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    The Week

    Can an 'infectious' new song help Nicki Minaj overcome her 'Grammy debacle'?

    By The Week's Editorial Staff | The Week – Wed, Feb 15, 2012
    The rapper releases the radio-friendly "Starships" days after being blasted for her painfully provocative performance at the Grammy Awards

    To call Nicki Minaj's performance at Sunday night's Grammy Awards controversial would be an understatement. The singer-rapper staged her song "Roman Holiday" as a strange religious-themed spectacle complete with a mock confession, an exorcism, stained glass windows, and dancing bishops — culminating in a divine levitation scene. The Catholic League reflexively blasted both the singer and Grammy producers Tuesday, while wincing critics have dismissed the performance as a "low-budget spin-off of The Exorcist." Now, Minaj is following up the stunt by dropping an easier-to-swallow new single called "Starships." (Listen to it below.) Critics are praising the release and its timing, saying that the "infectious" track is good enough to make everyone forget about Minaj's "Grammy debacle." Is it?

    You bet: "Oh Nicki, all is forgiven," says Melinda Newman at HitFix. Quite frankly, after witnessing your Grammys misadventure, "we had to scrub our eyeballs." But "Starships" is the "perfect anecdote: A club-ready smash that is also destined for the top of the pop charts." Like Minaj's super-hit "Super Bass," this earworm of a track mixes her bombastic rapping style with catchy sung hooks. It has all the ingredients of a modern radio hit: "It's as if LMFAO, Taio Cruz, and Minaj had a baby and this is what popped out."
    "Listen: Nicki Minaj's 'Starships' is headed straight into the stratosphere"

    "Starships" isn't perfect, but it's on the right track: That trainwreck Grammy performance was "a wasted opportunity," says Amanda Dobbins at New York. Why would someone who clearly wants to be a crossover pop megastar use her Grammy platform to debut a "hookless, vaguely misogynistic, not-that-great track" like "Roman Holiday"? Arriving just in time, "Starships" will likely be the radio hit Minaj needs — catchy and danceable and sufficiently PC to appeal to young fans who loved "Super Bass," if too scatter-shot and a bit of a mess.
    "Nicki Minaj is at least trying to solve her hit problem"

    This isn't the route she should be taking: Minaj's "current musical approach is vexing," says Kyle Anderson at Entertainment Weekly. Judging by her Lady Gaga-esque Grammy performance and this newly released Lady Gaga-esque dance track, she's trying to become a mainstream pop artist. But that's not her strength. Minaj is "ridiculously talented" when it comes to rapping, so why is she squandering that skill? Rather than "pander to an audience with super-glossy pop production," she should be owning her niche as the sole popular female rapper in the game. "That's who she is."
    "Nicki Minaj releases new song 'Starships': Hear it here"

     

    SEE ALSO: Born to Die: Lana Del Rey's 'polarizing' debut album

     

     

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    31 comments

    • Kitty
      Kitty  •  2 mths ago
      I like her singing much more than her rapping...
    • B.C.
      B.C.  •  3 mths ago
      Infectious? (I hope there's a cure...)
    • Mooshi
      Mooshi  •  Livonia, Michigan  •  3 mths ago
      She's got the Kanye west syndrome.
    • luxx
      luxx  •  3 mths ago
      GARBAGE!
    • luxx
      luxx  •  3 mths ago
      That song is trash! What is with everybody doing this corny fake clubby-rave trash music. She is garbage now. By the sounds of this new music this cd won't be another Pink Friday. Tragic!
      • Carmen Foxx
        Carmen Foxx 3 mths ago
        dont get true EDM twisted with this trash.
    • Windriver
      Windriver  •  Pto. Limon, Costa Rica  •  3 mths ago
      I just found in my late Mom's stuff all my old 45 rpm albums she saved. The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and many other MOTOWN albums. (for the young, these are vinyl and don't play in the car) THAT was music! What she is is a racist bigot!
      • petal
        petal 3 mths ago
        How cool you found the 45s!
      • Windriver
        Windriver 3 mths ago
        The best part is my son gave me last year a turntable that plays albums and converts them to digital to burn onto CD's!
        I am sorry, I should have said 33 rpm not 45 rpm.
      • Brown Ese
        Brown Ese 3 mths ago
        Awesome Windriver! that is really music and quality stuff, you are lucky to have those 33 rpms I remember having some when I was in Jr High and I really enjoyed them, too bad I got rid of them when I moved from Mexico to Los Angeles.
    • Doug S
      Doug S  •  Annapolis, Maryland  •  3 mths ago
      Will we ever get back to music, written and performed by talented artists who came up rough in dive bars? Instead of corporate-fed pap/crap designed and built on polls of what the audience "wants" to hear?
      • KIP
        KIP 3 mths ago
        All you need is three cords, and the truth.....Johnny Cash
      • Doug S
        Doug S 3 mths ago
        Yep, and in a pinch, I've used four or five chords and a good story.
    • Rydangel
      Rydangel  •  Atlanta, Georgia  •  3 mths ago
      so it's ok for madonna and lady gaga to use inappropriate religous symboltry in their music, but when the black girl does it, she's a racist? stop tripping! nicki minaj's grammy performance was terrible, even i was offended and i like her. but her poor performance should not be attributed to her race or physical looks just bad judgement. she's a young artist and it's perfectly normal for young artists to try and to mix up their styles as they mature and try to express their creativity. Madonna reinvented herself almost every decade. now that she's pushing 60 and she wants to play it safe. Whether you like rap or hip-hop or not, don't judge a person's entire career over 1 mistake, especially if you aren't familiar with her music. She should receive props for not playing it safe and performing a bubblegum corporate america grammy show. Minaj is a talented rapper. She has mad skills even if sometimes she lacks focus.
      • Anonymous
        Anonymous 3 mths ago
        madonna lost her big-money sponsorship deal with pepsi after the video for like a virgin came out. what are you talking about?
      • Wendee
        Wendee 3 mths ago
        KEY WORDS: "Minaj is a talented RAPPER". That is what she was signed for. To SPIT not to make a clown out of herself in crazy get-ups and horrible stage performances. Madonna, Michael, Gaga NEVER tried to rap. The crossover Minaj is trying to impose WON'T work because she is NOT a skilled dancer OR stage performer. Holding a mic and rapping is a hella different than putting on a multi-million dollar stage show that people of ALL genres want to see. Yes, Madonna was scolded by Catholic Church and was dropped by Pepsi BUT she was also a skilled PERFOMER on stage..a professional artist..Same with Michael the King of Pop..he had all kinds of drama BUTTTT he could DELIVER a show on stage no matter what. Minaj is a ZERO compared to Gaga who can write, compose, plays over 14 instruments, dance, sing (and very well at that) AND put on a bangin SHOW. Has NOTHING to do with race, and everything to do with SKILLS. Nicki Garb'age needs to stay within her boundaries.
      • Rydangel
        Rydangel 3 mths ago
        @ wendee my reply was in response to another commenter who called nicki minaj a racist for her as i stated in MY comment,bad and in poor taste performance. she tried something new, it didn't work out. that doesn't make her garbage. i never said that lady gaga or madonna weren't talented just that they did not receive the same overly harsh critisism that nicki did. and i never mentioned michael jackson at all.
    • B Money
      B Money  •  3 mths ago
      I'm a fan of rap music and I think she's garbage! She has zero talent! She needs to go away like the Kardashians!
      • Brown Ese
        Brown Ese 3 mths ago
        Amen to that, I do love rap music too but Nicki is garbage, I don't understand how come she has made it this far, the Kardashian's are just a group of slu**s, selfish and shameless.
      • Childs
        Childs 3 mths ago
        B, Ese -- I totally disagree. Nicki rocks. She is versitle and sexy but doesnt just sell sex. female rappers had gotten too into selling their bodies' with sex-ladened lyrics song after song but not her. She always does something different.
      • Windriver
        Windriver 3 mths ago
        Childs, do you go along with mocking people's religion?
    • Kevin
      Kevin  •  Albuquerque, New Mexico  •  3 mths ago
      NO!
    • martin
      martin  •  Irvine, California  •  3 mths ago
      Stories about today's Grammy winners are rarely about the merits of their music anymore.
    • petal
      petal  •  3 mths ago
      She looks ridiculous, can't sing, and to me is talent-free. She DOES have some spectacular wigs, but that is just not enough. I don't get her popularity at all.
    • NessaTex
      NessaTex  •  Beaumont, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      Why can't people just be honest? Her performance stunk up the Grammy awards. That had to be one of the worst performances ever witnessed. She has ZERO talent.
    • JS
      JS  •  Richmond, Kentucky  •  3 mths ago
      she sounds like a ret***ed five year old when she raps...if you can call it rap. her costumes are stupid looking...like kids playing dress-up...yet the age 12-24 demographic that the music industry caters to just worships her...but don't get me started on the millennials and beyond...she will be obsolete in about two years anyway, or sooner I hope.
    • CurlsAndStilettos
      CurlsAndStilettos  •  3 mths ago
      I was offended by nikki's performace for how completely stupid and random it was, all i kept thinking while watching was "huh?"

      ok you want to be a caricature? fine. But c'mon just doing anything just to do it for shock value is a cop out. That's why people like her bother me, no sense or purpose to it, she doesnt do it because that's the way she is, she has to be a gimick and it's annoying
    • Jackie
      Jackie  •  3 mths ago
      I never thought Nicky Minaj was talented. I think she was put on because of how she looks. However, she seems to get loss when she tries to emulate Lady Ga Ga and Madonna. They have a niche and know how to sell it,but I don't think Nicky knows where she fits in and it's show. My advice is for her just to be herself and stop all the theatrics. I'm not a fan, but I can see her losing her fan base because of this grammy performance. No offense, the performance was ridiculous.
    • Nos Nhoj
      Nos Nhoj  •  3 mths ago
      Nicki Minaj has a disproportionately huge ego the size of her butt, and I'm really having a hard enough time just trying overcome that.
    • habanero99
      habanero99  •  3 mths ago
      Even if I could understand what the hell she's sayin I still wouldn't listen. Wasted a grammy performance.
    • Sarah L
      Sarah L  •  3 mths ago
      I love how critics and others get to define "who" she is. Artists of all kinds mix things up sometimes, it doesn't mean they are selling out. They're tasting new food.
    • Sam
      Sam  •  Chesapeake, Virginia  •  3 mths ago
      God, I hate her rapping. Starships has the same beat and sound as Rihanna's We Found Love, which is also a garbage song that sounds like a copy cat of something out of the goddamn 90's.
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