Roman Holiday: A response to Nicki Minaj's Grammy performance

by Cory Martin
At the 2012 Grammy Awards, Nicki Minaj debuted a brand new song, “Roman Holiday,” which caused a bit of a stir in some Christian circles. The video intro depicts Nicki/Roman (her alter ego) as being possessed, and a Catholic priest is summoned to exorcise the demon. The whole performance was a tad controversial with some pretty sexual overtones; and the song isn’t that great, though the imagery is pretty intense.
But why is it important to talk about the performance at all?
First, the 2012 Grammys had the highest ratings in 28 years (only Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” year in 1984 was watched by more people). 39 million viewers tuned in to the 2012 Grammy Awards. So chances are pretty good that your students (like mine) saw Nicki Minaj’s performance. Second, Nicki Minaj is really popular right now. She’s the hip hop equivalent of Lady Gaga, with plenty of weird outfits and crazy antics, underneath a string of incomprehensible lyrics. However, Nicki Minaj feels more like schtick than Lady Gaga does, though your students may not feel that way or even care. Third, I love when Christianity collides with popular culture. We need to see culture as a mirror of how things really are instead of just thinking that culture is poisoning our youth. We can’t turn a blind eye. We must step back and realize that someone put this particular performance together as a piece of art. They didn’t set out to lead people astray, they thought, “This connects with my experience and how I feel, and this performance is how I choose to express those feelings.” That’s also why youth like music: they don’t think, “I love this song because it promotes a destructive lifestyle.” Youth like a song because it connects with who they are as a person. We as youth ministers should honor their personal narratives while tying their narratives to God’s. I long for moments like these when culture opens a dialog with the church. Will culture find condemnation or will it find an entity that affirms life in abundance?
Prior to the video intro, the scene is a confessional booth wherein Nicki/Roman confesses to a priest, and what she has to say shocks him so badly that he covers his ears to distance himself from her. Ironically, the church (not just the Catholic church but Christianity as a whole) is living out what she depicted in her performance: she came to the church for guidance and acceptance and the church pushed her away. She ends up being chained by the church and eventually breaks free from its bonds, shattering the visages of authority. Then all hell breaks loose and sin and debauchery abound, revealing the true nature of the church. Essentially she says that she brought her baggage to the church but the church only denounced her lifestyle and proved to be judgmental. These actions seem to be in contradiction to the Jesus that we read about in scripture: Nicki/Roman wanted the church to be her refuge but all she found was condemnation. They didn’t understand her so they feared her and condemned her.
Fear of condemnation is a huge issue for students today and we as youth workers must be prepared to speak into it. We must set up our ministries as refuges for the broken and hurting. Being possessed by a demon is just an analogy for how the church deals with brokenness. Nicki/Roman was not given a life that mattered to the church. She was chained by moral obligation instead of finding wholeness in Christ. It should be no surprise that when she breaks free of the moral obligations of the church that she goes crazy—she wants to feel alive and she feels much more alive in sin than she ever did in the confines of the church.
How does the church reflect John 10:10 when Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”? If we are teaching our students that morality is the most important part of Christianity, then God could have just stopped with the Ten Commandments and Jesus would never have needed to come to Earth. That “abundant life” isn’t just referring to a distant afterlife, it is meant to give your life purpose and meaning now.
Allow God to speak through this cultural moment. Keeping Nicki Minaj at a distance just proves that she is right about her vision of the church. Take this time to learn from her and be honest with your students about how you may have failed at fostering a community in youth group that doesn’t allow space for brokenness and, in return, healing. Culture is a mirror, not a poison.
Prayer: God, you are bigger than any criticism and sometimes we act like you are weak and need defending. Please teach us to be quick to listen and slow to speak. Teach us to learn from the world that is crying out for you. Teach us that we need to be about giving life abundantly. God, lead us into the darkest places with your light. May we shine a light on the darkness that the shadow of the church has cast. Amen.