me, it’ll be WELL WORTH THE WAIT…but since I AM shifting the date just a tad, I’d like to give you guys a tiny SIP of some more album tea so that I don’t have to get cussed out so…here it goes: MY NEW ALBUM WILL BE RELEASED ON 11.17.23- And she shall be called #PinkFriday2.”
She added: “I love you guys so much. I am so grateful for the years of support & love you guys have given me. At times maybe I didn’t even deserve all that you have poured into me. Nonetheless, you. will. love. this. album.”
