In recent years, Nicki Minaj, like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, went to extremes with her hair, clothes and makeup. But like Perry with 'Prism,' Minaj is reeling it in and taking a step back, choosing to go the more au naturel route with her image, as well as her music.

It's a time of immense and intense change for the femcee, who is currently promoting her role in the mainstream, Cameron Diaz-starring rom com 'The Other Woman.'

But the new look Nicki is not shocking or jarring. Her Minajesty has slowly made that shift towards a more normal, streamlined look.

"It's not a makeover," she told MTV. "I went so far to the other side that there's only one place to go from there. You can either continue doing costumes or you can just say, 'Hey guess what? This will shock them even more. Doing absolutely nothing will shock them even more.'"

It's an effective strategy, no doubt.

She pointed to her gorgeous ELLE cover as a turning point for the physical change and for swapping out the outrageous wigs in favor of her natural hair.

"I got a new hairstylist and started doing natural-looking hair and toned down makeup," the curvaceous beauty recalled. "I was gradually getting myself to this place, where I was wearing my real hair out. I knew I was doing it. I wasn't going to announce it to the world. But I knew I was going to do it. I let things happen gradually and I didn't want to come out one day and do it. I went with blonde with brown roots to no wigs at all. I feel like we have successfully done it."

With her image more down-to-earth, Minaj is also making some changes with her music. She is going back to her roots of hip-hop for 'Pink Print.'

"The tracks on [my next album] are back to my hip-hop roots and I don't think it's something that I'm necessarily trying to do. As soon as I started working on my third album, that's just the songs that I've been writing," she confessed. "But there are other types of music that I am excited about … I'm just gonna do what my heart tells me to do."

So, will there be a 'Super Bass 2?"

"Hell no" was her firm reply! That's perfectly fine. She doesn't need to do repeats to be successful.

Keep doing you, Nicki!

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