LOS ANGELES: Seven years after her landmark debut “Invasion of Privacy,” Cardi B has returned. And, in typical fashion, she’s doing it with plenty of spectacle.
The Grammy winner made her long-awaited sophomore album “Am I the Drama?,” released Friday, feel like prime-time theater. Friday’s release arrived days after she revealed she revealed her fourth pregnancy — her first child with New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs — and barely two weeks after she emerged victorious from a Los Angeles courtroom.
With a title that nods to the scrutiny that has trailed her career, Cardi B channels the swirl of headlines into music that doubles down on her strengths: blunt confidence, playful wit and sharp-edged bravado. The 23-track project features collaborations with Janet Jackson, Lizzo, Selena Gomez, Megan Thee Stallion, Cash Cobain, Kehlani, Summer Walker and Tyla.
Cardi B threads in past hits like “Up” and “WAP” with Megan Thee Stallion. That choice sparked criticism online for padding the album with older material.
However, Cardi B, never one to duck an argument, clapped back on X in June:
“This will be the last and only time I’m gonna address this…‘WAP’ and ‘Up’ are two of my biggest songs…they deserve a home.” She added, “These two songs don’t even count for first week sales so what are yall even crying about???… Now let them eat cake. Go cry about it!!!”
Alongside those chart-toppers, Cardi unleashed fresh tracks too. The chest-thumping “Outside” and the breezier “Imaginary Playerz” showcase her range between hard-hitting anthems and smoother, radio-ready flows.
Cardi’s personal life has only amplified the spotlight. Her relationship with Diggs — who joined the Patriots this season after years as one of the NFL’s top receivers — has drawn as much attention off the field as on it. The couple kept a low profile until this week’s pregnancy reveal, marking their first child together.
The announcement capped a turbulent stretch for Cardi B, who also prevailed this month in a lawsuit filed by a security guard alleging assault during a doctor’s visit while she was secretly pregnant years ago. The courtroom win and public reveal only sharpen the backdrop for “Am I the Drama?”, an album that leans into the very question that has hovered over her career.
The rap star has three children from her previous marriage with rapper Offset: daughters Blossom, 1, and Kulture, 7, and son Wave, 4. Diggs also has a daughter from a previous relationship, Nova, who was born in 2016.
Cardi B will now take all of her momentum into the Little Miss Drama Tour, her first arena tour. The 30-plus date trek begins Feb. 11 in Palm Desert, California, and wraps in Atlanta in April, with stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Toronto.
Cardi releases highly anticipated ‘Am I the Drama?’ album
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Cardi releases highly anticipated ‘Am I the Drama?’ album
- The 23-track project features collaborations with artists like Janet Jackson and Megan Thee Stallion
- Cardi B includes past hits like “Up” and “WAP,” sparking some online criticism
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
