Nicki Minaj's collaborator RedOne doesn't mind her not performing "Starships"
The producer who co-wrote and co-produced the 2012 hit said he respects Minaj's choice to drop it from her live sets after she skipped the song during a New Year's show and was booed for it.
RedOne, the producer who co-wrote and co-produced Nicki Minaj's 2012 hit "Starships," said he has no issue with Minaj's decision to stop performing the song live, following a New Year's Eve show in which she skipped it despite her DJ cueing up its instrumental intro. "I have the utmost respect for Nicki Minaj and I love her work very much. I will always respect an artist's wishes, I feel very proud to have made that record with her along with the global success it made," RedOne said, according to HotNewHipHop.
The comments followed a New Year's celebration in which Minaj's DJ began playing the "Starships" instrumental, only for Minaj to have it skipped rather than perform the song. The crowd booed the omission, but Minaj has maintained she no longer plays the track because she does not like it, according to the same coverage.
The available reporting does not specify the exact venue or date of the New Year's show where the song was skipped, beyond placing it in the days surrounding the new year.
What Minaj actually said on stage
Additional coverage from Stereogum fills in the moment itself: the show took place at E11even, a nightclub in Miami. As the DJ cued the "Starships" instrumental, Minaj stopped the song after a few seconds, telling the crowd, "Hold on! Sike, sike, sike, sike. I don't perform that song no more, y'all." When the audience booed, she responded, "I don't like it! What y'all want me to do? Stupid song!" -- before moving into a performance of her 2011 track "Super Bass" instead, which Stereogum described as similarly pop-leaning but with more actual rapping than "Starships."
Why Minaj stopped playing it
Minaj has separately called "Starships" a "stupid song" and said she prioritizes performing material she feels represents her artistry, according to the retrieved coverage. During a promotional Apple Music interview tied to her album "Pink Friday 2," she discussed prioritizing what she considers right for the songs she creates, though the specific quotes from that interview about "Starships" itself were not captured in the source material reviewed.
RedOne's response
RedOne's statement framed the song's commercial success and his pride in the collaboration as separate from Minaj's right to choose her own setlist. His comments did not include any request that she reconsider or bring the song back into rotation, based on the available coverage.
Not the first time she's skipped it
Minaj's E11even set was not an isolated incident. Separate reporting reviewed for this account confirms Minaj has repeatedly and publicly said she does not like "Starships" going back several years, consistent with her framing it at the Miami show as a song she no longer performs by choice rather than by oversight. "Starships" itself, released in 2012 on Minaj's second album, "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," remains one of her most commercially successful singles despite her repeated on-record disdain for it -- a tension between commercial legacy and personal taste that RedOne's comments explicitly sidestepped rather than resolved.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by HotNewHipHop. It restores a story originally published on this site in January 2024; figures are as reported at the time.