When did Nicki Minaj create Starships? Rapper refused to play song during NYE show

Nicki Minaj - originally named Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty - is called the queen of rap for good reason. Minaj has been rapping for close to 15 years now and has set an untouchable record of hits during this time.

The Pink Friday rapper has 23 songs charted in the top 10 list of Billboard Hot 100, being the only female rapper to hold that record. Among her best-performing tracks on the chart are Say So, Super Bass, Bang Bang, Turn Me On, and Starships.

However, like many other artists, Nicki Minaj doesn't look back fondly on all of her creations. There are some tracks that she admittedly regrets having created, and Starships is one of them.

A part of her second studio album - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - Starships was released on February 14, 2012.

Despite the song being ranked among the Best-selling Singles of All Time globally (with 7.2 copies sold by December 2012), Nicki doesn't seem too happy about it. Her feelings on the song were reflected earlier this year when she excluded Starships from her setlist.

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Nicki Minaj refused to perform Starships at a 2024 NYE show

In December 2023, Nicki Minaj was in Miami, performing at a New Year's Eve show when, as the music of Starships began, she stopped mid-performance, waving her hands at the tech team to cut it off, then telling the crowd:

"Sikes! I don't perform that song no more, y'all."

Even when the crowd expressed its displeasure at the revelation, Nicki didn't budge, and instead shrugged, calling the song "stupid," and saying:

"I don’t like it, what y’all want me to do?"

It gave Barbz the impression that the FEFE rapper would not be including the track in her upcoming Pink Friday 2 world tour, which is exactly what happened later.

Nicki Minaj first voiced her dislike for Starships in 2019, when she was asked about the songs she regretted in a Q&A panel of Pollstar Live. The rapper responded by saying:

"So much of my discography... I wish I never recorded ‘Anaconda.’ I like the video but ugh. My first ever solo song on Billboard was ‘Your Love.’ To this day I like the video but I hate the song. I could go on and on. I hate ‘Starships,’ I mean ew, ‘Starships?’ I’m like, ‘Why did I do that?’ I really think that every time I hear it."

Just like Starships, both Minaj's Anaconda and Your Love have also been huge commercial successes for the Pills N Potions rapper.

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Starships remains one of the most successful songs of Minaj's career

Starships was the first party-pop song Nicki Minaj had created, which worked wonders for her career during its release. Debuting at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the track became the best-performing song from Minaj's second album, spending 31 weeks on Billboard.

Later that year, it won the Side to Side rapper her first and only Best Female Video award at the MTV VMAs.

Due to its widespread popularity, Starships was also included in two video games - Dance Central 3 (2012) and Just Dance 2014. To this day, Starships remains one of Nicki Minaj's most-watched YouTube music videos.

Nicki Minaj's feelings towards Starships might have changed as she matured as an artist, at the time the song was released, the rapper seemed equally thrilled about it. A 2012 MTV article reported that this is what she said about the creation of the song back in time:

"There was so much love surrounding the making of the song, because RedOne is just so sweet to work with... He just sent me that one day, and he said, 'Hey, I got something for you!' I was like, 'You got to be kidding me, right?'"

The Truffle Butter rapper continued:

"I went to the studio and started writing ... scratch that ... I didn't even write the first verse! That was just me mumbling and just saying the first thing that came to my head, and we recorded it, because I just felt like: 'Let's go to the beach ... let's go get away.' It was just so good. It feels good!"

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While Starships might not have been included in Nicki Minaj's ongoing world tour's setlist, the tour has still been a massive commercial success for her. It will conclude in Elmont, New York, on October 11.