See how Nicki Minaj shocked the world by toning down her look

Cray Cray ... Nicki Minaj has toned down her look, leaving wigs and crazy hair-colour behind and going back to her natural roots. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello Source: AP

HOW do you keep shocking audiences if you’re someone like Nicki Minaj? Going back to basics.

“I always thought that by the time I put out a third album, I would want to come back to natural hair and natural makeup,” the Anaconda rapper, 31, said in an interview in the November issue of GQ. “I thought, I will shock the world again and just be more toned down. I thought that would be more shocking than to keep on doing exactly what they had already seen.”

Nicki Minaj GQ

During the months-long lead-up to Minaj’s third album, The Pinkprint (due out in late November), the rapper has gone back to her natural hair colour and mainly been seen in sleek and sophisticated outfits. While pushing her previous two albums, Pink Friday and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, she paired her storeyed rapping ability with a cartoonish aesthetic that saw her donning colourful wigs and outrageous fashion.

Before ... Famous for flamboyant outfits, Nicki Minaj arrives at 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. Picture: Jason Merritt/Getty Images. Source: Getty Images

Toned down ... Nicki Minaj dials back her outrageous style for a more subtle look as she attends the 2014 Billboard Music Awards Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images. Source: Getty Images

Last month, the MC said that the decision to simplify her look was a result of growing confidence.“I kind of feel now that I look more like my regular old self, like what I look like when I’m at home,” she told the Associated Press. “I think there’s just a little bit more confidence and so I’m like, ‘It is what it is. I am who I am. I look like what I look like.’ I don’t really have to change much of it anymore.”