Attention all Barbz: Nicki Minaj has released ‘Pink Friday 2,’ 13 years after the original

LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nicki Minaj ‘s highly anticipated fifth studio album, “Pink Friday 2,” is finally here.

Out Friday, the 10-time Grammy nominee’s 41st birthday, “Pink Friday 2” is Minaj’s first full-length release since 2018’s “Queen.”

The 22-track release is stacked with features, including contributions from Drake, Lil Wayne, J. Cole, Lil Uzi Vert and Future among others.

“This entire album will be the biggest gift I have ever given humanity thus far,” Minaj said in a recent livestream. “I have never in my life been so in love with something that I’m working on.”

The original “Pink Friday” was released in 2010, with her sophomore album, “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” following two years later.

The road to “Pink Friday 2” has been long. Fans suspected it was on the horizon when the rapper tweeted a simple three-character message, “PF2,” in the summer of 2020. But it wasn’t until this past June that Minaj announced the album title. The release date, originally slated for Oct. 20, was pushed back twice, too.

In the days leading up to the December release of “Pink Friday 2,” Minaj’s loyal fans, called Barbz, inspired headlines when they created “Gag City,” a pink AI metropolis inspired by the album’s cover.

In September, Minaj hosted the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards and performed her latest single, the dreamy “Last Time I Saw You” before teasing a fiery new trap cut from “Pink Friday 2.”

“I ain’t nothing like you,” she rapped, “I’m on a whole other level.”