Nicki Minaj’s highly anticipated sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded has already been leaked days ahead of its official release. Turns out the early reviews have not been too kind. According to Billboard, Minaj spends to much time speaking through her alter egos and loses herself in the process:
I always thought I could write pop songs for someone else or I could write R&B records for someone else, but I didn’t think that people would accept me writing those type of songs and me singing them and just being who I am,” Nicki Minaj recently told Complex about her hotly anticipated sophomore album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” which leaked on Wednesday (March 28) ahead of its April 3 release date. “And I guess that’s the point… The goal is to not want their acceptance, the goal is to just do you and they’ll come around.”
Indeed, the first half of “Roman Reloaded” is the sound of Minaj doing a victory lap – already established enough in hip-hop to compete with her male counterparts, she leaves plenty of room for guests like Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Drake, and Chris Brown to take the mic. This time around, however, she seems to have her sights set on competing with Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Madonna, based on the album’s pop-heavy second half. If you thought her David Guetta single “Turn Me On” was a major departure last summer, get ready for five more songs that sound pretty much exactly like that.
In short, Minaj spends more time exploring her musical identity on “Roman Reloaded” than she does perfecting one, which makes the album sound bloated and rushed. It’s also her most overtly commercial work to date, and will rapidly expand her fan base while alienating a good chunk of her core to focus on singing instead of imaginative rhymes.
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