Nicki Minaj has moved the release date for her Pink Friday 2 album once again.
The queen of rap, 41, took to her Instagram Live on Tuesday night to announce the highly-anticipated follow-up to her 2010 smash hit Pink Friday will be pushed back to her birthday, December 8.
Nicki explained that the choice was influenced in part by her friend and mentor, Lil Wayne, along with 2 Chainz, releasing their collaborative album, Welcome 2 Collegrove, on November 17, which was Pink Friday 2’s previous drop date.
However, fans went wild speculating that there might be more to the delay than just her rap peers’ album releases. Some suggested that Nicki wants to avoid competing with Taylor Swift’s re-recording of 1989.
‘Taylor Swift got her SHOOK, she knew she was gonna debut at No. 2,’ wrote one follower, as another tweeted,’ afraid of Taylor Swift’.
The new December drop date even had Mariah Carey’s name thrown in the mix, as the elusive chanteuse reigns over the holiday season with her All I Want For Christmas.
‘Pushed back AGAIN cus granny doesn’t want that Taylor Swift/LilWayne competition and dropping DECEMBER.. Mariah is gonna EAT HER!’ posted a fan.
Although Taylor’s version of her 1989 album – originally released in 2014 – will hit shelves on Friday, it is expected to be her biggest re-recording yet and may keep sales flowing for weeks, per The New York Times.
Back in June, Nicki first announced that Pink Friday 2 would land on October 20.
Later that month, she revealed the title of the record, and pushed the release date back to November 17.
At the time, she assured her followers that it would be ‘worth the wait.’
‘Due to some really exciting news that I’ll share with you guys at a later time, I’ve shifted the album date just a tad bit,’ the rapper, 40, announced on her page.
Nicki’s last full studio album, Queen, was released in 2018.
‘I have never in my life been so in love with something that I’m working on,” the rapper has said.
She mentioned that the interval between albums was, in part, a result of experiencing writer’s block while she was pregnant.
Nicki and her husband Kenneth ‘Zoo’ Petty welcomed their baby on Wednesday, Sept. 30, in Los Angeles.
Pink Friday 2 is a reference to her debut album, Pink Friday, which was released in 2010.
Her first single from Pink Friday 2, Super Freaky Girl, already debuted on the number one spot on the Billboard Top 100 back in 2022.
