Nicki Minaj headlines a disjointed five-hour Wired Fest
The opening acts at Friday’s Wired Fest, a five-hour concert at the Susquehanna Bank Center Center in Camden, were meant to set the stage for headliner Nicki Minaj. But the show, sponsored by Wired 96.5 (WRDW 96.5-FM,) was neither a cohesive selection of like-minded artists nor a purposefully eclectic conclave like the Roots Picnic, but an accidental hodgepodge of seven performers, including B.o.B., T-Pain, and Diggy Simmons, taken from the station’s playlists.Ironically, it turned out to be a fitting introduction for Minaj, whose attempts to conquer every corner of the pop universe simultaneously has stretched her prodigious talents to the breaking point. The title of Minaj’s second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, is a reference to her hot-tempered alter ego, Roman Zolanski. But the split personality – which she acknowledged Friday by leaving the stage midway through her hour-long set in a hot pink bustier and returning in a white tulle skirt – had less to do with her famously inventive potty-mouth and more with her attempts to scale the pop charts. "Starships," the new album’s leadoff single, was dominated by the reheated house music sound of chart-toppers by Ke$ha and Lady Gaga, its generic line, urging us to "touch the sky," far less heartfelt than the down tempo ballad "Moment 4 Life."
The opening acts at Friday's Wired Fest, a five-hour concert at the Susquehanna Bank Center Center in Camden, were meant to set the stage for headliner Nicki Minaj. But the show, sponsored by Wired 96.5 (WRDW 96.5-FM,) was neither a cohesive selection of like-minded artists nor a purposefully eclectic conclave like the Roots Picnic, but an accidental hodgepodge of seven performers, including B.o.B., T-Pain, and Diggy Simmons, taken from the station's playlists.
Ironically, it turned out to be a fitting introduction for Minaj, whose attempts to conquer every corner of the pop universe simultaneously has stretched her prodigious talents to the breaking point.
The title of Minaj's second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, is a reference to her hot-tempered alter ego, Roman Zolanski. But the split personality – which she acknowledged Friday by leaving the stage midway through her hour-long set in a hot pink bustier and returning in a white tulle skirt – had less to do with her famously inventive potty-mouth and more with her attempts to scale the pop charts. "Starships," the new album's leadoff single, was dominated by the reheated house music sound of chart-toppers by Ke$ha and Lady Gaga, its generic line, urging us to "touch the sky," far less heartfelt than the down tempo ballad "Moment 4 Life."
Minaj, who made her name outshining rappers on whose tracks she guested, puts on remarkably different shows when opening for other artists, say Lil' Wayne or Britney Spears. But at the top of the bill, she doesn't yet know how to frame herself.
Many of the seven acts which preceded her have performed on each other's songs, yet there was a surprising lack of cross-pollination.
One set rolled briskly into the next — a small blessing given how such overscheduled affairs can spiral out of control. But the efficiency came at the price of spontaneity.
Apart from Minaj cutting off a hard-edged backing track in favor of the more romantic "Right By My Side," the closest to an unscripted moment came when Houston rapper Kirko Bangz jumped off stage during the slinky "Drank in My Cup."
The set by Tyga, who like Minaj is a graduate of the Cash Money roster, was more to the point. It lead with his skeletal, insinuating hit, "Rack City," and later closed with it as well.
It was, come to think of it, not unlike a chart-driven radio station's habit of repeating hot songs several times a day, until liking them is less a matter of persuasion than capitulation.