Nicki Minaj Says Upcoming Album Will Be the “Best Thing That Will Come Out of 2023”

It has been nearly five years since Nicki Minaj’s fourth studio album, Queen (2018), which sold 185,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Since then, Minaj’s ravenous fanbase, commonly referred to as the Barbz, has been dying for another album release from the 40-year-old. Momentarily quelling their starvation, Minaj revealed some insight about her next LP on Twitter.

In response to a fan’s tweet that claimed Minaj doesn’t promote her 2021 single, “Fractions,” enough, Minaj insisted releases like those, “Super Freaky Girls” (2022), and “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” (2023) all warned listeners and the music industry to prepare for her full-length return.

“Oh yes fractions warned, SFG did what fractions warned. Red Ruby Da Sleeze MOTHERED so hard & is now the standard,” she wrote.

Then, she gave a strong prediction about the quality and assumed reception of her impending album, which she currently refers to as NM5. Additionally, Minaj said the accompanying tour for the project will be a sight to behold.

“NM5 is the best thing that will come out of 2023 & will raise the bar to new & unreachable heights,” Minaj tweeted. “NM5 tour will be hailed as ‘genius.’ That’s it & that’s all.”

For the last couple of years, Minaj has only been putting out a handful of singles at a time. She dropped “Yikes” and “What That Speed Bout!?” with NBA YoungBoy in 2022. In 2021, she added the aforementioned “Fractions” to the digital streaming platform release of her 2009 mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty, along with other singles like “Crocodile Teeth (Remix)” and “Seeing Green” with Drake and Lil Wayne.

Minaj then upped the frequency of her releases in 2022, starting the year in February with back-to-back Lil Baby-assisted singles, “Do We Have A Problem?” and “Bussin.” A month later, she connected with fellow New York emcee Fivio Foreign for “We Go Up.” Then in August, she put out “Super Freaky Girl,” which erupted on TikTok and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This year, Minaj not only put out “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” in March but also hopped on the remix for Ice Spice’s hit “Princess Diana,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100.

In November 2022, Minaj told I-D Magazine that “the album will be out soon,” but she still has not confirmed a release date or tracklist.

Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage