Jessie J said, “We didn’t go to her and ask; she wanted to do it,” about how Nicki Minaj became part of the 2014 hit song “Bang Bang,” which also included Ariana Grande

 

PHOTO: STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE; DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES

When it comes to the origins of their hit song, Nicki Minaj and Jessie J have different versions of events.

After Jessie J claimed that Minaj asked to lend her vocals to her hit 2014 track “Bang Bang” in a recent Glamour interview, the rapper disputed the assertion and offered her own recollection of how the collaboration came to be on Twitter.

“Bang Bang,” also includes vocals from Ariana Grande, was a single from Jessie J’s album Sweet Talker.

” ‘Bang Bang’ was a song that already existed. I didn’t write ‘Bang Bang.’ Max Martin wrote ‘Bang Bang,’ and Ariana had been played it, I’d been played it, and we both loved it,” Jessie J told the magazine. “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.”

But Minaj claimed she was actually approached by the label and was “paid” to be featured on the song.

“Babe @JessieJ I didn’t hear the song & ask 2get on it. The label asked me2get on it & paid me,” the rapper, 38, tweeted Thursday. “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.”

After posting her response, Minaj received criticism from fans who pointed out that Jessie J spoke kindly of the rapper and didn’t have any ill intent.

“You know she didn’t mean it like that,” wrote one fan, urging Minaj to “delete” her original tweet.

“She was clearly complimenting you and expressing how something for a smaller artist like her than you is so excited,” wrote another. “You just ruined that for her.”

Later responding to another fan who supported her amid the backlash, Minaj said if there was one song of Jessie J’s that she would have happily volunteered for, it would have been the 2011 tune “Do It Like a Dude.”

“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,” Nicki wrote. “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.”

https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/1423505614500630535

Closing out the situation, Minaj tweeted that she was “stepping bak [sic] in the booth.”

While Jessie J has yet to respond publicly to Nicki’s remarks about the song, the English singer had nothing but praise for her former collaborator while speaking to Glamour.

Jessie J recalled the first time she heard “Bang Bang” with the rapper’s completed verse, saying she was blown away.

“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— did I land this?’ I literally felt like I’d won a competition.”

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Jessie J also said “Bang Bang” would have “never done what it did” without Minaj and Grande. She said, “I love working with them both,” and that they are “so incredible, and they’ve both gone on to be two of the biggest artists in the world.”

“The gratitude I have and, honestly, the experience of girl power. … Me and Ari just spoke the other day, and I was like, ‘We should definitely do something together.’ And she was like, ‘If we do, it has to be better than “Bang Bang.” ‘ And I was like, ‘Well…’ She was like, ‘I don’t know,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ Because it’s just one of those songs that just caught and went,” she explained.

Remembering their shoot for the music video, Jessie J said, “Nicki was only there for an hour and a half, and we were just so giddy, all of us. I remember all of us being on set, and I remember us taking a selfie. I remember going, ‘I literally feel like I’m a fan in the back of the picture.’ I just remember laughing.”

“All of us were just giggling and enjoying being around each other. It was great,” she added.