Beyonce Teases Photo, Competes with Nicki Minaj For New Year’s Eve Payday

Another Monday morning, another Beyonce teaser. Lately, the R&B diva has been building hype for her new album (and documentary and Superbowl performance and Pepsi deal), this morning releasing a new photo with the date “February 14″ on it.
The photo tease also shows a new look for the singer, with curly locks that almost resemble Whitney Houston’s big hair from the “I Wanna Dance” era in the 1980s. Dressed in all black, Beyonce is posed against a grey background.
What the February 14 date refers to remains unclear, but a new single would be a good guess. Beyonce’s Superbowl performance is slated for February 3 and her HBO documentary is set to debut February 16 on HBO. The documentary will show Beyonce in public and intimate moments, and will profile the star from her childhood in Houston, TX through her recording career, marriage to mogul Jay-Z and most recently–the birth of their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.
“Everybody knows Beyoncé’s music, but few know Beyonce the person,” says Michael Lombardo, president of HBO programming. Lombardo continues, “Along with electrifying footage of Beyonce onstage, this unique special looks beyond the glamour to reveal a vibrant, vulnerable, unforgettable woman.”
The documentary is also supposed to focus on Beyonce’s next step as an artist, so having a new single debut just before the film’s release would be a strategic marketing move. While she just signed a $50 million Pepsi endorsement deal, Beyonce is not getting the top payday for a new year’s hosting gig.
Beyonce is slated to host a private party at the Las Vegas’s  Wynn Hotel’s New Year’s Eve bash, for a paycheck of $4 million. Allegedly, Nicki Minaj has landed $5 million  to host a celebration at Pure, also in Las Vegas.
It’s unclear whether either will perform at their respective hosting gigs, but for that kind of cash, you would expect a quick medley at bare minimum.
It will also be a busy spring for Minaj, who is set to be a judge in the much-hyped new season of American Idol, which premieres January 16 on Fox.  Minaj also has a large number of feuds to maintain heading into 2013, including beefs with radio stations, Steven Tyler and fellow Idol judge Mariah Carey. Wisely, Minaj hasn’t yet started one with Beyonce. Minaj may have landed the bigger check this once, but Mrs. Jay Z barely even needs the cash at this point, given the spring she has planned.