Last night, James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” segment returned to The Late Late Show after a two-year hiatus. Fans were elated to see Nicki Minaj as the first guest upon the segment’s return. During her slot, Minaj and Corden ran through her hits, including “Anaconda,” “Super Bass,” and “Starships.”
In true Minaj fashion, the rapper at one point spoke to Corden in a British accent, explaining that her music is “motivational speaking for the world.”
Corden tells her she sounds like Adele and asks if she’s seen the “Easy On Me” singer’s episode of “Carpool Karaoke” in which she raps Minaj’s verse of her Kanye West collaboration, “Monster.”
“I just loved it,” Minaj said of Adele’s 2016 segment. “She made me so, so happy. She embodied Nicki Minaj.”
The screen then cuts to Minaj rapping along to “Monster” as Adele’s 2016 clip appears on a split-screen. Corden and Minaj then proceed to sing Adele’s “Someone Like You,” Minaj showing off her vocal chops.
After bringing Adele’s “Monster” recreation full circle six years after the fact, Corden and Minaj rap along to Minaj’s collaboration with Coi Leray, “Blick Blick.”
“Pop up on an opp and watch it blick blick,” the two rap, before Minaj asks Corden “You have opps?” Corden replies “I don’t know what we’re talking about… what does opps mean? Opportunities?”
“Opposition,” Minaj explains. “Anybody that is opposing you in the world.”
Speaking of opps, Minaj revealed her struggles with anxiety, which, in part, is linked to criticism from her “opps” in real life.
“I don’t think it’s natural,” Minaj said. It’s not natural for a human being to always feel like everyone’s critiquing them. When I first came into the industry, I had this amazing sense of freedom, because nobody gave a sh*t about what I was doing. I could get away with doing anything and they’re just like, ‘Oh, haha! Nicki Minaj.’ And then it goes from that to the complete opposite where it’s like, if I blink my eye wrong, they’ll have a story made up about why I’ve blinked my eye that way.”
Later in the segment, Corden pulls out a clarinet from the backseat of the car. He asks Minaj, who played clarinet in middle school and high school, “Do you still got it?” Minaj then plays the theme to Jaws, and then the ad-libs to her 2018 hit “Chun Li.”
Check out the full video above.