Iggy Azalea – The New Classic
–300/5 stars
Hip-hop is a genre of music that is based heavily upon authenticity, and Iggy Azalea is one of the
least authentic artists to ever try to enter it. The album touches upon three cornerstone topics – where she’s come from (“16 in the middle of Miami”, yeah, got it), her beef with the industry and her beef with her enemies, who tend to be women of colour. Iggy Azalea manages to dedicate a whopping 15 songs to what, in the hands of someone who has experienced a life worth writing about, would normally be complex and interesting issues. Consequently, The New Classic feels about 13 songs too long.
‘Fancy’ hits all of the gooey pop centres in your brain, and remains a fairly easy song to sing while drunk. ‘Work’ lacks both the goo and the sing-ability, but still manages to achieve single status with some heavily compressed vocals and that super-catchy snare. One song that managed to stand on its own was ‘100’, featuring Watch the Duck, a three-piece band from Atlanta who are actually pretty great and, I’m guessing, wholly responsible for the amazing chorus. Iggy’s rapping still sounds suspiciously sped up. One major unexpected disappointment was ‘Change Your Life’: don’t let T.I. get your hopes up for this one. He remains a truly terrible mentor past his prime.
It took me about five hours to make it through this album. Don’t put yourself through the same.