Nicki Minaj Lights Up Solo Album Anticipation: “I Had To Step Back & Go Have Different Experiences”

Young Money star Nicki Minaj recently talked about not returning for another run on "American Idol" and why giving the Fox music competition show the cold shoulder was necessary.

In Nicki’s opinion, she had to fall back on “American Idol” in order to start piecing together her third solo album.

Minaj is currently working on her third album, which she couldn’t focus on as much as she wanted to when she was a judge on last season’s American Idol. “Nooo!” Minaj squealed when asked if she misses Idol. “It was such a great experience. I would not trade it for the world. But my heart is in my music and I had to step back and go have different experiences so that I could write my third album…That’s the most important thing in my life right now.” (E! Online)

Earlier this year, Nicki said fans familiar with her most recent retail project would hear more of the same tunes on the next LP.

First thing’s first though, as Nicki still has plans to roll out more visuals from The Re-Up before she moves onto something new. “It’s possible, but for right now, I’m about to shoot another single off The Re-Up,” she told MTV News, when asked if she’ll start recording soon. “The song is called ‘High School’ with Wayne. And then [I’ll] start working on that follow-up album. “I’ll be doing it here in L.A. while I’m shooting ‘Idol,’ ” she added, confirming that she’ll continue to juggle multiple projects like we saw her doing last year in her three-part E! reality special. (MTV)

Last fall, the self-proclaimed Barbie talked about her follow-up progress.

“[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)

During her Re-Up campaign, Nicki said she did not have high expectations for it to sell tons of records.

“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”)

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