When Nicki Minaj released her 2012 single “Starships,” it was widely understood as a naked bid for mainstream pop acceptance. It’s a straight-up dance-pop track, recorded with Lady Gaga producer RedOne, and it’s got very little of the weirdo intensity of Nicki’s mixtape days, which were not too far behind her at the time. Later that year, “Starships” led to a beef between Nicki and Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg, with Nicki pulling out of her headlining Summer Jam spot at the last second after Rosenberg bashed “Starships” earlier in the day on the second stage. But now Nicki herself wants no part of “Starships.”

Nicki Minaj is currently enjoying the success of her new album Pink Friday 2, which debuted at #1 despite Billboard decision to disqualify 100,000 of the album’s sales. On New Year’s Eve, Nicki played a short set at Miami’s E11even nightclub, and the DJ cued up “Starships” mid-set. For a second, it looked like Nicki was going along with it, though the crowd rapped more of the song than Nicki did.

After a few seconds, though, Nicki cut the song off: “Hold on! Sike, sike, sike, sike. I don’t perform that song no more, y’all.” The crowd booed Nicki lustily, and she acted cartoonishly shocked: “I don’t like it! What y’all want me to do? Stupid song!” She then went into her 2011 track “Super Bass” — just as poppy, but with more actual rapping. Watch it all happen below.

For the record, unless we’re counting her Carpool Karaoke, Nicki hasn’t properly performed “Starships” since 2019. As Billboard points out, Nicki Minaj has cited her dissatisfaction with “Starships” before. In a 2020 live Q&A with Pollstar, Nicki said, “I hate ‘Starships.’ I mean ew, ‘Starships’? I’m like, ‘Why did I do that?’ I really think that every time I hear it.” (She feels the same about “Anaconda,” too.)

“Starships” peaked at #5 on the Hot 100. It’s now nine times platinum, with over a billion Spotify streams. Nicki Minaj definitely has worse songs, but she definitely has better ones, too.