Pink Friday 2 (Gag City Deluxe)

Nicki Minaj

explicit

Released on 12/8/23 by Republic Records
Main artists: Nicki Minaj
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

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On her debut studio album, 2010's Pink Friday, Nicki Minaj made it clear she could do it all. The bloodthirsty rap powers she'd displayed on her earlier mixtapes were so abundant she had to organize them as separate characters, but she also had no problem singing sugary hooks or following scandalous diss tracks with bouncy pop tunes designed for the charts. Thirteen years later, Minaj is still striking out in all directions on Pink Friday 2, a sequel to her breakthrough that sees her continuing to stretch her range, but it feels a little different coming from an established superstar than Pink Friday felt coming from a relative newcomer. First, there's the pop; several tracks reiterate a formula that's resulted in multiple hits for Minaj, that of building out on ubiquitous songs from the past. Her hypersexual rhymes on "Super Freaky Girl" are a tailored fit for the familiar groove of Rick James' "Super Freak" that the song is based on, while "Pink Friday Girls" leans heavily on Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "My Life" samples Blondie's biggest song, "Heart of Glass." The seething rap tracks happen mostly in the album's first act, with concise burners like "Barbie Dangerous" and "FTCU" leading to more nuanced production on the moody J. Cole-aided "Let Me Calm Down" and the infectious meanness of "Big Difference." Minaj imprints herself onto bumpy, island-tinged R&B on "Needle" (featuring Drake, naturally), boisterous club on "Everybody," deep trap on the Future duet "Nicki Hendrix," and banging dancehall on "Forward from Trini," with help from Jamaican artists Skillibeng and Skeng. The swings between genres are less jarring than when Minaj lets her guard down emotionally. The album begins on a surprisingly mournful note with "Are You Gone Already," a song that reframes Billie Eilish's vaporous "when the party's over" as a vulnerable expression of loss. The album's closing moments are similarly glum, with the slogging devotional track "Blessings" giving way to melancholic pop on the indie-flavored "Last Time I Saw You" and ending with the yearning sadness of "Just the Memories." The way Minaj moves between disparate genres and polar extremes of puffed-up flexing and grief makes Pink Friday 2 a disjointed ride. In one way, it harkens back to the scattershot energy of her mixtapes, trying on new styles and sounds like different outfits. For a star of Nicki Minaj's caliber, however, the roller-coaster approach makes the album feel inconsistent and sometimes even randomized, like some stretches of the 70-minute, 22-track playlist are just experiments being presented in the order in which they were conducted. While Minaj is still a masterful rapper, charismatic pop presence, and stunningly talented artist, Pink Friday 2 lacks the cohesion and self-editing that would make it a rightful follow-up to her 2010 mainstream arrival. As it stands, Pink Friday 2 is another collection of Nicki Minaj songs, most of them exhilarating and fun, but some forgettable or awkwardly placed.

© Fred Thomas /TiVo

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Pink Friday 2 (Gag City Deluxe)

Nicki Minaj

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Are You Gone Already