Watch Nicki Minaj Shut Down ‘Starships’ Performance on NYE
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There will be no more trips to the beach for Nicki Minaj. On Sunday night, at a New Year’s Eve performance at E11EVEN in Miami, the rapper got a few lines into the opening verse of her 2012 hit single “Starships,” before suddenly raising her hands, signaling for the track to stop.
In a video posted to TikTok, Minaj waves her hands, telling the crowd, “Hold on. Psych, psych, psych, psych. I don’t perform that song no more, y’all. I don’t like it, what y’all want me to do? Stupid song.”
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She then launches into “Super Bass,” which appeared to please both the rapper and the audience equally.
This is not the first time Minaj has expressed her distaste for the hit single. “I hate ‘Starships,’ I mean ew, ‘Starships?’” she told Pollstar Live in 2020. I’m like, ‘Why did I do that?’ I really think that every time I hear it.”
Luckily there is no shortage of hits for Minaj to cover. In another video, the rapper is seen performing “Moment 4 Life” to the enthusiastic crowd that knew every lyric to her song.
It’s been a busy year for Minaj, who in December dropped the long-awaited Pink Friday 2 album. The album encompasses 22 new songs and features Drake, J. Cole, Lil Wayne, Tate Kobang, Lourdiz, Lil Uzi Vert, Skillibeng, Skeng, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, and Future.
Pink Friday 2 marks the singer’s first studio album since Queen, which featured singles like “Chun-Li” and “Good Form.” (She dropped a greatest hits album named Queen Radio last year and re-released Beam Me Up Scotty in 2021.) In 2019, the singer said she had started working on her new album, and tweeted “PF2” for the first time in 2020, teasing that Pink Friday was making a reappearance.
Minaj went on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in late December to discuss her upcoming tour, which kicks off in March. She noted that she’s continuing to add dates to the trek, citing New York, Paris, London, and Detroit as her favorite places to play. “My fans are energetic everywhere I go,” she said. “We always just turn the f–k up.”
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