Culture

Why Does Nicki Minaj Keep Using AI Art?

by Ky Stewart  15 January 2024
nicki minaj pink friday 2 ai art gag city

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Nicki Minaj, Barbie queen and contested queen of rap, has gained another title under her belt: the queen of AI art. 

When Nicki Minaj teased her latest album Pink Friday 2, we knew we were in for something iconic. Although the album covers were more laid back than we’d come to expect, nothing prepared us for how the rest of the album promo was going to unfold. Especially given that most of it was coming from fans and not Nicki herself. 

 

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A post shared by Barbie (@nickiminaj)

If you spent any time on the internet at the end of last year you might have heard about Gag City. If you didn’t, strap yourselves in because you’re in for a wild ride. Basically, Barbz (Nicki’s fans) and the rest of gay stan Twitter created the viral Gag City. It was an AI world with pink buildings, people, and planes that was ruled by Nicki Minaj. People started creating their own AI images of Gag City, all promoting Nicki’s album for free. 

Nicki used Gag City to promote the album’s release date and told everyone to “prepare for landing”. Fans then generated AI images of people landing in her pink utopia. It truly became impossible to escape Gag City. 

As always, brands jumped on the hype train, creating their own images of Gag City — including the Empire State Building. Yes, the official account for an iconic building created an AI image to promote Nicki Minaj’s new album. Talk about cultural impact. 

Put shortly, my feed became an AI hellscape. To fans, the virality of Gag City was a monumental success because it built immense hype for Pink Friday 2 and changed the negative perception of Barbz on the internet. As a long time Nicki fan and an internet gay, I was primed to be obsessed with Gag City — and I did chuckle at a few of the posts where different celebrities either entered or got kicked out of the fake pink city. 

But the whole thing made me uncomfortable. I got the ick from how quickly everyone started using AI images off the back of the Hollywood strikes, which were largely centred around the dangers AI posed to writers and actors. Obviously, I’m all for fans hyping up their favourite artists and making fun memes to create a community around album releases or music videos. But the mass consumption and generation of AI images felt a tad unsettling. 

Even more unsettling was how Nicki appeared to rely on it. It’s hard to know if Pink Friday 2 would have had the same success if Nicki’s fans hadn’t created a viral marketing campaign. Upon release, the album shot to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, making it her third album to reach Number 1 — a feat Nicki celebrated with an AI video. Although the presence of Gag City has died down following the album’s release, Nicki hasn’t stopped using AI art. To promote her single ‘Press Play’ featuring Future, Nicki posted a series of poorly-made AI images. 

 

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A post shared by Barbie (@nickiminaj)

One image caught fans’ attention because the AI-generated hand had six fingers. People then questioned the size of Nicki’s budget for promoting Pink Friday 2. 

When someone simply pointed out that the hand had six fingers, Nicki responded by saying “let’s find you 6 dikks [sic] now. To sukk [sic]” before calling them obsessed and a stalker. 

If others brought it up, Nicki accused them of being a “paid mole”. Sure thing Nicki.

All that aside, it feels a bit lazy for Nicki to use a (probably free) viral AI campaign to boost her album — an album that had no other visuals besides the covers. The fans created the rest, which is nice, but don’t we need a little more from the artist? Why rely on AI art when they could hire creative directors and artists? 

One thing Gag City proved is that fans are starving for original and unique concepts, art, and music videos from artists. In this case, Barbz took matters into their own hands, but could this lead to more artists and record labels creating their own AI campaigns to mimic Nicki’s success? Will the kind of promotional effort put in by Lil Nas X become fewer and farther between? The use of this technology doesn’t tend to slow down, so it certainly looks like we’re on the brink of a potentially scary descent into a world of AI-generated marketing campaigns. Stay safe out there in Gag City.

Ky is a proud Kamilaroi and Dharug person and writer at Junkee. Follow them on Instagram or on X.

Image credit: Nicki Minaj / Republic Records