Jesy Nelson’s debut as a solo artist “Boyz” finally arrived last week, and the former Little Mix member is opening up about what it was like to work with Nicki Minaj in a new interview with Paper.
“I’ve worked with Nicki Minaj before when I was in the band, on ‘Woman Like Me,’ so I already had a relationship with her, but when I wrote this song I knew I wanted Nicki on it. There was no one else I wanted. She was so perfect for it and we’re label buddies, so our label helped make it happen,” Nelson explained. “They sent her the song and she loved it and said she wanted to jump on it, which was amazing. I shot the video with her literally three weeks ago and she was so excited. I think everyone thinks she’s gonna be on a green screen, but she’s not. I’ve done it with her and she’s amazing.”
Nelson added that Minaj was incredibly hands-on while making the music video for the track. “I went out there [to shoot] with no one from my team, and normally I have a choreographer who helps me with my movements. I was like, ‘Sh–, what am I gonna do? My choreographer’s not here!’ And literally as soon as [Nicki] got on set she was like, ‘Girl, I think we should do a bit of choreography together. I think we should do this and on this lyric we should do this…’ She was basically teaching me choreography,” Nelson said.
The “Boyz” singer took a moment to reflect on Minaj’s work ethic, and said the rapper put her everything into ensuring their collaboration was a success. “She’s so hands-on and involved. She’s not the kind of artist who gets a feature, gets paid for it, and then just f—s off and doesn’t give a sh– about the song. She really cares,” Nelson said of Minaj. “Whatever she’s putting her name to, she’s really invested in and cares about it and that’s also why I love her so much. I feel really lucky that she loved the song and wanted to put her name on it.”
Watch Nelson and Minaj in the music video for “Boyz” below.
