Oh Nicki, bitch, you crazy! Pink Friday--Roman Reloaded is Nicki Minaj’s sequel to her first mainstream album, Pink Friday. I had high expectations for this second album, like other Minaj fans, due to how much I loved Pink Friday. Could she do it again? Could she totally rock another album?
I am not prepared to say that Roman Reloaded is as good as Pink Friday. However, it is worthy of great second album status. The difference in the two albums is that on the first album, no two songs were alike. Each song had a totally different message, beat, tone, and overall feel. That is what made her become such a threat to all the music charts—she could do it all and do it all well—SEPERATLY! It was kind of overwhelming hearing such different sounds in each track.
In Roman Reloaded, she definitely has some low riding harsh rap songs and then some pop songs but the pop songs tend to meld together and the rap songs do too. There is not that individuality in each song like on Pink Friday. The dance beats sound similar to one another and the rap is harder to distinguish from song to song.
This album is much more “dance.” I won’t say it is more pop because there was a lot of pop on her first album (“Super Bass,” “Right Thru Me,” etc.). After all, that is part of Nicki’s charm is that she is a pop artist gone crazy (take some medication, Roman!). There are a lot of tracks that could be played in clubs and Top 40 bars. Songs such as “Pound the Alarm” and “Automatic” are typical Trey Songz-ish beats, fun for dancing.
Nicki also includes what she is know for—some real heavy rap tracks. “Come on a Cone,” “I Am Your Leader,” “Beez In The Trap,” and “HOV Lane.” Not to mention, the artists featured on this album are less pop and more rap. On the first album, Rihanna and Natasha Bedingfield were featured—this album, Rick Ross, Lil’ Wayne and Nas are only some rapping on her tracks. I think this creates a good balance to some of her more emotionally-bubble-pop tracks.
One featured artist I was pleasantly surprised to see was Beenie Man on “Gun Shot.” I feel like the last time I heard Beenie Man was freshman year of college in my first and last hip hop dance class. “Gun Shot” sounds way harder than it actually is. It is one of the softer, sweeter tracks—comparable to “Fly,” featuring Rihanna from her first album.
Another softer track is “Marilyn Monroe.” This song has gotten a lot of crap from critics who are claiming this is the cheesiest of all messages, singing a song about what it is like to be in the public eye but yet feel so alone, just like Marilyn Monroe. And I get that complaint, I mean, Nicki, you are wearing Christian Louboutin’s in your album jacket photos; I cant feel bad for you. However, this song is really sweet and catchy. Cheesy? Yes but most pop is just that.
Some other tracks that are on this album are a few of her singles. “Roman Holiday” is on the album, which was the song she performed at the Grammys (the great thing about hearing the song on the album is you do not have to see the performance). Also, “Starships” which is in the top ten right now on the iTunes singles list, as well as “Turn Me On,” which is actually a David Guetta song but features Nicki. (Not one of his best but still a fun dance song).
So, after listening to the whole album and even reverting back to some Pink Friday tracks, I still love me some Nicki Minaj!
Tracks to Listen to: “Automatic,” “Marilyn Monroe,” “HOV Lane,” “I Am Your Leader”
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