Nicki Minaj Talks Grammy and Super Bowl Performances, Madonna, 'Roman's Holiday'

After an amazing performance at the 2012 NFL Super Bowl with Madonna and M.I.A., Nicki Ninaj debuted a new song during the 54th annual Grammy Awards.

Earlier today, she put in a call to Ryan Seacrest's KISS radio show to discuss both her show-stopping television appearances, her new album, next single, her reaction to M.I.A.'s middle finger, and more.

Listen below (via Rap-Up):

On Madonna’s influence: “Meeting Madonna changed my life. Working with Madonna changed my life. Rehearsing with Madonna for two weeks changed my life. When you look at these amazing women, you have to realize that a lot of work goes into this. I, for the first time, refused to go to any parties. This performance was it and this is the first performance that I’m proud of in my entire career. I saw how much Madonna sacrificed and how much she rehearses and rehearses and rehearses and rehearses, and everyone there was like, ‘We got it.’ But she was like, ‘No, I want you to know this choreography in your sleep.’ We did know it in our sleep by the time we got on the Super Bowl stage. But when I saw that, it inspired me so much, the same way Wayne inspired me to start really becoming a beast as a rapper. The Madonna situation inspired me to give it my all and put that work in.”

On M.I.A.’s Super Bowl stunt: “My first feeling was disappointment, only because of my respect for Madonna. I’m a cuckoo lady too, but I would never be able to do it off the strength of Madonna. There are fines that go into these things, and I just thought, ‘Oh my God. I hope they don’t penalize Madonna.’ Madonna knows the artist that M.I.A. is and it was her decision to take the risk with all of us. We were kinda all firecrackers and she took that risk. She’s done some crazy things becoming the icon that she is, so I think that’s why she was able to forgive M.I.A. I love M.I.A. and I don’t want to say anything that is the wrong thing, but me personally, I couldn’t see myself doing it, just for the respect for Madonna. I wouldn’t want any backlash to come back on Madonna.”

On her new single: “‘Starships’ is one of my absolute, absolute favorite records on Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. It just sounds like a Ryan Seacrest-type of record. And I’m so excited for you to give this song your blessing, Ryan, because I know people are gonna love it. It feels right. It just feels good. It makes people feel happy and that’s all I want. I want to start the year off with making people feel good. The [Grammy] performance was the performance, that was my clear craziness, and now it’s time to make people dance and have fun, and that’s all I want to do.”