Minaj penned this track for an Adidas Originals advert, which ran during the London 2012 Olympics. "'Masquerade,' to me, feels like the Olympics. When Adidas came to me, they mentioned the Olympics," Minaj told Rolling Stone. "They mentioned maybe having a performance at the Olympics, and I just put my brain into the mind frame of, 'What does a champion feel like? What is the inner conversation of a champion?'"
"I just started by saying 'feel the beat of the drum' and talking about being number one," she continued; "all those things that go through your brain sometimes when you're feeling like you're at the crossroads between continuing and giving up. The song is about feeling inspired to win and to never give up and I feel like the Adidas campaign, that's what it's really about: giving people hope and, you know, that's what I wanted to convey in the song."
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