What do you do when the artist you have championed decides to spend their afternoon not releasing more music, but AI-generating themselves into photos with Donald Trump and flouting their signed Trump Bible? This is the very conflict Nicki Minaj fans (’the Barbz’) have found themselves in. Minaj has previously established herself as a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community; appearing at pride festivals, cancelling a show at the Jeddah World Fest in support of women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and even styling her alter ego ‘Roman Zolanski’ as a homosexual man. Therefore, when she appeared on stage buddy-buddy with Erika Kirk urging “boys [to] be boys,” it felt like a slap in the face to the thousands of LGBTQ+ fans who built Minaj’s wealth and success.
Artistically, Minaj’s decline politically is complemented by her glaring use of AI. Her collaboration ‘Press Play’ with Future was accompanied by a flood of AI promotional material. For Minaj, who broke barriers as a woman of colour and has a net worth of over $150 million, the refusal to champion up-and-coming creatives and instead resort to AI slop is a tired and lazy move. It suggests a decline in artistic integrity and a lack of care for the future and position of women within the industry, or perhaps — considering her constant beef with other women such as SZA and Megan Thee Stallion — she never possessed any to begin with.
Additionally, Minaj, who immigrated to the US from Trinidad and Tobago, recently donated $1 million to the Trump administration in return for a ‘Gold Card’ which grants foreign nationals permanent residency. Her wealth has granted her the ability to rise beyond the confines of her race and gender — but the sad reality for many other immigrants and women of colour is that they remain bound to such identity and thus face constant threats of deportation during the ongoing ICE rampage. This is a perfect caricature of the hypocrisy within the current political landscape; Minaj built her and wealth career off of the support of a diverse and marginalised fanbase whom support her from the harsh reality of their own everyday lives. In turn, she remains silent and sides with the oppressor, but considering the sexual assault convictions that Minaj’s husband and brother carry — should we be surprised?
It’s easy to simply dismiss fans’ outrage as a case of parasocialism, but the betrayal feels understandably personal — because it is personal. When marginalised fans have propped up and supported your career for you to then turn around and utilise the money built directly off of their concert tickets, merchandise sales, and streams to fund an administration that seeks to undermine their very existence, they have a right to outrage. This then leaves fans with a feeling of betrayal as they have to confront this reality of the private-public persona dilemma. Some, in blind ignorance, double down, whilst others turn to the ‘block artist’ button on Spotify. It also begs the question of the parameters of ‘stan’ culture — should we ever consider ourselves a ‘fan’ of an artist, considering we never really know their intentions or beliefs behind closed doors? Is it ever possible to separate the art from the artist? Is it ok to do so?
Art is always inherently political, and when someone donates over $300,000 to the ‘Trump Accounts’ programme for any ‘Barbz Babies,’ maybe it’s time to delete the Twitter account. There’s no denying that Nicki Minaj was a generation-defining artist who made strides for female rappers in male-dominated spaces and championed LGBTQ+ rights; it’s just a shame to see that she herself does not seek to maintain or respect her own legacy.
“Nicki Minaj (55022495106) (cropped)” by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
