While still in its early stages, Minaj has an idea of what direction and vibe she wants to go with her third studio effort.
“[It’s] a continuation of the Re-Up with a lot more. I have a lot more to say,” Nicki said in an interview. “But production-wise, I like where the Re-Up went. I want to continue down that path and add onto that musically. … At this point, it doesn’t even matter [who I work with], to be honest. I’ve worked with so many amazing people and thank them again for giving me the opportunity. I feel like at this point, it doesn’t matter. I feel like whoever I’m meant to work with, I’ll work with them. It’s out of my hands, it’s out of my control now in terms of who I want to work with. I think it’s just about the right time and the right chemistry.” (FUSE)
Despite limited retail outlet support, Minaj’s new LP managed to sell a handful of albums this week.
Young Money rapper Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded The Re-Up took a huge 80-spot jump to No. 27 with 36,200. After 34 weeks on stores, the LP has sold 726,900 pieces. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
This week, a Billboard Magazine insider explained the repackagedalbum’s retail woes.
“Expanded reissues aren’t always guaranteed big sellers. It really depends on the extra content and timing of the release … Nicki’s reissue was seemingly timed to profit from holiday shopping,”Keith Caulfield, Billboard’s associate director of charts and retail, told MTV News, adding that sales of Re-Up were actually better than similar reissues by Minaj’s contemporaries: “In the weekKaty Perry reissued Teenage Dream, the combined sales of the reissue and the original album were 33,000,” he said. “That was up 190 percent compared to the previous week.” (MTV)
Last week, Nicki admitted she did not have high expectations for the LP to push out big opening week numbers.
“It’s hard to get the album because the stores basically said that the last few re-releases they had put out did not do well and they didn’t want to take a chance. Target and Wal-Mart are not selling thealbum, and Target is actually my biggest retailer. Best Buy only took limited [stock] because they wanted to play it safe. It kinda sets you up to fail.” (“The Breakfast Club”)
Check out Nicki Minaj’s interview:
