Althouse: "You are my wife!" exclaims Nicki Minaj in praise of a 19-year-old singer.

March 6, 2013

"You are my wife!" exclaims Nicki Minaj in praise of a 19-year-old singer.

On "American Idol" last night. Nicki Minaj is a female. Whether we're talking same-sex marriage or not, however, proclaiming one of the contestants to be your partner in marriage is edgy for that family show.

Minaj is always coming up with new ways to say "I love you." (For example, last night, she also said "You are a little marshmallow that I want to eat.")

I appreciate the effort not to be boring, and it must be a great effort, when you listening to hundreds of song performances and then must say something. Imagine trying to think up something new to say that advances your image as a sexy, edgy pop star but isn't too dirty for a prime-time network show aimed at kids and the parents who watch TV with their kids. You can't say that you want to have sex with the contestant. You have to take it down a step.

ADDED: I just remembered that Minaj also said to one young female singer: "I love your boobs." To be fair, the singer was wearing a dress with a tight bodice that had high-contrast triangles marking the nipple location.

43 comments:

Rocketeer said...: Goodbye, city life!; 3/6/13, 10:12 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Nicki Minaj is a true force of nature, lol!; 3/6/13, 10:14 AM
Brew Master said...: How can you watch this drivel and not feel your brain atrophy by the second?; 3/6/13, 10:16 AM
rcommal said...: You are my wife!

Read that post title and instantly thought: "Good-bye, city life!"; 3/6/13, 10:18 AM
rcommal said...: Ha! I see that Rocketeer had the some reaction (and saw the post before I did). LOL.

(In case others don't get what we're referring to.); 3/6/13, 10:20 AM
edutcher said...: IIRC, Minaj is pretty strange, generally.

PS I have to agree with Brew Master.

You watch "reality", but look down your nose at most other things.

(granted, most of them are almost as bad, but limp fiction beats weird show biz every time); 3/6/13, 10:26 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Q: Does a TV character always have to vary the way she lavishes praise?

A: Maeby.; 3/6/13, 10:29 AM
rcommal said...: You are ze corned beef to me, and I am ze cabbage to you.

“You are my peanut, I am your brittle!”

I am ze locksmith of love, no?

Where are you, my little object of art? I am going to collect you!

Name that character!; 3/6/13, 10:36 AM
chickelit said...: Name that character!

I had a hunch...I googled and I was right!

Nice job on the accent!; 3/6/13, 10:53 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Yeah, sorry to That Commenter, but why do you watch this utter shit? It's like eating Velveeta, nonironically.; 3/6/13, 10:54 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: P.S. Anyone who watches that crap with their kids, when there is so much more entertaining and quality media out there, should be tarred and feathered.; 3/6/13, 10:56 AM
Laurie said...: Idol isn't as entertaining as it used to be, but I'm still watching - at least for now. To me, Nicki Minaj has been like a breath of fresh air! PS I do not think it's intellectual - or even real, but I don't think any one should think themselves more intellectual or more sophisticated because of what others choose for entertainment. This is, after all, a somewhat free country!; 3/6/13, 11:12 AM
Brew Master said...: I don't think myself more of an intellectual because other people watch pap. I think them less intellectual.; 3/6/13, 11:45 AM
MayBee said...: American Idol is on my list of things I thought I'd miss but am surprised to find I don't

I; 3/6/13, 11:47 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "How can you watch this drivel and not feel your brain atrophy by the second?"

You're completely unfamiliar with relaxing by watching some trashy TV reality show, sitcom, or spectator sport?; 3/6/13, 11:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Nicki Minaj would be good in a sitcom.; 3/6/13, 11:56 AM
Mary Beth said...: Name that character!

3/6/13, 10:36 AM

Pepe le Pew?; 3/6/13, 12:01 PM
MayBee said...: P.S. Anyone who watches that crap with their kids, when there is so much more entertaining and quality media out there, should be tarred and feathered.

3/6/13, 10:56 AM

Anybody who can't find a way to turn absolutely anything into quality family time should be tarred and feathered.; 3/6/13, 12:03 PM
TMink said...: I love your boobs is not family entertainment. Not by a long shot. Edgy is not family friendly, it is adolescent friendly. "See what she got away with" is teen psychology.

Trey; 3/6/13, 12:04 PM
Dan said...: http://tiny.cc/4hejtw

This is funny!; 3/6/13, 12:20 PM
Oclarki said...: People who take pride in their lack of pop culture knowledge are the worst sort of snobs.; 3/6/13, 12:24 PM
rcommal said...: Ah, Mary Beth, "ze arms of Pepe are upon you!"; 3/6/13, 12:32 PM
Baron Zemo said...: The selection of the anti-Catholic racist Nicky Minaj will be the death knell of American Idol.

American Idol was once something you could watch with your family and not have to worry about inappropriate behavior. That went out the window when this woman was made a judge.

Even the barely sentient Mariah Carey realized early on that Nicky Minaj was destroying the show and tried to smack her down.

But Nicky reflects Barack Obama's America to a T. She will destroy American Idol just as Obama is working to destroy our republic.

Everything you need to know about life you can learn from reality TV.; 3/6/13, 12:47 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I find it interesting that people take it personally when others point out that American Idol is garbage. It doesn't make anyone more or less intellectual, it doesn't make anyone more or less ANYTHING. It's not about the character of the person who chooses the product; it's about the quality of the product. No need to be defensive.

MayBee--so it's "quality time" if I take my eleven year old to get a mom& daughter bikini wax? How about if my husband takes my son to play mailbox baseball? Doing an activity with your kids doesn't magically make it not a lame way to spend time or magically mutate poor values into good ones. It's not my business if other parents want to do stuff with their kids that I would not, but as someone noted above, it's still a free country, which means I can state my opinion that maybe soaking kids in TV values is something people should consider avoiding.; 3/6/13, 1:17 PM
Brew Master said...: Ann Althouse said...

You're completely unfamiliar with relaxing by watching some trashy TV reality show, sitcom, or spectator sport?

I abhor 'reality' TV, there is no reality in it whatsover, it is scripted. To believe otherwise is a willful suspension of disbelief. I generally don't watch sitcoms, doesn't hold my interest. I've tried a few on recommendations but they tend to rehash the same plotlines after one or two seasons and become stale.

Some spectator sports I can enjoy, but primarily in personal attendance. I can't stand watching them on TV because then I am shoehorned into watching what the producers point the camera at, and that does not necessarily coincides with my interests in the event.; 3/6/13, 1:32 PM
tiger said...: Bread circuses and lowest common denominator programming.; 3/6/13, 1:39 PM
Lydia said...: American Idol is like being trapped in junior high.; 3/6/13, 2:43 PM
el polacko said...: some of the comments here remind me of those folks who claim not to own a television but are quick to praise the PBS programming they watch. not only snobs, but liars to boot.

idol is a singing competition...it is entertaining to listen to people sing. get over it. shouting 'garbage!' from your lofty heights doesn't make you a better person than someone who enjoys watching the show.

p.s. minaj is a character and a hoot.; 3/6/13, 2:59 PM
kjbe said...: My 26 yr. old daughter and one of her best friends have called each other "wife" since high school (they're "married" on FB). Noting Minaj, it sounds like a form of endearment for the age group and probably not threatening to the "kids" (though it may catch the attention of certain grandparents).; 3/6/13, 3:10 PM
Baron Zemo said...: Nicky Minaj is a vile bigot who gets a pass because she is black.

If she did a blackface act mocking slavery and the civil rights movement instead of the Catholic Church she would have been run out of town on a rail.

If she mocked the gays....well then even the Nutty Prefessor would be pissed.

But since it is just the stupid Pope and Altar Boys and the Church than it is all fine and dandy.; 3/6/13, 3:15 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @ Brew Master Instead of listing the trashy things on TV that you don't choose when you flop down on the couch after a hard day's work, why don't you admit that there is something trashy that you choose or make the strong contention that you eschew all trashy things.

Your original snootiness about trash TV only works if you make the strong contention. Is that your position? If so, be clear (because I have things to say about that, but you haven't made that claim yet so I'm not going to exert myself).; 3/6/13, 3:20 PM
suestew said...: I used to tell my husband he made a great wife. He didn't like it. I on the other hand, viewed it as the highest compliment I could give him.; 3/6/13, 3:45 PM
Brew Master said...: Ann Althouse said...
@ Brew Master Instead of listing the trashy things on TV that you don't choose when you flop down on the couch after a hard day's work, why don't you admit that there is something trashy that you choose or make the strong contention that you eschew all trashy things.

Your original snootiness about trash TV only works if you make the strong contention. Is that your position? If so, be clear (because I have things to say about that, but you haven't made that claim yet so I'm not going to exert myself).

I'll ignore the provocative language and address your points.

I have labled nothing trashy, that is your term.

You have laid out a false dichotomy without providing definition.

On the one hand I either watch 'trashy' TV, or I do not watch 'trashy' TV. I can make no such statement either way without you defining what is or isn't 'trashy'.
I responded about those things you specifically mentioned, which at this point I deduce fall under your definition of 'trashy'.

As to the specific case of Idol. I maintain that there is no 'reality' contained within. The show is engineered to bring in eyeballs, not to be a 'singing competition', as another commentor stated. I take it I do not need to insert links to support the fact that numerous insiders have made explicit claims that the show is in fact engineered to bring about desired outcomes, or 'rigged' to use their terms.

It is not the fact that people watch the show, it is taking it seriously that draws comment. Any run of the mill TV show (pick any show that has script writers) is more honest in the fact that they are presenting fiction as entertainment.

It is the shows that lie to their audience by claiming to be something they are not that I hold in low esteem, and am saddened by, and for, those that believe the lie.; 3/6/13, 3:56 PM
Baron Zemo said...: We take a lot of stuff seriously and comment on it when we know it is all bullshit and made up nonsense created to fool the American Public.

The Obama Administration for example.

If we didn't comment on stuff like that there wouldn't be an internet.; 3/6/13, 4:30 PM
Baron Zemo said...: On a related note...TLC's What Not to Wear announced that it was cancelled after ten years on the air.

Honey Boo Boo now rules the airwaves!; 3/6/13, 4:31 PM
Anonymous said...: It's not that far from the grade school catcall: What are you gonna do, marry it?

Adult: It's bad for you, but I love bacon.

2nd grader: What are you gonna do, marry it?

So it's not that big of a deal IMO. You either know about sex or you don't, but I don't really think there is a phase where you only know about christian-appropriate sex. lol.; 3/6/13, 4:34 PM
MayBee said...: Erika- if your 11 year old daughter needs a bikini wax, then yes, I think there's some important discussion that should take place during that time together.; 3/6/13, 4:54 PM
Amartel said...: This nitwit is trying too hard. Too much "outrageous" hair, makeup, and clothing.
Too much "scandalous" commentary.
Too much attention-seeking "controversy."
Too much "brutal" honesty.

Feh. It's not outrageous, scandalous, controversial or honest. It's boring and re-manufactured and stale. Attention whores judging other attention whores. It's all been done before and better.; 3/6/13, 6:27 PM
Blue@9 said...: The show is engineered to bring in eyeballs, not to be a 'singing competition

So the fuck what? It can't be both? Is there any show engineered not to bring in eyeballs? I can't remember the last show based on the premise 'we don't want you to watch this--it's not meant to be entertaining at all.'

People have been poo-pooing pop culture since Euripides ('such guttural low-brow trash!'), and yet pop culture survives. Meh, I couldn't care less about Minaj, but let's not pretend reality TV is some special species of dreck.; 3/6/13, 7:36 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Dear Lord, but do some of you have a stick up your asses.; 3/6/13, 8:22 PM
Will Cate said...: Love me some trash TV every once-in-a-while, but Nicki Minaj is a moron. I simply cannot stand to watch her.; 3/6/13, 8:38 PM
Unknown said...: The last season of Idol that I watched regularly was the one Taylor Hicks won. Whatever happened to him anyway?; 3/7/13, 12:10 AM
MayBee said...: What Blue said.; 3/7/13, 12:52 AM