Nicki Minaj and Jessie J seem to have different recollections of the same event.
In Jessie J’s recent interview with Glamour, the 33-year-old singer looked back on her 2014 hit “Bang Bang” and reflected on having both Ariana Grande and Nicki on board the track.
“Max Martin wrote ‘Bang Bang,’ and Ariana had been played it, I’d been played it, and we both loved it,” Jessie J recalled. “We just said, ‘Why don’t we both do it?’ So Ariana stayed on the second verse, I recorded the first verse, and then Nicki was played it in the studio and was like, ‘I’ve got to jump on this.’ We didn’t go to her and ask; she wanted to do it.”
She also opened up about her reaction to hearing Nicki’s bars on the song for the first time.
“I’ll never forget: I was in my bedroom in my flat in London, and I got sent the version with Nicki on it,” she said. “I just sat at the end of my bed holding my phone, staring at the floor, going, ‘How the f–k did I land this?’ I literally felt like I’d won a competition.”
However, Nicki says that’s not how she remember it going down – and offered up her version of events on Twitter.
“Babe @JessieJ I didn’t hear the song & ask 2get on it. The label asked me2get on it & paid me,” Nicki tweeted. “How would I have heard the song? 😩 chiiille what am I the damn song monitor? Snoopin around for songs chile?😂This was said by another artist recently as well. Yallgotta stop🎈 LoveU😘”
However, responding to a fan who seconded her account of the song’s origin, Nicki appeared to dispel any speculations of drama – and revealed she’d actually been down to work with Jessie, but on another track.
“Chi😂😂😂 but the worst part about this is no1EVER asked me2get on “like a dude” & I have been obsessed w|that song since the min I heard it,” she wrote in a follow-up tweet. “I was doing promo in the UK & heard it on the radio. My artist Parker co wrote it. I would’ve gotten on that 1 for some pickle juice 🥺”
Jessie is still to respond to Nicki’s social media posts.
