Nicki Minaj’s fourth album, Queen, is finally here, but it has been a right old slog getting there. It was first announced in May, got pushed back to June, and the campaign since has been one misstep after another: there was a row with Cardi B over “hurt feelings”. Then Nicki upset LBGQT fans by being on the cover of Russian Harper’s Bazaar. She did a feature for controversial rapper 6ix9ine – who pled guilty to using a child in a sexual performance in 2015 – then announced he would be joining her on tour. Of the album’s two lead singles, Barbie Tingz and Chun-Li, only the second has made it to the album. The latest hold-up was an uncleared Tracy Chapman sample, which forced the rapper to delay the album’s release. Is Queen seriously going to be worth all the trouble?

All signs point to no: a confused album launch normally signals a huge flop. When U2 uploaded their 2014 album Songs of Innocence automatically to our phones, Bono had to issue a public apology to the estimated 500m people who received the unexpected “gift”. He did not, however, say sorry for the album, which the Guardian’s called “a product of confusion”.

Katy Perry recently claimed that she suffered “situational depression” last year when her album Witness bombed. Maybe it’s because Katy’s fans had no idea what the album would sound like. It kicked off with “purposeful pop” Chained to the Rhythm, then she ditched “woke” for “sexy” with Bon Appétit. Then, for the album’s launch in June 2017, she live-streamed herself for four days, Big Brother-style, ranking her celebrity exes by how good they were at sex and meditating, sleeping and eating on camera.

But a disastrous album campaign doesn’t always mean a bad record. It’s fair to say that “claim slavery was a choice” wasn’t on a planning list at Kanye West’s record label, but when Ye finally arrived – minus its lead single Ye vs the People – it was an impressively candid album of misery bangers. And Rihanna’s Anti campaign was a comedy of errors – she announced it almost two years too early, missed the proposed release deadline by months, and then the whole thing leaked – but Anti was one of 2016’s best albums.

Still, pity poor Rita Ora, whose second album has been in the pipeline for six years. She chucked an album’s worth of songs in the bin after a bitter split with ex-boyfriend and co-writer Calvin Harris. Then she sued her label, Roc Nation, to be released from her contract, and while singles Your Song and Anywhere sounded promising, she then ruined it all with Girls, the lyrics of which claim that being a lesbian is something that happens to straight girls after three red wines. But she hasn’t given up: last month, Rita hinted that her second album would be out in November. Let’s not hold our breath, eh?