At Billboard Music Awards show last night (May 21, 2017), an event hosted by Ludacris and Vanessa Hudgens and held in Las Vegas, rapper and singer Nicki Minaj opened the show with a four-song medley made up of singles dropped by the artist in 2017. The performance was preceded by a video and live dancers, highlighting some of her biggest hits.
Dressed in head-to-toe black including a House of Malaki mask, Minaj kicked things off with “No Frauds,” which included an appearance by Lil Wayne. She then segued to “Light My Body Up,” backed up by DJ David Guetta. For song No. 3, “Swalla,” she brought out Jason Derulo, and finished with “Regret in Your Tears.”
On Instagram, she credited Jamie King “her Sagittarian soul mate” for the performance’s creative direction and B. Akerlund for costume design. In addition to House of Malakai, her look included pieces by On Aura Tout Vu, Erique the Taylor, Pam Hogg, House of Emmanuele, Lyn Bann, Cecilio Castrillo, among others.
Minaj provided one of the evening’s funner moments when she responded to one of Drake‘s acceptance speeches in which he praised Hudgens for her appearance, to which Minaj playfully reacted with shocked indignation, shouting, “What about me?” from her seat in the front row.
The Queens entertainer was recognized by Billboard earlier this year when she became the female artist with the most hits on the Hot 100 chart, passing Aretha Franklin who previously held the record. For the event, she was nominated for the Billboard Chart Achievement Award, along with The Chainsmokers, The Weekend, Luke Bryan and Twenty One Pilots, who took home the award.
Nicki Minaj Billboard Performance
Nicki Minaj 2017 Billboard Music Awards Opening performance (full video) pic.twitter.com/biwOBfB6Kz
— Teamminaj V.I. (@Teamminajvi11) May 22, 2017
Drake Acceptance Speech
Drake drops epic acceptance speech pic.twitter.com/ZeIGxjr4rh
— That Dude (@cjzer0) May 22, 2017
Fashion Credits
