Nicki Minaj talks style, musical inspiration

>>> we're back now at 8:38. "the new york times" calls nicki minaj the techly color barbie with the big voice and an elastic smile. in three short years she's carved out her spot in the world of music and pop culture . her new album "pick friday roman reloaded" is already number one on itunes. congratulations about that. nicki , nice to have you here.

>> it's a pleasure to be here.

>> who do i have with me today? is there an alter ego present?

>> it's just nicki .

>> how did you decide? looking at your outfit and i'm sorry it's hard not to look at your outfit, how do you decide how to costume yourself on a daily basis?

>> i just -- it's all very impromptu. i hate planning stuff. i don't know. yesterday actually, i told my stylist, i was like you know what, i've been doing some color -- just get me black. black, black, black everything. and she's like, really? i said, yeah, i mean i don't know why sometimes that, you know, it changes but today is a black day .

>> see i look at you and i think this is someone who must have an enormous team of people making all these decisions. are you involved in every decision?

>> every decision. every decision. i'm -- i've always been like that sin i was a little girl . i need to be involved. i need to have everything written out for me. i can't just have people make decisions for me.

>> you have credited people like madonna , laid today gaga, with being inspirations for you. and obviously these are people, as we've gotten to know them over the years, who like to reinvent themselves. is that the part of them that you admire most?

>>> well, i don't really know gaga, but madonna , i had the pleasure of working with her, obviously, and i feel like she's really changed and reinvented not only herself but pop culture . so what inspired me about madonna is that she's able to balance all of this with her family and her personal life . and i told her life. i was like, how do you do this, you know, with your children are there and she's a great mom. you know, she's just everything.

>> was that wild, super bowl ? i mean, as you were performing did you stop to think, how many people were watching that?

>> that's what made me so nervous before i went on because i kept hearing the number 100 million in my head over and over and over. and i just, at one point i was literally about to just freeze up when i was waiting to come up on the lift. i was like oh, my goodness, get me out of here.

>> knees shaking?

>> knees shaking, hands freezing cold, everything.

>> i was reading an article you did with ryan seacrest and you talked about something that surprised me. you said there was something about marilyn monroe .

>> yeah.

>> that when you saw pictures of her, you saw something in your eyes.

>> yeah.

>> that affected you.

>> it was just like a longing for something. like a longing for approval. and i feel like a lot of women in power, or successful women, as successful as they are, they have that desire to still be loved. to still be always, you know, great, to still be approved. and it's like no matter how many times you tell them they're great they don't believe it.

>> so are you the type of person who worries with each venture? you've got a sophomore album .

>> yes.

>> in other words it's your second album.

>> yeah.

>> with so much success from the first one do you get the jitters, do you think, will people still love this as much?

>> i don't get the jitters because this one is such a -- honestly it's a better album. it's so much more well-rounded. it's way more songs. it's -- it's everything is just way more exciting on this album. so i don't have the jitters. i'm really just excited to go on tour. i'm about to start my world tour this year and my fans have been going crazy. and like i'm just excited more than anything, more than the album, i mean, eventually people are going to buy the album, you know. but more than anything for me, it's like the fact that this album is now done, out of the way and you can go --

>> take a deep breath?

>> no, i can go and see my fans because i haven't been able to really touch them and feel them one-on-one in a long time because i was doing the tour with wayne and britney and then you know it kind of took me outside of that intimate thing with my fans.

>> you're going to do some performing for us in the studio in just a couple of minutes. it's nice to see you nicki . it's a pleasure to have you here.

>> it's great to be here.

>> thank you. appreciate it. 8:42.