Being a journalist has many perks – the chance to chat to some of the world’s biggest stars and access to glamorous events. However, it also comes with some serious waiting around.
After standing two hours backstage in the cold waiting to chat to Nicki Minaj, possibly one of the biggest personalities around right now, it would have been really easy to give up.
But after an energetic performance at the Atelier show at Meydan Dubai on Friday night, Minaj freshened up and entered the press room full of apologies. And when she talks you can’t help but love her — that frustrating wait all but forgotten.
The Harajuku Barbie (her alter ego), Minaj was all about spreading the love.
“I have so many memorable moments in my career and recently I won two more American Music Awards and that was nice for rap album and rap artist of the year because of the fan’s voting,” she said, appreciatively. “That’s a great thing and my fans really hold me down and I love them and that’s one of the award shows where there voice gets to be heard. I was excited about that.”
Of her Dubai fans, she said she loves them and appreciate them very much: “I really wish I could just hug them and stuff,” she said “They were so cute and so much fun. This is one of my moments for life, like I will never forget it. I will never forget my first time in Dubai and I would love to thank them for allowing me to experience this moment.
“My stay in Dubai has been a lot of fun so far — it’s a really swagged out hotel. And you know the people are really, really sweet and that’s one thing I don’t know why I expected them to be standoffish and stern but they’ve been friendly and sweet. I am just looking forward to them coming back like next time blowing the show out even more. Do you know what I mean? And just meeting the Barbs again.”
A female rapper in a male-dominated industry, Minaj has been in the news for her displeasure at being compared to Lady Gaga in the style stakes and her ongoing feud with one of her idols Mariah Carey.
“I think it’s cool I really don’t have an issue with being compared to Lady Gaga. And about Mariah Carey we are two adult women and we had a disagreement, not that big a deal. I think the world has made it into a bigger deal than it really is.”
Her feuds with the female powerhouses are not the only reason she’s in the news. Minaj’s eclectic sense of style always makes it to the news. But does she regret any look?
“Of course. I’ll wear an outfit and regret it the next day, all the time. “
Her alter ego is not just limited to Barbie, there’s her “twin brother” Roman Zolanski who, she said, surfaces when she’s angry.
“I think just from my imagination as a kid — I like creating characters, I was an acting major at school. They were probably in my brain since I was a kid just started surfacing recently since I’ve started doing music.”
Her Barbie doll-esque persona has won her many fans of an impressionable age. We wondered if Minaj ever felt the need to change her explicit image to better suit this generation.
“No. But I do heavily promote them being in school and being ambitious and not depending on people and also buying the clean versions of the CDs until they get to a certain age when parents allow it.”
Another star popular with the young ones is heartthrob Justin Bieber, who Minaj worked with for the hit Beauty and the Beat.
“He’s awesome, you know he’s like a real regular dude having fun, enjoying his career and I think it’s absolutely good. When you meet up he doesn’t seem jaded about being a celebrity. You can expect crazy outfits, crazy wigs and high highs and low lows at his show in Dubai next year. You know we’ll be singing and be super girly and being romantic and talking about love and you can expect some hardcore stuff as well — just a nice smorgasbord of stuff.”
And what does the future hold for Minaj?
“I’ll ring in the New Year in Vegas with my friends and then I’ll get started really quickly on my clothing line which will come out next year. Then I’ll started working on my third album, which I am really excited for. It’ll be out hopefully soon. I’ll also be shooting my second video for the Re-Up album which I just put out. We might do a new video for I am Legit or High School so that’s something that’ll be fun. “
Pleasant celebrities are always a delight to talk to — and Minaj was one of them.
