Nicki Minaj is enjoying a “full circle” moment.
The “Super Freaky Girl” rapper couldn’t help but fangirl at Sunday’s Barbie film premiere in Los Angeles, hitting the pink carpet to celebrate her contribution to the movie’s soundtrack: Barbie World.
“I am so excited to be here and be a part of this entire moment,” Minaj gushed to ET’s Will Marfuggi at the event, held at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium. “I’m glad that they thought of me because I’m excited just like everybody else is excited to see this movie.”
Of course, Minaj was a natural fit for the project, as she’s long channeled the iconic doll in her public persona. The 40-year-old artist refers to her fans as the “Barbz” and recently announced that she’s working on a sequel to her hit 2010 breakthrough album, Pink Friday, which will be released in November. Back in 2018, she dropped the single “Barbie Tingz.”
“I’ve been saying Barbie my whole career,” Minaj continued. “So it’s a very full circle moment.”
Minaj teamed up with Ice Spice for “Barbie World.” Produced by Ice Spice’s go-to hitmaker, RiotUSA, the rappers rhyme over a sampling of Aqua’s hit 1997 song, “Barbie Girl.” The Danish electropop group is credited on the song as performers and co-writers.
This is the second musical collaboration between Minaj and Spice following their last hit, the top-10 Billboard Hot 100 single “Princess Diana Remix.”
As for how the new tune came together, Minaj said it was something of a trial and error process.
“There were a couple of songs that I didn’t love and then there was another song, well, this ‘Barbie’ sample, I loved it,” she explained. “I just wanted it to have a dope drum and so the one they sent me, I loved and I jumped on it right away.”
The music video director, Hannah Lux Davis, recently spoke out about the project in an exclusive statement to ET.
“It was a privilege to work with Nicki and Ice in close collaboration with the movie studio and Atlantic Records to create the visual for ‘Barbie World.’ The goal of the video was to create fantastical worlds that both artists could thrive in that could feel like an extension of Greta Gerwig’s masterfully-crafted creative vision,” she said.
