Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded

"Roman Reloaded" redirects here. For the song, see Roman Reloaded (song).

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
File:Nicki Minaj Pink Friday Roman Reloaded cover.jpg
Studio album by Nicki Minaj
Released	April 2, 2012 (2012-04-02)
Genre	Hip hop dance-pop
Length	69:00
Label	Young Money Cash Money Universal Republic
Producer	Various Alex da Kid Alex P Andrew "Pop" Wansel Benny Blanco BlackOut Movement Carl Falk Cirkut David Guetta DJ Diamond Kuts Dreamlab Dr. Luke Flip Hit-Boy Nikhil S. RedOne T-Minus
Nicki Minaj chronology
Pink Friday (2010)Pink Friday2010 Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012) Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up (2012)Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up2012
Singles from Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
"Starships" Released: February 14, 2012 "Right by My Side" Released: March 27, 2012 "Beez in the Trap" Released: May 29, 2012 "Pound the Alarm" Released: June 12, 2012 "Va Va Voom" Released: September 12, 2012

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded is the second studio album by Trinidadian-American recording artist Nicki Minaj. It was released on April 2, 2012, by Young Money, Cash Money and Universal Republic. Looking to transition from her debut studio 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 of hip hop tracks and a second half of dance-pop songs. As its executive producer, Minaj enlisted a variety of collaborators.

Upon its release, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded received generally mixed reviews from music critics, who were ambivalent towards its production. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 selling 253,000 copies in its first week. In doing so, it became Minaj's second number-one album in the country, and was additionally her first to debut in the peak position. The album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined album sales, track sales, on-demand audio and video streams equivalent of two million album-sale units. 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 five singles. Its lead single "Starships" peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. Follow-up singles "Right by My Side" and "Beez in the Trap" experienced moderate success on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs component chart. "Pound the Alarm" and "Va Va Voom" peaked at numbers fifteen and twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. The album was additionally promoted through the Pink Friday Tour and the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour, which visited North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania throughout May and December 2012.

On November 19, 2012, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was reissued as an expanded version subtitled The Re-Up. It contained an additional disc with seven newly recorded tracks and an exclusive behind-the-scenes DVD to supplement the standard version of the original album. Its singles "The Boys", "Freedom", and "High School" experienced moderate success on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hip Songs component chart.

Background and development

"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."

Minaj describing the impact she expected the then-forthcoming album to have on the music industry.

Following the success of Minaj's debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010), Cash Money CEO, Brian "Birdman" Williams announced to Billboard that Minaj was aiming for a first quarter release in 2012. In November 2011, Minaj announced on Twitter that the album would be released on February 14, 2012, though it was later delayed to April 3, 2012. The album focuses on Roman Zolanski, one of Minaj's alter egos that was first featured on Pink Friday. The standard artwork was released on March 1, 2012 and the deluxe artwork was revealed on March 8, 2012, both through Twitter.

When Minaj was asked on Twitter to describe the album in one word, she tweeted "freedom". In an interview following the premiere of the album's lead single, "Starships", Minaj told Ryan 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 be politically 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." 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".

As executive producer, Minaj enlisted a variety of producers, including Alex da Kid, Alex P, Andrew "Pop" Wansel, Benny Blanco, Blackout, Carl Falk, Cirkut, David Guetta, DJ Diamond Kuts, Dreamlab, Dr. Luke, Flip, Hitboy, Jimmy Joker, J.R. Rotem, Kane Beatz, Kenoe, KoOol Kojak, M.E. Productions, Oak, Pink Friday Productions, Rami Yacoub, RedOne, Rico Beats, Ryan & Smitty, Nikhil S. and T-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, and Beenie Man.

Composition

"Starships"

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A 21 second sample of the song's chorus.

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Stylistically, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded is divided by the first half's hip hop tracks and the second half's dance-pop songs. Minaj raps in her unhinged alter ego "Roman Zolanski" over the former tracks' hard-edged beats and mostly sings on the latter half; she returns to rapping on the album's final track "Stupid Hoe". Music journalist Jody Rosen delineates the album's music as comprising "'Side One' for the hip-hop headz, 'Side Two' for teenyboppers." Slant Magazine's Matthew Cole comments that the album is "partitioned almost exactly between a rap half and a pop half". Pitchfork Media's Ryan Dombal denotes the second half as tracks following "Roman Reloaded" and writes that they "range from brittle Euro-trance to milquetoast R&B to washed-out balladry." Music critic Kitty Empire cites the song "Pound the Alarm" as a "compromise" between the album's two stylistic halves.

Singles

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was promoted with five singles. "Starships" was released as the lead single from the album on February 14, 2012. The song was an international hit, peaking inside the top ten in over fifteen countries. In the United States, the song charted at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is also Minaj's most certified single to date.

"Right by My Side" was sent to US rhythmic radio and US urban radio on March 27, 2012, as the album's second single. The song, which features additional vocals from Chris Brown, has since peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Beez in the Trap", which features 2 Chainz, was sent to US rhythmic radio on May 29, 2012, as the third single from the album. The song peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Pound the Alarm" was released as the fourth single from the album. It was sent to US Top 40/Mainstream radio on July 17, 2012. The song peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as in the top ten in other countries including Australia, Canada and the UK.

"Va Va Voom" was released as the fifth and final single from the album. It was sent to BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2012, and to US Top 40/Mainstream radio on October 23, 2012. The song peaked at number 22 on Billboard Hot 100 and in the top 20 in Canada and the UK.

Promotion

Minaj performed "Roman Holiday" at the 54th Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012, making Minaj the first solo female rapper to perform at the award show. The controversial performance borrowed elements of the classic horror film, The Exorcist. Minaj said in an interview with Rap-Up, “I had this vision for [alter-ego, Roman Zolanski] to be sort of exorcised—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 the average Joe. And so his 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 the holy 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."

On February 26, 2012, Minaj performed "Starships" live for the first time along with "Moment 4 Life", "Turn Me On" and "Super Bass" at the 2012 NBA All-Star Game. She also performed "Starships" on the eleventh season of American Idol on March 29, 2012. In April 2012, Minaj held album signings in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and London. That month, she traveled to the UK for a week of promotion. On April 4, 2012, she performed a 40-minute mini-concert for BET's 106 & Park. She performed "Starships", "Right by My Side", and "Super Bass" in Times Square, hosted by Nokia, on April 7, 2012. 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 in Bayswater, London, where she would sign their albums. Minaj also made an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, which was aired on April 20, 2012, and on that same day, she visited BBC Radio 1 for an interview with Nick Grimshaw.

Tours

To further promote Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Minaj embarked on her first concert tour, entitled the Pink Friday Tour. 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 of 2012. The tour came to a close on August 14, 2012 in New York City at the Roseland Ballroom. The final show was a part of a free Pepsi promotional concert.

The tour was officially announced by Minaj on May 1, 2012, featuring a stage resembling Barbie's Dreamhouse. Minaj stated that she will play radio and outdoor festivals in conduction with arenas and theaters. She described the tour as being "intimate yet big". Laurieann Gibson served as creative director and choreographer for the tour. Minaj also embarked on the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour, which visited arenas throughout October and December 2012, to further promote the album and its reissue The Re-Up.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Guardian
The Independent
Los Angeles Times
MSN Music	A–
NME	5/10
The Observer
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Spin	8/10

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, based on 30 reviews. Although he complimented its first-half as "an amusement park for production lovers", AllMusic editor David Jeffries criticized the album's "iffy pop" and called it "a frustrating mix of significant and skippable." Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times commended its "minimal, bouncy 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". Emily Mackay of NME found its disparate music "just baffling" and "zany for the sake of it". Kitty Empire, writing in The Observer, interpreted Minaj's pop songs as "an aggressive bid for [Lady] Gaga's territory." David Amidon of PopMatters accused Minaj of "doubling down on her cartoonish elements" and criticized its first half as "very poorly thought out rap music masquerading as pop". John Calvert of The Quietus described the album as "pop postmodernity in an advanced state of hollow, banal meaningless[ness]" and felt that the pop songs have "absolutely nothing to do with Minaj's art". Slant Magazine's Matthew Cole panned it as a "mediocre rap album" and felt that "Minaj conveys no personality" when she does not rap.

In a positive review for Rolling Stone, journalist Jody Rosen called it a "filler-free mega-pop album" and commented that "the energy never flags". Jessica Hopper of Spin 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". Tom Ewing of The 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." Robert Christgau said in his review for MSN 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 both rockist philistines and IDM aesthetes".

Commercial performance

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 253,000 copies in its first week, for the week ending April 10, 2012. 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 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of one million copies in the U.S. The album sold 785,000 copies throughout 2012 in the US. 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. According to the International 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. As of February 2015, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded has sold 905,000 copies in the US. On March 22, 2016, the album was certified double platinum by the RIAA for combined album sales, track sales, on-demand audio, and video streams equivalent of two million album-sale units.

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and the UK R&B Albums Chart, with first week sales of 47,000 copies. 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. Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded also debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, and debuted at number five on the Australian Albums Chart. In Mexico, the album reached the top 40 in its first week of release.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – Standard version
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Roman Holiday"	Onika Maraj Winston Thomas L. Nacht S. Samuels	Blackout Movement	4:05
2.	"Come on a Cone"	Maraj Chauncey Hollis	Hit-Boy	3:05
3.	"I Am Your Leader" (featuring Cam'ron and Rick Ross)	Maraj Hollis William Roberts Cameron Giles	Hit-Boy	3:33
4.	"Beez in the Trap" (featuring 2 Chainz)	Maraj M. Jordan Tauheed Epps	Kenoe	4:28
5.	"HOV Lane"	Maraj Ryan Marrone Samuels Garrick Smith	Ryan & Smitty	3:13
6.	"Roman Reloaded" (featuring Lil Wayne)	Maraj Dwayne Carter, Jr. Ricardo LaMarre Samuels	Rico Beats	3:16
7.	"Champion" (featuring Nas, Drake and Young Jeezy)	Maraj Tyler Williams Nikhil Seetharam Samuels Aubrey Graham Jay Jenkins Nasir Jones	T-Minus	4:56
8.	"Right by My Side" (featuring Chris Brown)	Maraj Andrew Wansel Warren Felder Ester Dean J. Roberts J. Thomas R. Colson Samuels	Pop Wansel Oak	4:25
9.	"Sex in the Lounge" (featuring Lil Wayne and Bobby V)	Maraj Ernest Wilson Samuels Matthew Hall Carter Ness Wilson	M.E. Productions	3:27
10.	"Starships"	Maraj Nadir Khayat Carl Falk Rami Yacoub Wayne Hector Samuels	RedOne Rami Falk	3:30
11.	"Pound the Alarm"	Maraj Khayat Falk Yacoub Samuels Bilal Hajji Achraf Jannusi	RedOne Falk Rami	3:25
12.	"Whip It"	Maraj Khayat Alex Papaconstantinou Björn Djupström Hajji Hector Samuels	RedOne Alex P	3:15
13.	"Automatic"	Maraj Khayat Samuels Jimmy Thornfeldt Geraldo Sandell	RedOne Jimmy Joker	3:18
14.	"Beautiful Sinner"	Maraj Alexander Grant Ester Dean	Alex da Kid	3:47
15.	"Marilyn Monroe"	Maraj Daniel James Samuels Leah Haywood Ross Golan Jonathan Rotem	J.R. Rotem Dreamlab	3:16
16.	"Young Forever"	Maraj Lukasz Gottwald Kelly Sheehan Samuels Henry Walter	Dr. Luke Cirkut	3:06
17.	"Fire Burns"	Maraj Wansel Samuels Felder	Pop Wansel Oak	3:00
18.	"Gun Shot" (featuring Beenie Man)	Maraj D. Johnson M. Davis Samuels C. Grossett	Kane Beatz	4:39
19.	"Stupid Hoe"	Maraj Tina Dunham Samuels	DJ Diamond Kuts	3:16
Total length:				69:00

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – Deluxe version (bonus tracks)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
20.	"Turn Me On" (David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj)	Maraj David Guetta Giorgio Tuinfort Dean	David Guetta Tuinfort Black Raw	3:19
21.	"Va Va Voom"	Maraj Gottwald Allan Grigg Max Martin Walter	Dr. Luke Kool Kojak Cirkut	3:03
22.	"Masquerade"	Maraj Gottwald Benjamin Levin Martin Walter	Dr. Luke Benny Blanco Cirkut	3:48
Total length:				79:10

Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – iTunes Store version (bonus track)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
23.	"Press Conference" (featuring Charlemagne and Safaree "SB" Samuels)	Maraj Samuels Lenard McKelvey		21:03
Total length:				100:13

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.

• Nicki Minaj – executive producer
• Martin Sandberg – vocals
• Carl Falk – guitar, producer, vocals, mixing, instrumentation
• Wayne Hector – vocals
• Jeanette Olsson – vocals (Background)
• Ariel Chobaz – engineer, vocal editing, vocal producer, mixing
• RedOne – vocals (background), producer, instrumentation, vocal editing
• Marissa Bregman – vocals
• Rachael Findlen – vocals
• Patrizia Valentina – vocals
• Eve Boase – vocals
• Kalenna Harper – vocals
• Kelly Sheehan – vocals
• Teddy Sky – vocals (Background)
• Rutger "Ruffi" Kroese – vocal mixing
• Bilal "The Chef" Hajji – vocals (background)
• AJ Junior – vocals (background)
• Mohombi – vocals
• Joshua Berkman – A&R coordinator
• Dwayne "Tha President" Carter – executive producer
• David Levy – engineer
• Finis "KY" – white engineer
• Koool – Kojak programming, producer, instrumentation
• Rami – producer, mixing, instrumentation, vocal editing
• Noah Shebib – engineer
• Alex Da Kid – producer
• Gelly Kusuma – engineer
• Alex P – producer, engineer, vocal editing, instrumentation
• Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering
• Donald "Tixie" Dixon – engineer
• Stuart White – engineer
• T-Minus – producer
• Ronald "Slim Tha Don" Williams – executive producer
• Donnie Meadows – production coordination
• Michael "Banger" Cadahia – engineer
• Elizabeth Gallardo – recording assistant
• Bryan "Baby Birdman" Williams – executive producer
• Trevor Muzzy – engineer, mixing, vocal editing
• Noel Cadastre – recording assistant
• Cortez Bryant – executive producer
• Josh Thomas - producer, writer
• Black Raw – mastering, mixing, additional production
• Safaree "SB" Samuels – executive producer, A&R coordinator
• Pop Wansel – producer
• Rico Beats – producer
• Clint Gibbs – recording assistant
• Smitty – producer
• Lukasz Gottwald – vocals
• Jimmy Joker – producer, instrumentation
• Katie Mitzell – production coordination
• Cirkut – programming, instrumentation, producer
• Scott "Yarmov" Yarmovsky – production coordination
• Jermaine Preyan – executive producer
• Ryan – producer
• Jon Sher – mixing assistant, recording assistant
• Jahshari Wilson – cover design
• JusIce Beatz – producer
• Nikhil Seethram – producer
• JProof – producer
• Flippa123 – producer
• DJ Diamond Kuts – producer
• Tim Roberts – mixing assistant
• Serban Ghenea – mixing
• John Rivers – engineer
• Kane – producer
• Benny Blanco – programming, producer, instrumentation
• Blackout – producer
• Hype Williams – photography
• Ke'Noe – producer
• Dr. Luke – programming, producer, instrumentation
• David Guetta – producer
• Phil Seaford – mixing assistant
• Nicholas Cooper – vocal producer
• Tanisha Broadwater – production coordination
• J.R. Rotem – producer
• Irene Richter – production coordination
• Giorgio Tuinfort – producer
• Dream – lab producer
• Hit Boy – producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2012)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart	5
Australian Urban Albums Chart	2
Austrian Albums Chart	49
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	23
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)	35
Canadian Albums Chart	1
Danish Albums Chart	25
Dutch Albums Chart	24
Finnish Albums Chart	48
French Albums Chart	20
German Albums Chart	44
Greek Albums Chart	32
Irish Albums Chart	2
Italian Albums Chart	66
Japanese Albums Chart	6
Mexican Albums Chart	39
New Zealand Albums Chart	3
Norwegian Albums Chart	9
Scottish Albums Chart	19
Spanish Albums Chart	60
Swedish Albums Chart	37
Swiss Albums Chart	24
UK Albums Chart	1
UK R&B Albums Chart	1
US Billboard 200	1
US Top Rap Albums	1
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	1

Year-end charts

Chart (2012)	Position
US Billboard 200	26
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	3
Chart (2013)	Position
US Billboard 200	185
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	32

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)	Gold	35,000
Ireland (IRMA)	Platinum	15,000
Japan (RIAJ)	Gold	100,000
Poland (ZPAV)	Gold	10,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	Gold	242,000
United States (RIAA)	2× Platinum	905,000
*sales figures based on certification alone ^shipments figures based on certification alone xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Release history

Regions	Dates	Format(s)	Label(s)
Germany	April 2, 2012	CD, digital download	Universal Music, Cash Money
United Kingdom			Universal Island, Cash Money
France			Universal Music, Cash Money
Australia
United States	April 3, 2012		Universal Music, Young Money, Cash Money
Canada
Japan	April 11, 2012		Universal Music Japan, Cash Money
Brazil	April 23, 2012		Universal Music, Cash Money
China
Denmark
New Zealand
Netherlands