Nicki Minaj: A breakdown of “The Pinkprint” album

Samcilla Baakojr May 3, 2022

Nicki Minaj A breakdown of “The Pinkprint” album

If there’s anything Nicki Minaj’s “The Pinkprint” makes clear over its sprawling 23 tracks (seven of which appear only on deluxe editions), it’s that Nicki Minaj is exhausted. The 2014 singles are underwhelming, even in proper context, but the real gems are in the bonus tracks.

Here’s a song-by-song breakdown of Nicki Minaj’s “The Pinkprint” album.

1. All Things Go

This is a stripped-down song where she talks about her life, reflects on her career and opens up about her dead cousin, her abortion, and the relationship with her family.

2. I Lied

In this R&B track, she exhibits some of her best vocals and talks about her vulnerabilities in her relationships, like the fear of showing her true feelings to avoid heartbreak.

3. The Crying Game ft. Jessie Ware

We end this first personal song run with the third track, in which she opens up about a past toxic and abusive relationship on both parts.

4. Get On Your Knees ft. Ariana Grande

This is one of the many collaborations between these two artists. Here, they talk about their sexual desires and the need they have to find a man who doesn’t waste time and gets to the point.

5. Feeling Myself ft. Beyoncé

The second collaboration between the two girls of the industry is all about feeling good, smoking a blunt and popping some percs. Definitely a great moment for the culture.

6. Only ft. Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown

Hip-Hop Classic, there’s really not much to say.

7. Want Some More

Objectively, one of her best songs ever. She talks about her being at the top of her genre and shows us that she is the baddest female rapper to ever do it, with amazing lyricism, bars, punchlines and different flows.

8. Four Door Aventador

In this track, the queen of rap pays homage to another legend of the hip-hop world, Biggie, using one of his beats for this New York-vibe song.

9. Favourite ft. Jeremih

Here, Nicki and Jeremih express how much they want to be their partner’s favourite person ever, asking for trust and explaining what they would do to them.

10. Buy a Heart ft. Meek Mill

Sampling Alicia Keys’ “Unthinkable”, this song talks about the relationship between the two rappers, following the theme of the previous song.

11. Trini Dem Girls ft. Luchmoney Lewis

We now start the dancing side of this album with a Caribbean inspired song celebrating Trinidad, the birth country of the rapper.

12. Anaconda

The game-changing single serves as the track number twelve on the album. There’s not that much to say, legendary.

13. The Night Is Still Young

This is a pop-dance track when Nicki reflects on the meaning of life, saying that we should stop wasting our time and live in the moment whilst enjoying the good things. She uses “The Night” as a metaphor.

14. Pills N Potions

This serves as the lead single for this album, which was a big change from the PFRR era. In this ballad, Nicki Minaj talks about fake love and toxic relationship. We can also notice the contrast between the anger of the verses and the vulnerability of the hook.

15. Bed Of Lies ft. Skylar Grey

We keep going with the relationship topic, in which the rapper talks in detail about her mental situation during that period of time. We can also notice the double entendre in the word “lie” which means “lie on the bed” or “not telling the truth”.

16. Grand Piano

In the last song of the regular version of the album, which is a piano ballad where she exhibits very good vocals, she finally realizes that her partner has been abusing her mentally and playing with her heart like a “grand piano.”

17. Big Daddy ft. Meek Mill (Bonus)

This is the first track of the deluxe edition and the second collaboration of the couple on this album. This is a “shit-talking” type track where the rapper and the other one go back and forth.

18. Shanghai (Bonus)

Here Nicki talks about how she is at her male co-workers’ level (if not higher) sliding on a hard-hitting and tough beat, of course, a lot of bars and punchlines were served as well.

19. Win Again (Bonus)

We go back to “Want Some More” in terms of topics to then land on this melodic-rap song, where we hear her rapping and singing about her accomplishments and her wins.

20. Truffle Butter ft. Drake & Lil Wayne (Bonus)

This is the second iconic collab between the Young Money Big 3 on the album, where they’re all about that paper being confident and working hard on their craft.

21. Mona Lisa (Bonus)

This is another breakup song, like Bed Of Lies, but we find an unconventional and alternative production, more chill and stripped down. The name refers to the repetition of the word “look” in the song (Mona Lisa is described as an “optical illusion”).

22. Put You In A Room (Bonus)

We keep going with the breakup theme, but here Nicki takes a more explicit approach to the storytelling, opening up about the fight, and jealousy with some sexual references.

23. Wamables (Bonus)

To this day, we don’t exactly know what a Wamable is: it could refer to money, and onomatopoeia, a punchline, it could be everything. We end the album with this fun yet lyrically complex song.

For an artist repeatedly accused of pandering to the unrefined palates of teenyboppers, The Pinkprint’s production and feature roster are surprisingly sophisticated, if a bit scattershot.

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