In a moment that seems both historic and long overdue, Billboard has officially bestowed the title of best female rapper of all time upon Nicki Minaj, supplanting the likes of hip-hop titans Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, and other legendary game-changers. For a genre that has often downplayed women’s voices, this honor is a loud celebration of Nicki’s unique influence and talent. Billboard’s ranking wasn’t plucked from thin air. The publication emphasized that this list was based on criteria including chart performance, cultural impact, lyrical skill, flow, and career longevity, and Nicki checked every box with panache.

Whether it’s being the first female rapper to surpass the mark of Billboard Hot 100 hits back in 2018 to the massive success of her Pink Friday 2 World Tour, which is currently the highest-grossing tour of any female rapper of all time for more than a decade now, Minaj has been rewriting everything we thought a rap ideal could or should be. “Fifteen years from the first time she left earth with her godly verse on Kanye West’s ‘Monster,’” Billboard added, “Minaj is still running laps around the competition.” And they’re not wrong. Nicki’s voice has been inescapable since her debut album, Pink Friday, rattled the industry in 2010.

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Whether she’s rapping as the fierce Chun-Li, the over the top Roman Zolanski, or her unfiltered real self, Onika, no one gets down like Baddie. Nicki’s combination of pop sensibility, fearless flow, and alter-ego creativity made her just as much a rap titan as an architect of modern pop-rap. She kicked down such wide doors, and an entire generation of new rappers, her self-styled “sons,” have walked through them. This is more than a win for Nicki Minaj, this is a victory for every ground-breaking female emcee who ever dared to dream bigger. Nicki’s story is one of defiance, dominance, and destiny, from mixtapes to megahits, from Barbie dreams to Billboard history.

Johanna Linnea Jakobsson’s new single, “Work,” is a tender whisper reverberating big truths. With “Work,” Johanna knows vulnerability can be both a strength and a soundtrack. The song explores that very familiar feeling of being stuck. But instead of dramatizing it, she wraps the emotion in something tender and true.

Curtailing the velvet undertones of jazz with the earthy folk textures and the intimacy of singer/songwriter storytelling, “Work” sounds like a contemplative, honest, and quietly powerful rainy Sunday morning. From the opening note, the track has a lazy ease that calls to mind Norah Jones, its jazzy lilt, and soothing vocals coaxing you into the fold. The instrumentation is subtle but intentional, with acoustic guitar chords softly caressing a jazzy rhythm section, while delicate piano lines add an almost meditative dimension to the song. The production never overwhelms the message, and it adds emotional shading.

But where it works its magic is in the chorus, which is instantly memorable and deeply relatable. It captures the inner dialogue that so many of us know too well, the push to keep moving forward despite emotional exhaustion, and the quiet shame of not knowing how to ask for help. Instead of easy answers, Johanna gives us something better and a shared space of feeling seen.

The power of “Work” is in its restraint. It aspires to be glossy or overproduced. It breathes. It listens. And it gently whispers to the part of us that’s quietly screaming. There’s a healing there, especially when it comes packaged in this lush, genre-fluid arrangement.