If this week is any indication, the Barbs are never to be underestimated as a marketing force. The mighty and complicated stanbase has for years convened online to support patron star Nicki Minaj. However this week, with anticipation for the Pink Friday 2 album release, thousands of Barbie devotees narrowed their focus to do what Minaj herself had not accomplished to their satisfaction—promote her work. After months of sporadic teasers, visuals and tweeted hints, the Barbs transported everyone’s timelines to “Gag City,” a conceptual landing for the next Nicki era.
Using AI visual generators, dedicated accounts created images of a fictive, pink-coated paradise inspired by one of Minaj’s recent tweets. On November 4, she assured fans that they would be going to “Gag City” after hearing what she’s been working on. The Barbs took this literally, and created a refreshingly organic, interactive rollout campaign in the process. The amount of “gagging” listeners will do after listening to Pink Friday 2 was soon personified into the cartoon citizens and visitors of a make-believe Nicki utopia. And from there it only grew.
By noon on December 7, “Gag City” was trending on X with hundreds of red-carpet arrival images using the hashtag #PinkFriday2. Thanks to the hilarious images, the album quickly approached the top of users’ feeds and minds. Minaj appears to be in on the joke, tweeting an aviation-style warning like the caption she is.
One of the possible reasons why Gag City resonated so quickly was its harnessing of Minaj’s signature visual identity. Even if fans did not know what the phrase meant, they could recognize the familiar elements of the rapper’s poppish, hyper feminine pink aesthetic. In many ways, Minaj has stayed thematically consistent over the course of her career even as she has traversed multiple creative personas. And based on the title, this album might beckon back to the pink 2010 aesthetic that skyrocketed Nicki into mainstream pop star status.
Pink Friday 2 will be Nicki’s first full length album in five years, following up on 2018’s Queen. Since the mid-aughts, Nicki Minaj has cemented what should be a less often-questioned legacy in rap made all the more impactful by her positionality as a Black woman with a career span few MCs, male or female, have achieved. Her staying power is due in no small part to the Barbs and their shared understanding of social media. Nicki famously prefers to speak to her fanbase directly, talking to them on Instagram live, tweeting in their shared lingo, and engaging with many dedicated accounts. It’s unclear whether “Gag City” was a pre-planned campaign, but either way, it seems to have worked.
As the day continued, celebrities and major brands jumped in on the fun, sharing their own AI visualizations of the gaggiest city on earth. Uber shared a pink SUV headed straight to “Gag City.” Converse announced that its pink shoes are now the official footwear of the stan headquarters. There is even inter-standom lore about the organization and habitants of “Gag City.” However, the actual practical details of the album can only be confirmed or denied by Nicki herself when “Pink Friday 2” releases on all streaming platforms. With hours left until the collective transportation, Minaj was still tweeting teasers about album, including a surprise announcement that Billie Eilish will have her first–ever feature on the project.
With anticipation reaching a peak, it was endearing to see timelines unite over a semi-nostalgic, semi-futurist way of experiencing fan culture. With the power of AI, the internet can toy with a playful approach to narrative-building. The implications of this in the larger marketing landscape will likely be discussed, and ad execs will have the Barbs to thank. Perhaps the most interesting part of the‘Gag City’ rollout is that anybody can participate. Behind the pink gates, all of the Barbies are pretty and reality is what you make it.