BWW Interview - Nicki Minaj: 'I've Been Spectacular' on AMERICAN IDOL

Singer/rapper and wig aficionado, Nicki Minaj, shocked many when she chose to join the judge's panel for the latest season of Fox's AMERICAN IDOL. After a few months in her new position, Minaj has become a miracle for the show: an honest judge with quirk, a Simon Cowell-esque figure that tells it like it is - and won't apologize for it. Not even in her iconic faux-British accent.

Minaj came to be a household name with the release of her debut album PINK FRIDAY in 2010, where it hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and went platinum a month later. But Minaj was no one hit wonder. She recently became the first female solo artist to score seven singles on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, with her seventh, SUPER BASS, going quadruple-platinum. In April 2012, Minaj's sophomore studio album, PINK FRIDAY: ROMAN RELOADED dropped, spawning STARSHIPS, which earned her a 2012 MTV Video Music Award, and POUND THE ALARM.

Minaj, who has changed the rap game and uncannily altered the technique of the craft, most notably nabbed a 2012 Grammy Award for 'Best New Artist.'

The new IDOL judge recently chatted with reporters on how she's adjusting to her role on Fox's hit singing competition show, who she thinks may take the title this time around, and more!

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Hi, Nicki. Thanks so much for talking with us today. How are you?

Nicki Minaj: Good, you're welcome.

You've won a lot of people over on this show [those who didn't know you prior.] How do you feel about winning new fans just by appearing on IDOL?

NM: I think that God is good. I feel like [throughout] my entire career and life, that I've been judged by people who really did not know me. But I definitely think that they probably were right to assume what they had assumed about me, because there was so little to go on...out there. If you only see videos of me being crazy and hearing little things here and there, then obviously you're not going to have any idea who I really am.

I'm just happy that IDOL producers gave me a shot on the show to show who I really [am], because I feel like I'm every single woman. I really, really don't think that, outside of maybe some pink wigs, [that] there's anything that separates me from every other woman in America. I'm just happy that I was given the opportunity. Some people don't get an opportunity to show the world who they really are. Some people come out and put an album out and people just never talk about them again. But I was given an opportunity to show who I was as a human being, and I really appreciate that.

What do you think have been your best and worst moments on IDOL so far?

NM: My best and worst IDOL moments? I don't have a worst IDOL moment. I've been spectacular. Yes, I'm going to toot my own horn. And then, my best moment is every single moment, I'll toot it again.

One of the things that you always seem to focus on is the contestants' whole look, their package. Do you feel in this day and age that is just as important as the performance?

NM: I think so. I mean, I don't think that ultimately it will have anything to do with them winning IDOL, because I feel like the IDOL viewer is really not biased when it comes to [that]. But I think that when you go out into The Real World, as an artist, you may want to think about it. I don't think there's anything wrong with thinking about how you want to look, how you want to present yourself to the world.

I also think that they need to hear criticism about their look on the show because that's what they're going to be criticized on in the real world. They're going to Go On ... every single day and see themselves on the 'worst dressed list' or 'best dressed list'...so they need to start getting an idea of the real world.

The viewers seem to really want a girl to win this season. Do you think that there's even a chance for a guy to win?

NM: No, absolutely not.

Absolutely not? So a girl all the way?

NM: Yes.

Who do you see right now as the frontrunner for Season 12?

NM: I would say...Kree, Angie, or Candice.

Any reason for those three?

NM: I think that outside of their voices, they've just sort of won people over already, which I think is evident in just what I see on Twitter with my fans. You know those three singers have really, really made an impact. Not only with a great voice that sounds like it should already be making albums, but for some reason, their personality seems to [impact] a lot of fans.

Based on the broadcasts, you seem very emotionally connected to the contestants. Is it hard for you with that connection when someone is eliminated?

NM: Yeah. I mean, I was gutted when Curtis left, because I feel like...Curtis [had] the best male voice for the entire season. He was exciting. I couldn't wait to see him perform, and looking back now, I wish we would have given him the save. I really do.

Fans have said they love you because you're honest, as well as nurturing to contestants. How do you personally go about balancing their emotions [of being on IDOL] with honest criticism?

NM: I don't really think about balancing anything. I just react on my real emotion. This last week I felt like I sympathized with Lazaro, and that's just where my heart went. With Paul Jolley, I felt like 'your time is up.' But you know, even when I'm saying, "your time is up" or "that was a bad performance," I still care about these people. I mean, these people are sweet. They're loving. They're chasing their dream. Their families are there. In my heart, I'm always caring about them. I never try to hurt them at all, but I just say what I really, really feel.

I've been finding lately that I've been probably...trying to say things in a way that won't discourage them, because I want them to continue shining. I mean, I know this is their moment and that one of these people will be the next American Idol, so where as maybe in the beginning I would say it in a blunt way, sometimes now, because we've gotten so close to them, I say it in a way that I just want them to fix it for next week, so that they can actually stay in the competition and get votes. You know, as opposed to me speaking to them as if I'm writing them off, and I have 100 more people to see, if that makes sense.

Out of all of the contestants on the show, who would you most likely, if ever, collaborate with and why?

NM: That's a great question. I would love to collaborate with probably Burnell [Taylor]. He has a genre-legend thing that I could definitely see myself collaborating with.

It really seems like you've livened up the proceedings of IDOL. Some have said that you're kind of a polarizing person on the panel. How do you feel about that? Are you just being you, and people are just reacting?

NM: I am absolutely just being me. I didn't know what to expect going in to the show. I was so nervous. I had a lot of anxiety. I felt like, "Okay. I know everybody's just going to hate me. Oh well." There were moments in the audition process that I would say to the producers, "I can't do this anymore because if everyone is going to give 'good critic' and I'm going to be the only one being honest, then America is going to hate me. I'm going to be seen as mean." And the producers said, "Nicki, trust me. America is going to appreciate the honesty," and that's all I had to go on.

I had Mike Darnell, Trish [Kinane], and Nigel [Lythgoe] telling me to...take their word and that's what I did. I took their word, and I came in every day and I was myself. What people see me doing with the constants is exactly what I do with my fans. Well, I don't critique my fans, but I definitely play with my fans, and speak to my fans as if they're my friends. That's why I started giving the contestants nicknames.

[But] When I'm laughing on the show, I'm genuinely laughing. I can't go up there and pretend. I just can't do it. I can't be someone I'm not. I can't sit there with a phony smile on my face; I can't do it. I'm happy that people are responding well to it. I mean if I'm polarizing, I'm polarizing. I don't know, but I definitely didn't have a preconceived notion of who I was going to be on that panel.

So has the reality of it been what you thought it would be going in?

NM: I didn't have a real idea because it was so far-fetched from my reality. Like, I've never done anything even remotely close to this. I think that's why I was so afraid. I didn't know what to expect. I really didn't. But I'm happy about the way it ended up turning out, because it's a fun thing. It's a once in a lifetime experience, and, again, I feel like people have gotten to know the real me, and that's all I can ask for. Whether they like it or not, at least they're getting to know who I really am.

Is there anything in particular that you've been surprised to learn about yourself as a person through judging a show like AMERICAN IDOL?

NM: I've been more surprised about the way people have reacted to me. Because it almost seems like people weren't expecting artists to come up there as judges and be completely real, and that's the only thing that puzzled me. I just thought, "Hmm. Isn't that what we should be doing? Why is that so shocking to people?"

I mean, I guess the other thing was that I didn't realize that maybe I am a bit strange...Like, when I asked Kree to marry me, I didn't think that was strange, but I guess, looking back at it now, maybe no IDOL judge has ever asked a contestant to marry them on live TV. I don't know. I guess in general I'm just surprised at the way people react to things that I see as very normal.

If you were asked to return to American Idol next season would you do so? Have you had that much fun?

NM: Would I come back next season? I think people would rather be surprised. [Laughs] I like to save the mystery and the drama. I never give that away, but you know what? I always say this, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, that the people behind-the-scenes at IDOL have been just like a dream to work with. I really, really honestly mean that. Mike Darnell took a chance on me. Nobody else understood it. They were like, "Nicki who?" He took a chance on me. He believed in me. His daughter and his wife believed in me, and so I'm just super grateful to have been given the opportunity.

Photos by: Michael Becker / FOX

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