Singer Nicki Minaj has revealed that she thinks the music industry is just like high school because it’s a popularity contest and she says she refused to participate. She feels that those in the industry often act nice to people who are deemed “hot” at the moment, while blanking others who are less cool. Nicki feels that it’s a ridiculous system and she isn’t about to play the silly games that go on:
“People treat this business like it’s high school. It can absolutely feel like one big popularity contest, and you know what? I can’t be bothered. I can’t allow myself to play ridiculous games with grown adults in the industry. I can’t be nice to someone just because they’re hot right now. I can’t do it.”
Nicki also says she used to move schools regularly when she was a teenager and although it was often a frightening experience, she would make sure no one would mess with her:
“Every time my parents fought, my mother would have us move and I would have to go to a new school, which meant I’d have to face the task of making new friends. I dreaded it. I had butterflies in my stomach each time: Are people going to like or hate me? … Sometimes there’d be a fight, sometimes not. I let people know I wasn’t going to be pushed around.”
The singer also opens up on the positive and negatives of the internet. She admits that her career would be nothing without it as she started out on Myspace and loved hearing people’s thoughts on her music. However, she also believes that bullies feel more comfortable taunting via the web and it can be damaging to those who are on the receiving end:
“My journey to who I am today began on MySpace. I love getting real opinions from people. I used to read the bad things people said about me. Then I asked myself, ‘Why am I reading that when I have millions of people saying great things?’ You cannot give negativity power. I tell teens, if you’re having a problem, there’s nothing wrong with deleting your social media. If people keep taunting you and you keep reading it, it’s poison.”
