The Barb is back: Nicki Minaj announces the release date for her next album

Barbz rejoice – Nicki Minaj has announced that her long-awaited fifth album will be released this October. Last night (June 5th), Minaj took to Twitter to break the news, writing “10/20/23 The Album” only a few hours after tweeting “Ok I was gon do smthn but carry on. Ya’ll don’t deserve chi [sic]”.

Her last album, Queen, was released in August 2018 — nearly a full five years ago — and she has been hinting at the release of a new album since late 2022 after the viral success of Super Freaky Girl in August. 

It’s unclear at the moment as to whether “The Album” is the intended title or it is merely a placeholder for a later reveal. Details such as the album’s tracklist and featured artists also remain to be announced, but the star-studded list of artists on Queen has already set the bar high. So it’s no surprise that numerous Barbz have assembled in her replies with huge anticipation.

Minaj certainly hasn’t been idle in recent months, with successful collaborations earlier this year with Kim Petras on ‘Alone’ and Ice Spice on the ‘Princess Diana’ remix, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The rapper was also confirmed to appear on the soundtrack for Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated Barbie, releasing July 21st. 

New music of her own isn’t all that she’s been up to, either, after she announced the launch of her own record label back in March, revealing it would run as a subsidiary of Republic Records and later that it would be called Heavy On it Records. She first announced the news in an episode of her show, Queen Radio, bringing Nana Fofie, Tate Kobang, Rico Danna, and London Hill onto the roster as the first four names to be signed. 

All in all, Barbz have much to be excited about in the approach to October 20th.