Get ready: Nicki Minaj’s long-awaited fifth studio album Pink Friday 2 is finally arriving after several months of postponements, five years removed from the release of her last album, Queen. In a new teaser for the album, Minaj promised to take her fans to “Gag City” (idk, sounds unpleasant) and they certainly seem excited about it, but when exactly should they be checking for it online?
Although many of the artists on Nicki’s level of notoriety can get away with pushing it (see: anytime Drake releases anything), it seems most likely that Nicki’s new album will hit DSPs at midnight ET on the dot. After all, she gave herself plenty of leeway to get everything mixed, mastered, and delivered to her distributors with the date change earlier this year, so someone as fastidious about her career as Ms. Minaj isn’t going to drop the ball on the 1-yard line. She even canceled a performance at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball in Chicago — presumably to do some last-minute album prep — so it seems probable that she’s hit her deadlines.
Judging from the singles that have been released so far, including the as-yet only teased “Big Difference,” fans can likely expect a return to a more rap-focused Nicki on her new project, rather than the pop-oriented version that dominated much of the 2010s. Whether that’s a good thing probably depends on which version you like more: “Anaconda” Nicki or “Monster” Nicki.
