Nicki Minaj is setting the record straight. The rapper took to Twitter to clarify her involvement in the 2014 hit song “Bang Bang” after Jessie J claimed in an interview that Minaj “asked” to be on the song.
“Bang Bang” by Jessie J was one of the biggest songs of 2014. Featuring blossoming pop star Ariana Grande and established rapper Minaj, the song was a perfect storm, reaching number 3 on the coveted Billboard Hot 100 chart. In a recent interview, singer Jessie J opened up about how the smash hit came to be.
In Jessie J’s latest interview with Glamour, the singer broke down five of her greatest songs, detailing the history behind the creation of her songs and response to each one. Detailing how “Bang Bang” came to be, she shared, “‘Bang Bang’ was a song that already existed. I didn’t write ‘Bang Bang.’ Max Martin wrote ‘Bang Bang,’ and Ariana had been played it, I’d been played it, and we both loved it. We just said, ‘Why don’t we both do it?’ So Ariana stayed on the second verse, I recorded the first verse, and then Nicki was played it in the studio and was like, ‘I’ve got to jump on this.’”
Diving further into Minaj’s involvement, she continued, “We didn’t go to her and ask; she wanted to do it. I’ll never forget: I was in my bedroom in my flat in London, and I got sent the version with Nicki on it. I just sat at the end of my bed holding my phone, staring at the floor, going, ‘How the f-ck did I land this?’ I literally felt like I’d won a competition.”
While Jessie went on to give her flowers to both Minaj and Grande, saying the song, “would have never done what it did without them,” the first part of the interview made its way to Minaj, who had plenty to say about Jessie J’s claims on Thursday.
Minaj wrote on Twitter after the interview was published, “Babe @JessieJ I didn’t hear the song & ask 2get on it. The label asked me2get on it & paid me. How would I have heard the song? chiiille what am I the damn song monitor? Snoopin around for songs Chile? This was said by another artist recently as well. Yallgotta stop…LoveU.”
Minaj then tweeted that she had actually wanted a feature on a completely different Jessie J song entitled “Do It Like a Dude.” She wrote in another tweet, “Chi…but the worst part about this is no1EVER asked me2get on “like a dude” & I have been obsessed w|that song since the min I heard it. I was doing promo in the UK & heard it on the radio. My artist Parker co wrote it. I would’ve gotten on that 1 for some pickle juice.”
Much has been made over the years of how “Bang Bang” came to be, but an interview from Billboard’s Hitmakers Roundtable in 2016 seems to confirm Minaj’s side of the story.
Wendy Goldstein of Republic Records shared at the time, “It was written for Ariana [Grande]. She cut it, and she hated it. So I sent it to [Republic Executive Vice President Rob Stevenson], got Jessie J on it and then sent it to Nicki Minaj. I made them finish the record anyway. And then I was scared to send it to Ari. So I sent it to [Republic Records chairman/CEO] Monte Lipman and said, “Play this for Ariana.” When she heard it, she was like, “I want it back.”
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