Nicki Minaj pushes back date for album release, but doesn’t say why
The "Chun-Li" rapper says she's continuing her tour, but fans will wonder why her new album isn't dropping when she originally said it would
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Nicki Minaj fans will have to wait t a little longer for rapper to drop her much-anticipated album.
Minaj took to Instagram in a live post and announced that her new album, Queen, is being pushed back to August 10, and won’t be released June 15, as previously expected.
It’s unclear why, but Minaj says right now’s she under the weather and is suffering from the flu. It’s such a concern that she had to cancel her The Ellen DeGeneres Show appearance.
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“The album itself I think I want to put out on August 10. I want to put out my second single, which I’m really, really excited about, and I want to now start an official countdown,” Minaj said.
She noted that she wanted to do things differently and it sounds like instead of just dropping an album out of thin air — which has worked for superstars like Beyonce — instead she wants some fanfare leading up to the release.
The “Chun-Li” rapper promised her fans that between June 11 and 15, that she will still drop some gems for them on social media so there’s still something to look forward to.
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Her tour is still on schedule though and will start sometime in September.
But it leaves one to wonder what’s really behind the big delay?
Well, Minaj has received some pushback on her single when she returned as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live for the third time. This time her “Chun-Li” performance raised eyebrows with many saying Minaj was blatantly appropriating the Asian culture.
While Minaj would likely argue that her performance was cultural appreciation rather than appropriation, still she caught criticism as she hit the SNL stage in full Chinese attire and surrounded by Asian dancers, reports Pitchfork. The set was designed to look like an Asian-style pavilion.
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The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund immediately took issue with Minaj’s performance and expressed their concerns in a tweet:
Knew this was coming, but Nicki Minaj on #SNL should just stop appropriating Asian culture and skip the Orientalism. pic.twitter.com/qaujyCF31R
— AsianAmericanLegal (@aaldef) May 20, 2018
Then there was the beef with rap music’s newest darling Cardi B who has taken up residence as arguably the hottest female rapper on the scene. But it seems the two kinda sorta settled things whey they were caught being cordial at the Met Gala.
In the meantime, fans will have to wait to see what comes of Minaj’s change of heart on her album release date.