| Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded | ||||
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 Standard edition cover | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 2, 2012 (2012-04-02) | |||
| Recorded | 2011–2012 | |||
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 69:00 | |||
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| Producer |
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| Nicki Minaj album chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
_(Cover).jpg) Deluxe edition cover | ||||
| Singles from Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded | ||||
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Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded[a] is the second album by rapper and singerNicki Minaj. It was released on April 2, 2012, byCash Money Records,Universal Republic Records andYoung Money Entertainment. Looking to transition from her debut album,Pink Friday (2010), Minaj wanted to make a follow-up record about "just having fun". Stylistically, the album is divided by a first half ofhip-hop tracks and a second half ofdance-pop songs. As executive producer, Minaj enlisted a variety of collaborators.
Upon its release,Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded received generally mixed reviews from critics, who were ambivalent towards Minaj's exploration ofdance-pop. It debuted at number one on the USBillboard 200 selling 253,000 copies in its first week, making it Minaj's second number-one album in the country, and her first to debut at the top of the chart. With that, Minaj became the first female rapper to peak at number one with her first two studio albums. In November 2024, the album was certified quadruple platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for moving four million album-equivalent units, becoming Minaj's highest-certified album in the US yet. Internationally, the album peaked at number one in Canada and the United Kingdom, and reached the top five in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.
The album was promoted with six singles. Its lead single "Starships" peaked at number five on the USBillboardHot 100 and was later certifiedDiamond by the RIAA. Follow-up singles "Right by My Side" and "Beez in the Trap" experienced moderate success on theHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Pound the Alarm" and "Va Va Voom" peaked at numbers fifteen and twenty-two on theBillboard Hot 100, respectively. "Automatic" was released as a single only in France, where it peaked at number 102 on theSNEP chart. The album was additionally promoted through thePink Friday Tour and thePink Friday: Reloaded Tour, which visited North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania throughout 2012 following the album's release.
The album wasreissued in November 2012, asPink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up. In addition to the original album, the reissue includes seven new songs and an additional DVD, which was filmed during thePink Friday Tour.
"April 3 is gonna be a doozy. It's gonna be crazy, it's gonna be important for hip-hop and pop culture. It's gonna be very big."
Following the success of Minaj's debut studio album,Pink Friday (2010), Cash Money CEO,Brian "Birdman" Williams announced toBillboard that Minaj was aiming for a first quarter release in 2012.[3] In November 2011, Minaj announced onTwitter that the album would be released on February 14, 2012, though it was later rescheduled for release on April 3. The album primarily focuses onRoman Zolanski, one of Minaj'salter egos that was first featured onPink Friday. The standard artwork was released on March 1, 2012, and the deluxe artwork was revealed on March 8, both through Twitter.[4][5]
When Minaj was asked on Twitter to describe the album in one word, she tweeted "freedom".[6] In an interview following the premiere of the album's lead single, "Starships", Minaj toldRyan Seacrest, "I've never had this much fun recording music in my life. My first album I was very guarded. I felt like I was making music to please everyone else. I had to bepolitically correct, but this album I am just creating music, and there's such a big difference. Literally in the studio we were cracking up laughing, having fun, and enjoying ourselves. The music itself you're going to get every side that I've ever shown and then a little bit extra. I've tried to make it very, very balanced, because I don't ever want to be boxed in, and that's always what drives me. So I made a very diverse album." She added that with her first album, "I was a too open Nicki Minaj. It felt more to me like a diary, the songs were more introspective and stuff like that...with this particular album I felt that it was time to give people a moment to enjoy the lyrics, and enjoy the beats, and enjoy the voices. When I was going to do my first album people would say, 'What is she going to talk about? Is she just going to talk about sex?' So I made it my business to make an album that did not talk about sex at all. I made it my business to make an album that wasn't a vulgar album, because [on]my mixtapes I was very, very...outlandish on my mixtapes. With this album I'm going back to not necessarily to that sound, but that feeling. The feeling of 'I don't care what you think!' That's what it is."[7] Minaj also spoke on the concept behind her first two albums, saying: "Sometimes I felt the first album was a little too revealing, too emotional at times, and the other thing about your first album is that you've had all these emotions pent up inside to release and that's what you do on your debut. On the second album I was more concerned about just having fun".[8]
Asexecutive producer, Minaj enlisted a variety of producers, includingAlex da Kid,Alex P,Pop & Oak,Benny Blanco,Blackout,Carl Falk,Cirkut,David Guetta, DJ Diamond Kuts,Dreamlab,Dr. Luke, Flip,Hit-Boy, Jimmy Joker,J. R. Rotem, Kane Beatz, Kenoe,KoOol Kojak, M.E. Productions, Pink Friday Productions,Rami Yacoub,RedOne,Rico Beats, Ryan & Smitty,Nikhil S. andT-Minus. Minaj also collaborated with different artists for the album, which includes:Cam'ron,Rick Ross,2 Chainz,Lil Wayne,Nas,Drake,Young Jeezy,Chris Brown,Bobby V, andBeenie Man.[6]
Stylistically,Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded is divided into two parts, the first of which focuses mainly onhip-hop tracks while the second containsdance-pop.[9][10][11] Minaj raps in her alter ego "Roman Zolanski" in a number of the former's tracks over hard-edged beats and mostly sings on the latter half.[12] The pop songs, categorizedPitchfork's Ryan Dombal, "range from brittleEuro-trance to milquetoastR&B to washed-outballadry".[13] Music criticKitty Empire cites the song "Pound the Alarm" as a "compromise" between the album's two stylistic halves.[14]
"Starships" was released as the lead single from the album on February 14, 2012.[15] The song was an international hit, peaking inside the top ten in over fifteen countries. In the United States, the song charted at number five on theBillboard Hot 100. The song is also Minaj's second most certified single to date. "Right by My Side" was sent to USrhythmic radio and USurban radio on March 27, 2012,[16][17][18] as the album's second single. The song, which features additional vocals from Chris Brown, has since peaked at number 51 on theBillboard Hot 100. "Beez in the Trap", which features 2 Chainz, was sent to US rhythmic radio on May 29, 2012,[19] as the third single from the album. The song peaked at number 48 on theBillboard Hot 100.
"Pound the Alarm" was released as the fourth single from the album.[20] It was sent to USTop 40/Mainstream radio on July 17, 2012.[21] The song peaked at number 15 on theBillboard Hot 100 as well as in the top ten in other countries including Australia, Canada and the UK. "Automatic" impacted French contemporary hit radio on October 18, 2012 as the fifth single from the album. It peaked at number 102 on France's SNEP chart.[22] "Va Va Voom" was released as the sixth and final single from the album. It was sent to US Top 40/Mainstream radio on October 23, 2012.[23] The song peaked at number 22 onBillboard Hot 100 and in the top 20 in Canada and the UK.
Minaj performed "Roman Holiday" at the54th Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012, making Minaj the first solo female rapper to perform at the award show.[24] The controversial performance borrowed elements of the classic horror film,The Exorcist (1973). Minaj said in an interview withRap-Up, "I had this vision for [alter-ego, Roman Zolanski] to be sort ofexorcised—or actually he never gets exorcised—but people around him tell him he's not good enough because he's not normal, he's not blending in with theaverage Joe. And sohis mother is scared and the people around him are afraid because they've never seen anything like him. He wanted to show that not only is he amazing and he's sure of himself and confident, but he's never gonna change, he's never gonna be exorcised. Even when they throw theholy water on him, he still rises above."MTV said the performance "was the most elaborate of the night's Grammy performances and had everyone talking."[25]
On February 26, 2012, Minaj performed "Starships" live for the first time along with "Moment 4 Life", "Turn Me On" and "Super Bass" at the2012 NBA All-Star Game. She also performed "Starships" on theeleventh season ofAmerican Idol on March 29, 2012. In April 2012, Minaj held album signings inNew York City,Los Angeles,Philadelphia, andLondon.[26] That month, she traveled to the UK for a week of promotion. On April 4, 2012, she performed a 40-minute mini-concert forBET's106 & Park.[27] She performed "Starships", "Right by My Side", and "Super Bass" inTimes Square, hosted byNokia, on April 7, 2012.[28]On April 19, 2012,HMV held a competition for fans, where 500 winners would get the chance to meet Minaj in one of their stores inBayswater, London, where she would sign their albums.[29] Minaj also made an appearance onThe Graham Norton Show, which was aired on April 20, 2012,[30] and on that same day, she visited BBC Radio 1 for an interview withNick Grimshaw.
To further promotePink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Minaj embarked on her first concert tour, entitled thePink Friday Tour.[31] The tour comprised 41 show dates, including, 19 in North America, 15 in Europe, 4 in Asia, and 3 in Oceania. The tour began in May 2012 with shows in Australia and Asia. The tour then continued on to Europe and North America in June, July, and August 2012. The tour came to a close on August 14, 2012, in New York City at theRoseland Ballroom. The final show was a part of a freePepsi promotional concert. The tour was officially announced by Minaj on May 1, 2012, featuring a stage resemblingBarbie's Dreamhouse.[32] Minaj stated that she will play radio and outdoor festivals in conduction with arenas and theaters.[33] She described the tour as being "intimate yet big".Laurieann Gibson served as creative director and choreographer for the tour.[34] Minaj also embarked on thePink Friday: Reloaded Tour, which visited arenas throughout October and December 2012.[35]
On September 6, at the2012 MTV Video Music Awards, Minaj announced thereissue ofPink Friday: Roman Reloaded[36]. In November, she added that the expanded album would contain an additional disc with seven newly recorded songs and an exclusive behind-the-scenesDVD to supplement the standard edition of the original album.[37] Project, titledPink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up, was released on November 19, seven months after the original record. The new material incorporateship hop andR&B styles.[38] Upon its release,The Re-Up received generally positive reviews from music critics.[39] Commercially, it helped the original album to return to the top-100 of theBillboard 200 chart, reaching the 27 spot.[40]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 5.4/10[41] |
| Metacritic | 60/100[42] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [43] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B[44] |
| The Guardian | [45] |
| The Independent | [46] |
| MSN Music (Expert Witness) | A−[47] |
| NME |  [48] |
| Pitchfork | 6.7/10[13] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| Spin | 8/10[49] |
| The Times | [50] |
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded received mixed reviews from critics upon its release.[51] AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 60, based on 30 reviews.[42] Although he complimented its first half as "an amusement park forproduction lovers",AllMusic editor David Jeffries criticized the album's "iffy pop" and called it "a frustrating mix of significant and skippable."[43] Randall Roberts of theLos Angeles Times complimented its "minimal andbouncy hip-hop tracks" for highlighting Minaj's "charm and achievement", but wrote that the "disjointed, artistically confused" album "drives off a cliff" with "dance pop songs as simple as they are generic".[9] Emily Mackay ofNME found its disparate music "just baffling" and "zany for the sake of it".[48] Kitty Empire, writing inThe Observer, interpreted Minaj's pop songs as "an aggressive bid forGaga's territory."[14] David Amidon ofPopMatters accused Minaj of "doubling down on her cartoonish elements" and criticized its first half as "very poorly thought out rap music masquerading as pop".[52] John Calvert ofThe Quietus described the album as "poppostmodernity in an advanced state of hollow, banal meaningless[ness]" and felt that the pop songs have "absolutely nothing to do with Minaj's art".[53]Slant Magazine's Matthew Cole panned it as a "mediocre rap album" and felt that "Minaj conveys no personality" when she does not rap.[11] "Too many of its 19 tracks leave Minaj simply treading the territory of other radiodivas", wrote Kyle Anderson inEntertainment Weekly.[44]
In a positive review forRolling Stone, journalistJody Rosen called it a "filler-free mega-pop album" and stated that "the energy never flags".[10] Jessica Hopper ofSpin praised Minaj's "rap offerings" as "nearly flawless" and wrote of the album's portion of pop tracks, "Her artistic potency dissolves, and she's just another well-finessed quirky diva".[49] Tom Ewing ofThe Guardian said that it "doesn't matter" that the album is inconsistent and "makes no attempt to marry its rap and pop impulses ... at their best the styles are wedded anyway by a particular frenzy, a sense that Minaj comes with no off switch or lower gear."[45]Robert Christgau said in his review forMSN Music that Minaj "raps exceptionally well, sings quite well, rhymes inconsistently but sometimes superbly", and that the album's deluxe edition starts and ends "strong", with a "fun" middle that veers between "mawkish and loud". Christgau recommended it to listeners who "enjoy contemporary pop whose market-tested blare offends bothrockistphilistines andIDMaesthetes".[47]
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Billboard Music Awards | Top Rap Album | Won | [54] |
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded debuted at number one on the USBillboard 200 chart, selling 253,000 copies in its first week, ending April 8, 2012.[55] This marked Minaj's second number-one album in that country following her previous studio album,Pink Friday (2010), which peaked at number one in February 2011. On June 22, 2012,Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was certified platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of one million copies in the US.[56] The album sold 785,000 copies throughout 2012 in the US.[57]Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was the best-selling rap album released in 2012 in the US, and overall the album was the third highest-selling R&B/Hip-Hop album of 2012 in the US.[58][59] According to theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI),Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was the 25th best-selling album globally of 2012, with sales of 1.4 million copies worldwide during that year.[60] As of February 2015,Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded has sold over 905,000 copies in the US.[61] On November 18, 2024, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA for combined album sales, track sales, on-demand audio, and video streams equivalent of four million album-equivalent units.[56]
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded debuted at number one on theUK Albums Chart and theUK R&B Albums Chart, with first week sales of 47,000 copies.[62][63] In doing so,Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded became the first album by a female rap artist to chart at number one in the United Kingdom. Additionally, the album sold 242,000 copies in the UK throughout 2012, making it the thirty-seventh best selling album of that year.[64]Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded also debuted at number one on theCanadian Albums Chart,[65] and debuted at number five on theAustralian Albums Chart.[66] In Mexico, the album reached the top 40 in its first week of release.[67]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Roman Holiday" |
| 4:05 | |
| 2. | "Come on a Cone" |
| Hit-Boy | 3:05 |
| 3. | "I Am Your Leader" (featuringCam'ron andRick Ross) |
| Hit-Boy | 3:33 |
| 4. | "Beez in the Trap" (featuring2 Chainz) |
| Kenoe | 4:28 |
| 5. | "HOV Lane" |
|
| 3:13 |
| 6. | "Roman Reloaded" (featuringLil Wayne) |
|
| 3:16 |
| 7. | "Champion" (featuringNas,Drake andYoung Jeezy) |
| 4:56 | |
| 8. | "Right by My Side" (featuringChris Brown) |
| 4:25 | |
| 9. | "Sex in the Lounge" (featuringLil Wayne andBobby V) |
|
| 3:27 |
| 10. | "Starships" |
| 3:30 | |
| 11. | "Pound the Alarm" |
|
| 3:25 |
| 12. | "Whip It" |
|
| 3:15 |
| 13. | "Automatic" |
|
| 3:18 |
| 14. | "Beautiful Sinner" | 3:47 | ||
| 15. | "Marilyn Monroe" | 3:16 | ||
| 16. | "Young Forever" | 3:06 | ||
| 17. | "Fire Burns" |
|
| 3:00 |
| 18. | "Gun Shot" (featuringBeenie Man) |
| Kane Beatz | 4:39 |
| 19. | "Stupid Hoe" |
|
| 3:16 |
| Total length: | 69:00 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20. | "Turn Me On" (David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj) |
|
| 3:19 |
| 21. | "Va Va Voom" |
|
| 3:03 |
| 22. | "Masquerade" |
|
| 3:48 |
| Total length: | 79:10 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20. | "Va Va Voom" |
|
| 3:03 |
| 21. | "Masquerade" |
|
| 3:48 |
| Total length: | 75:51 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22. | "Up in Flames" |
| 5:05 | |
| 23. | "Freedom" |
|
| 4:47 |
| 24. | "Hell Yeah" (featuringParker) |
| Parker Ighile | 4:11 |
| 25. | "High School" (featuring Lil Wayne) |
|
| 3:37 |
| 26. | "I'm Legit" (featuringCiara) |
| Mel & Mus | 3:18 |
| 27. | "I Endorse These Strippers" (featuringTyga and Brinx) |
|
| 4:22 |
| 28. | "The Boys" (withCassie) |
|
| 4:08 |
| Total length: | 105:18 | |||
Notes
Credits adapted from the liner notes ofPink Friday: Roman Reloaded.[1]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[99] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[100] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
| Ireland (IRMA)[101] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
| Poland (ZPAV)[102] | Gold | 10,000* |
| Sweden (GLF)[103] | Gold | 20,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[104] | Platinum | 242,000[64] |
| United States (RIAA)[105] | 4× Platinum | 4,000,000‡ |
| Summaries | ||
| Worldwide | — | 1,400,000[60] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Regions | Dates | Format(s) | Label(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany[106] | April 2, 2012 | CD,digital download,LP | Universal Music,Cash Money |
| United Kingdom[107] | Universal Island, Cash Money | ||
| France[108] | Universal Music, Cash Money | ||
| Australia[109] | |||
| United States[110] | April 3, 2012 | Universal Music,Young Money, Cash Money | |
| Canada[111] | |||
| Japan[112] | April 11, 2012 | Universal Music Japan, Cash Money | |
| Brazil[113] | April 23, 2012 | Universal Music, Cash Money | |
| China | |||
| Denmark | |||
| New Zealand | |||
| Netherlands |
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite web}}:Cite uses generic title (help){{cite web}}:Cite uses generic title (help){{cite web}}:Cite uses generic title (help)| Studio albums | |
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| Related | |
