Nicki Minaj postpones North American tour, but “I still am gonna do Australia in January”

Nicki Minaj may have postponed the North American leg of her NickiHndrxx Tour with Future – but she’s confirmed she’ll be in Australia in January.

The tour behind the Queen album was to begin on September 23 in Washington DC, and wind up on November 24 in Las Vegas, 20 shows later.

Live Nation said in a statement: “Nicki has decided to contribute more time to rehearsal ahead of the tour’s launch to make certain her fans get the absolute best quality show that they deserve.”

North America will now start in May 2019, but Future has dropped out due to a scheduling conflict.

In a video posted to Twitter and Facebook Minaj insisted, “I still am gonna do Australia in January, and this [the North American delay] is all happening because I pushed my album back two months, and I just finished writing and recording literally hours before the album came out.

“So now I simply don’t have the time to rehearse and be on the road in time to give you guys the level of a show I need to give.

“Jamie King and I are working tirelessly to give you guys the best show of my life, and I really apologise, but it will be worth it.”

The singer repeated her Australian plans in an Instagram post, telling fans to expect multiple dates.

Minaj has not toured Australia since 2012, playing five capital cities.

After Australia she heads to Europe, starting on February 21 at Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany, and continues for more than a month, winding up on March 28.

The postponement of North America has damaged Minaj’s standing.

Reports are that it was due to low ticket sales, as it was competing with hotter-than-hot treks by Drake & Migos and Beyonce & JAY-Z.

The New York Post claimed a source at Live Nation said the tour had “the most disappointing ticket sales of the year for any artist.”

“Is the queen of rap’s crown now fading?” asked the BBC.

Billboard too confirmed it was told by sources that her tickets were “soft”.

The magazine suggested that pushing North America to May might give more time to market the tour harder and increase sales.

But it added that rescheduling would be very expensive and risky, given that Future was no longer part of the new dates.

The release of Queen in the US was accompanied by a tirade against Travis Scott whose album went to #1.

She sneered that his album only reached #1 in the US because he was bundling record sales with merchandise and concert tickets.

Minaj also had a swipe at Spotify, saying its support of Queen was not as much as she expected.

She claimed the streaming service was “teaching her a lesson” for playing her music ten minutes prior to its release on (Apple Music’s) Queen Radio.

The streaming service responded: “Spotify supported Nicki Minaj with a Times Square billboard, a host of the largest playlists – new music Friday and the new music release shelf.

“Her song Bed actually saw an increase based on the promotions put behind the campaign.

“The company continues to be big fans of Nicki.”