Nicki Minaj has confirmed her status as a Hip-Pop artist with her new single, ‘Starships’. Produced by RedOne, the song is the latest offering from her ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’ sophomore album, which hits stores on April 3rd.

Of course, ‘Starships’ isn’t the only new tune that Minaj premiered during the last few days. The animated rapper debuted another record, ‘Roman Holiday’, live at the 2012 Grammy Awards last weekend with an utterly confusing performance that encouraged several unflattering comparisons to the work of Lady Gaga.

Listen to Minaj’s ‘Starships’ below:

At this stage, it would be nonsensical to judge Minaj’s music by regular Hip-Hop standards because she has clearly rebranded herself as more of a Pop act. As such, ‘Starships’ is a solid record for such an artist – the melody is catchy, the beat could easily work both in the club as well as on radio, and there are several possibilities for a colurful video to match the song’s theme (I suggest something similar to the Spice Girls’ ‘Spice Up Your Life’).

Indeed, of all the songs that Minaj released from ‘Roman Reloaded’ thus far, ‘Starships’ has the greatest potential to be a hit. Whether it will be remembered after the next year has passed is another matter.