Nicki Minaj pulls out from Jingle Ball, to be replaced by Lil Wayne

4 December, 2023

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj has pulled out from today’s (December 4) iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour date in Chicago, but will be replaced by Lil Wayne.

The rapper announced her withdrawal yesterday (December 3) on X. “Hope it doesn’t make you sad,” she wrote. “I won’t be able to perform [tomorrow] in #Chicago for Jingle Ball. I was so excited to see you guys. Pls accept my sincerest apologies. I’ll make it up to you on the Chicago stops of my tour early next year. Details to come.”

Nonetheless, she added that her longtime mentor, Lil Wayne, will perform in her place instead, writing: “My beloved brother/boss stepped up for me so that I wouldn’t have to push my album back. His name is Lil Wayne AKA the GOAT. He will perform [tomorrow] @ the Chicago show.”

She also announced that she will now be performing on the tour’s December 16 date in Miami, in addition to her next scheduled date on December 14 in Atlanta, before concluding that her upcoming album is “still dropping this Friday”.

Following its December 4 date, seven dates remain on iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball 2023 tour between December 8 and December 16 with stops in Detroit, New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale. The tour features artists including SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, Usher, (G)I-DLE, Sabrina Carpenter, Ice Spice, OneRepublic, NCT DREAM, Doechii and Flo Rida.

In October, Minaj postponed the release of the highly-anticipated ‘Pink Friday 2’ from November 17 to December 8 to coincide with her 41st birthday. The move was made to avoid a clash with the release of Lil Wayne’s and 2 Chainz’ collaborative album on November 17, with Minaj stating that “Weezy (Lil Wayne) would never do that if it was my album date”.

The album’s latest postponement was its second, being initially scheduled for release on October 20. While the reasons for the initial postponement were not disclosed, Minaj released the standalone track ‘Bahm Bahm’ by surprise on October 12.

‘Pink Friday 2’ will be Minaj’s fifth full-length album, and her first in five years, following 2018’s ‘Queen’. The album, a sequel to her 2010 debut, will feature her emotional September single, ‘Last Time I Saw You’.

Minaj has been consistently hyping the release of ‘Pink Friday 2’. On November 30, the rapper took to X to express her excitement for the release, with one post stating that “this album is just beyond anything I could have imagined”, and another ominously stating: “December 8th is COMING SOON. If you on my $h!t list, you will never EVER recover. The. Fkng. End.”

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