Get in your pink Lamborghinis and pull out your pink martinis: Pink Friday 2 is officially here. After weeks of promoting, pushing back, and hyping up the follow-up to her 2010 fan favorite, the queen of rap Nicki Minaj has finally released her first studio album since 2018’s Queen.
The rapper dropped the track list for Pink Friday 2 less than an hour ahead of the highly-anticipated release. The album encompasses 22 new songs and packs features with the likes of Drake, J. Cole, Lil Wayne, Tate Kobang, Lourdiz, Lil Uzi Vert, Skillibeng, Skeng, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, and Future.
Leading up to the release, Barbz created an AI world named Gag City — a hyper-futuristic, uber-pink metropolis — where Pink Friday 2 lives, based on the album’s cover which sees Minaj standing on a floating platform over Teenage Dream-esque clouds in front of an imaginary city.
“As we begin to prepare for landing, please make sure your tray tables are put back up & your seat belts are tightly fastened,” Minaj wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday. “The captain has activated the ‘no bathroom’ sign. If you look out the window, you’ll begin to see the beauty…clear waters, pink dolphins…#GagCity #PF2.”
Brands like Dunkin, WheatThins, and Axe hopped in on the fun with fake pink storefronts in the city, rapper Bia accepted her invitation to the imaginary location by tweeting “This is so tea,” an AI-Rosalía arrived on boat with a flag of Spain, and Grindr asked the important question: “Barbz, can I still go to gag city if I have no gag reflex?”
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.
“I just want to make great music. Simply for the sake of creating great music. What’s wrong with that? Music that ppl will always remember b/c of that incredible feeling they had the very first time they heard it. Music that makes them feel happy, confident, hopeful…sad, introspective, nostalgic,” Minaj wrote on her website teasing the album. “Music that expresses their thoughts on relationships @ a time where ppl are so afraid to fall in love b/c they have to protect their hearts from being embarrassed on Facebook…”
The rapper pushed back the album’s release twice. Minaj was originally set to drop it on Oct. 20, then pushed it to Nov. 17, writing that would be “well worth the wait.” She later re-set the date to Dec. 8, her birthday.
“The new album date for this incredible body of work, that I am so proud of is on a special day to me and to the Barbz — it will come out on my birthday,” said Minaj in late October. “Pink Friday 2 I am so happy to announce will be out on my birthday.”
The album is preceded by two supposed singles: “Super Freaky Girl,” which she dropped in August 2022 and “Last Time I Saw You,” which she dropped in September.
In a recent interview with Vogue, the rapper described her approach to Pink Friday 2.
“When I look back at a lot of my music, I’m like, Oh, my God, where was the me in it?” she shared. “So, for this album, I went back to the old game plan.” When checking in with her fans, Minaj issued a poll to gauge which direction they want her to explore on the record.
Minaj also dropped a lyrical teaser for the record, which read: “I just wanna watch him do his push-ups w/his sweats on/Every time he hit it, he gon nail it like a press-on/When I ride his d!&@ the only time he gettin flexed on/Hit it from the back with my pumps & my dress on.”
After first releasing Pink Friday in 2010, Minaj released two follow-up versions of the record, including Roman Reloaded and Roman Reloaded: The Re-Up in 2012. The original LP featured some of her breakthrough singles including “Super Bass,” “Did It On’Em,” and “Fly.” The Roman Reloaded edition featured huge singles “Starships,” “Beez in the Trap,” and “Va Va Voom.”
Ahead of the album’s release Friday, Minaj also shared European tour dates so her Barbz could start preparing, including arena dates in London, Paris, and Berlin.
