Barbz, assemble! Nicki Minaj served as a highly-anticipated guest speaker at Vogue’s Forces of Fashion event in New York City today. The star sat down with Eva Chen, the vice president of fashion at Meta, to discuss everything from motherhood and fashion—to recently breaking records with her “Pink Friday 2 World Tour,” the highest-selling female rap tour ever. (Watch it on the Vogue app here.)
Minaj joined a star-studded lineup of speakers including makeup legend Pat McGrath and designers Victoria Beckham, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Simon Porte Jacquemus, among others. But there’s only one queen of rap! So below, see all of the highlights from Minaj’s Forces of Fashion talk.
On originally wanting to be an actor
I was very disappointed that I didn’t become a big, huge famous actress within two years of graduating high school. I told everybody in my school, by the time I’m 19, I’m going to be the new Halle [Berry] and Jada [Pinkett Smith]. I was obsessed with them. But I realized that when you want to be an actor, you have to get up really early in the morning, and go on these things called casting calls. I was like, I don’t want to do all of this. It takes a lot of commitment. That’s why when I meet actors, I always pull them aside. I did that to Margot Robbie when we were at the Barbie premiere. I was like, “I’m really proud of you, because I know how much this takes to be an actress, and to be doing these huge leading roles.”
On her earliest jobs
I would always get fired. One of the big [times] was as a waitress at Red Lobster. People would come in and they wouldn’t leave a tip, and that’s rude. One day, this lady came in with her boyfriend, and they needed my pen to sign the credit card slip. I went back to the table, and not only did they not leave me a tip, but they took my pen! That set me off for some reason. I ran outside into the parking lot, and caught them just as they were turning out. I banged on their window and said “give me my pen!,” and I banged on their window hard enough to break it. Then they told on me and I got fired.
On shouting out Vogue’s Anna Wintour in “Muny”
In that song, I was like, “Hey Anna—I’m gonna need that cover, baby girl.” That’s what I said to the queen! I remember being in the studio cracking up laughing—I definitely thought she would never hear it. I didn’t think anybody was going to buy my first album, and it ended up breaking huge records.
On having the highest-selling female rap tour
I feel very grateful. I have a very close knit relationship with my fans, and they went very hard for me. Their emotion and passion always does something to me. I wasn’t expecting to have the highest anything, to be honest—I didn’t even know that I was in the running. But even if I didn’t have that, I would still be so grateful, because the time that I’ve spent with the Barbz at these shows has been healing for me. They said it was healing for them and their inner child, but it was healing for something within me as well.
On the power of the Barbz
Before l had a record deal, my fans were making a moment for themselves on Twitter. I had already given them a name. At the time, there were no rappers naming their fans. Justin Bieber had the Beliebers, and Lady Gaga had the Little Monsters. Now, every single artist gives their fans a name. But it doesn’t matter, because the Barbz are still superior. They are different because what they do, they do it with passion and love. Sometimes people do things, and it’s rooted in revenge or vengeance, and that doesn’t really go anywhere. It doesn’t take off. But the Barbz and I really love each other.
On her evolving style
When you turn a certain age—especially milestone ages like 30, 40, 50—your confidence as a women just grows and grows. You know what looks good on your body; You start knowing what hairstyle fits your face, what makeup fits your face. You just start understanding yourself better. And when you understand yourself better, you forgive yourself. You are able to love yourself, and you’re able to love the imperfections that you never loved before. I couldn’t look at old photos of myself before, and when I look at them now, I love them.
On what her four-year-old son has taught her
Now, every single day when I wake up and look at him, I’m in a good mood. Most of the times, before we even get out of bed, we’re worrying about things—or thinking about the things we have to do. But once I had my son, that changed for me. When I see him, he’s just so sweet, so I have no choice but to light up when I see him. I needed to learn to be grateful. Once I stopped all of that worrying, I was able to finally write my last album, and complete it to my standards and feel like it was great enough for my fans. Whatever you do in life, the moment you let go, it’s the moment that everything comes to you.
On her biggest musical challenge thus far
I had writer’s block after having my son. The song “Seeing Green,” featuring Drake and Wayne, is the first song that I wrote and completed after having the baby. I was so scared, because not one thing could come to me for months and months. I kept sending Drake different verses, and he and I would both be like, “it’s missing this, or it’s missing that.” Then I ended up finally getting a verse that he and I loved—but it was very, very challenging. I didn’t know that after you have a baby, things that came so naturally to you could change. My brain felt so different.
On her son’s love of fashion
He does this thing where he wants to make sure that he’s always dressed. He thinks he’s a rock star—and he’s living that life, because we’re going on the tour bus all the time. One time, I came back from my show at two in the morning, and he was already completely dressed. He wakes up in the morning and puts on his clothes and fitted cap. I’ve never seen any kid do that!
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
