Nicki Minaj's Fans Build an AI Wonderland

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The marketing campaign for Nicki Minaj’s latest album has all the Barbz (as her fans call themselves) gagging.?

Holiday Destination: Gag City ?

The marketing campaign for Nicki Minaj’s latest album has all the Barbz (as her fans call themselves) gagging.?

The album, Pink Friday 2, which dropped last Friday, features cover art of Minaj approaching a major metropolis.?In response to?Minaj’s tweet?claiming that her latest work would send all of her fans to “GAG CITY,” the Barbz?helped?create a pink, AI-generated,?utopian wonderland called Gag City. ??

It quickly became?one of the most talked-about memes?of last weekend, with?one? TikTok influencer?claiming?it helped?catapult Pink Friday 2 in the charts. (The album has already set a new record?for the debut of a rap album by a female artist, with more than 41M Spotify streams in just two days, and?the RIAA says the album as already gone and is on track to debut on the Billboard charts this week at #1.)?

Influencers?and?brands?across platforms?have hopped on the trend, sharing their own interpretations and participatory content as citizens of the latest AI universe (#GagCity?and?#PinkFriday2?on TikTok – 90 million views and 545.6 million views, respectively). The Empire State Building, for example,?posted a video of the landmark lit up in pink?to celebrate Minaj. There’s even an?entire Roblox experience?from the Nicki Minaj Official Roblox Group (25k+ members)?that?purports?to transport people directly to Gag City.

Why it matters: Though the bulk of Gag City memes launched over the weekend, there’s still potential for brands that want to engage with the excitement generated by Minaj’s fans with wider trend-loving audiences through agile real-time content executions.

Other news and trends

Follow-up: Google vs. Epic.?The jury in a lawsuit alleging antitrust within the Google Play store found Google responsible?for an illegal monopoly after only a few hours of deliberation, following?a four-week trial. Epic Games had previously?lost a similar battle against Apple?in 2021; there were?some key differences?in the case Epic brought?against Google. In a statement?on its blog, Epic said the verdict is “a win for all app developers and consumers around the world.” People are?discussing the news?in community discussions?on X, where even Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, is?sharing in the celebration.

• Related: Hasbro’s difficulties.?Holiday shopping has not included enough Hasbro toys,?according to a memo?from the toymaker’s CEO, Chris Cocks, announcing a 1,100-employee reduction (roughly a fifth of staff). On LinkedIn, people are sharing the news along with comments?expressing surprise that Hasbro’s marquee products—like Peppa Pig, Play-Doh, and Dungeons & Dragons—have not been able to keep the company better afloat. (It’s worth noting that sales of video games, which are likely competing with physical toys in Hasbro’s portfolio,?are notoriously difficult to track?holistically.)?

Infamous spotlight: Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and disgraced Congressman George Santos are creating headlines above and beyond their campaign promises due to a?hot-mic issue and?an insatiable appetite for self-promotion, respectively.?Even after being expelled from Congress,?Santos is making 30-second Cameos for $500 a pop. There’s no lack of Schadenfreude in comments from people asking for?George Santos Cameos for Christmas?across social platforms (as well as on late-night shows).

Also trending: Netflix outages.?Streamers all over the world were receiving?error messages from Netflix?Monday evening, prompting users to take to ?X,?Reddit, and?Threads?to report whether their personal account was impacted by the outage. Netflix has not yet formally commented on the issue. But as streaming platforms continue to compete for engaged audiences, content, technical issues, and?subscription fees?will continue to fuel discussions across digital channels for the foreseeable future.

Contributors: Head of Social Content and Engagement Strategy Cristina Lawrence, Senior Vice President Jerry Lawrence, Group Vice President Andrew McKernan, and Senior Vice President Tammy Pepito.

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