In the summer of 2014, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing Iggy Azalea's smash number
1 hit, "Fancy," but these days, she's practically gone radio silent.
What happened?
Suffice to say, there was a whole lot of drama.
Scandalous tape?
Azalea faced her first of many public woes in September 2014, when reports broke that
a secret, intimate tape featuring the Australian-born rapper was being shopped around.
One of the interested buyers was supposedly the company that distributed Kim Kardashian's
now-infamous video, so there's a clue as to what may have been on it.
The tape thief turned out to be Azalea's ex-boyfriend, who also wanted the rights to music she had
recorded before hitting it big.
"I think that's particularly insane."
Thus began a long legal battle that was not settled until July 2015, when, according to
TMZ, Azalea agreed to pay him a relatively small sum of money.
Big time beef
As "Fancy" ascended to the top of the charts, Azalea began to receive flak from members
of the hip-hop community.
Among those who came down the hardest was rapper Azealia Banks, who took major issue
with the four Grammy nominations Azalea received in December 2014.
"When they give these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is: 'Oh yeah, you're great,
you're amazing, you can do whatever you put your mind to.
And it says to black kids: 'You don't have s---.'"
Azalea later responded to Banks' interview in a series of angry tweets, writing,
"Special [message] for banks: There are many black artists succeeding in all genres.
The reason you haven't is because of your p--- poor attitude."
Azalea's former publicist Brian Scully claimed in a revealing blog post that Azalea and her
original management team planned for her to...
"...not respond directly and to act gracious when asked about the [Banks] feud in interviews."
But he claims that after finding new management, Azalea's approach to any beef seemed to switch
from, quote, "'take the high road' to 'jump in the mud pit.'"
Ever since, Azalea's feuding seems to be her new normal.
On a positive note, Azalea and Banks apparently made up in July 2017 and even agreed to collaborate
on a song for Iggy's long-awaited second album, Digital Distortion.
On a not so positive note, the collaboration hasn't seen the light of day.
"Ughhh!"
Ticket trouble
Back when she was still feuding with Banks, Iggy Azalea announced her first arena tour,
slated to launch in April 2015 — but just weeks before she was supposed to hit the road,
Azalea postponed the tour until the fall of that year, amid rumors that she was being
difficult with her management team and refusing to promote the tour.
Then, in May, Azalea canceled the tour altogether, telling her fans she'd be back on the road
after finishing her second album.
Sources for Billboard claimed poor ticket sales factored into the tour's cancellation,
with some venues reporting just 20 percent of tickets sold.
Those reports were later denied by concert promoter A.E.G.
Live.
Britney fans
Never one to avoid a heated debate over Twitter, Azalea enraged fans of Britney Spears — and
possibly Spears herself — after she seemingly accused Spears of being the reason their joint
single, "Pretty Girls," flopped on the charts.
When a follower mentioned that the single had bombed, Azalea tweeted,
"It's difficult to send a song up the charts without additional promo and tv performances
etc. unfortunately I'm just featured…"
The following day, Spears appeared to tweet out a jab at both Azalea and her canceled
tour, writing,
"Can't wait to get back to Vegas.
So thankful I have shows for the rest of the year to look forward to…
#YouWantAPieceOfMe."
Baby mama drama
Azalea's personal problems collided with her career when her engagement to NBA star Nick
Young exploded after Young impregnated his ex-girlfriend... while engaged to Azalea.
Speaking with People about it, Azalea cited the breakup as the reason her highly anticipated
sophomore effort, then titled Digital Distortion, was delayed.
She explained that once she was out of the relationship, she wanted her songs to reflect
her single life, adding,
"I obviously didn't write that on my [original] album because when I wrote it I was about
to get married … I don't want to go and promote my album and get asked about my relationship
that has just crumbled."
Album in limbo
The road to release for Digital Distortion, Azalea's shelved second album, has been as
complicated as the rest of her career.
She teased its release in 2016, years later, the album is still nowhere to be found.
By November 2017, Azalea put out four new songs to promote it... none of which have
charted.
On top of all of that, Azalea revealed on Twitter that the album name is now surviving
the summer.
Hopefully renaming the project that fans have been waiting years for isn't yet another professional
misstep for Azalea.
Thanks for watching!
Click the Nicki Swift icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!