Everyone’s posing like Nicki Minaj: the TikTok trend explained
Just like fashion trends, it seems poses come back around on a cycle, too, and we’re talking more than just a peace sign. TikTok users are taking to the app with poise, strength, and boldness to recreate Nicki Minaj’s iconic pose from 2013.
The trend involves the highest of heels, a small surface, and precariously balancing yourself on top. But as the pose takes hold, people are getting more inventive, or, as some users are commenting, “this challenge is getting more dangerous.” Is this not how everyone waters their plants on a hot day?
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The trend originated straight from the 2013 Nicki Minaj song ‘High School,’ featuring Lil Wayne, where Minaj can be seen posing by a pool in killer high heels with one leg folded over the other and both feet firmly on the ground.
What is the Nicki Minaj pose TikTok trend?
It then started trending on TikTok a few weeks back, 12 years after the original video, when a fan posted a snippet from the ‘High School’ music video showing Minaj doing the pose, and it has since gained millions of views. As with many trends, it’s evolving quickly. The pose has morphed into one leg being held in the air while balancing on ever taller (and weirder) pedestals.
One video shows a user casually reading a book while standing on top of a saucepan on the kitchen side. People are commenting that it looks “effortless,” while others are simply wondering “how you got down.”
But balancing on top of a saucepan is light work compared with some other videos emerging off the back of the trend. One user is balancing on an impossibly-thin-looking rail out the front of a house, another makes standing on three sets of stacked dumbbells look easy, and don’t get me started on the user who seemed to successfully stand on four levels of champagne bottles.
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And Nicki is even reposting her favourites on TikTok, too. She’s clearly lurking on the app, so it must only be a matter of time before she recreates her own challenge…
How do you do the Nicki Minaj pose?
If you’re struggling to get into the pose yourself, users are helpfully recording TikTok videos to help you master it. They are posting the entire videos of them getting into position, which makes me wonder what would happen if they forgot to hit ‘record.’
User @mimi_mulenga replied to a comment saying, “My brain wondering how??? You go girl,” with the full video of her getting into the pose on top of a vase in her home, complete with sliding her sunglasses down.
One TikToker commented: “I can’t even cross my legs on a chair, let alone a pot.” It shows just how impressive the balance is of those taking part in this trend.
@mimi_mulenga Replying to @ᴀʀɪᴇʟ|ᴍᴏᴍ ʟɪғᴇ, ᴍᴇᴀʟs & ᴍᴀᴋᴇᴜᴘ thanks for the love and engagement ya’ll. here’s how I got up and down. #nickiminaj #posechallenge #highschool #nicki #queens #challenge
♬ High School - Nicki Minaj
The Nicki Minaj pose is not as easy as it may seem
The heels and poise involved are not to be underestimated. One user made a compilation video saying, “You all scare me with these Nicki Minaj poses,” with others wondering when someone might “break their leg” trying to out-pose one another.
@charmontanalee Y’all scare me with these Nicki trend. 😭😫🥴 #nickipose #nickiminajtrend #nickiminaj #heelposing #trending
♬ High School - Nicki Minaj
And as the behind-the-scenes videos show, people are taking their time to master the trend, and potentially recording their own blooper reel at the same time.
Not every ‘getting into position’ video is a helpful tutorial. BTS videos show just how long it takes to find the right spot so users and confidently and safely complete their pose.
I’ll be waiting on tenderhooks for Nicki herself to post an updated challenge, over a decade later. But in the meantime, while we’re bringing back trends from the 2010s, how about the Mannequin Challenge next, or maybe everyone will start planking again?
