Iggy Azalea | |
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Performer Profile | |
Birth Date | 7 June 1990 |
Hometown | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
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Appearance(s) | 18 Week 10: Finals |
Amethyst Amelia Kelly, known professionally as Iggy Azalea, is an Australian rapper, singer, songwriter, model, and music video director.
She has been a guest performer in Dancing with the Stars in Season 18. Couples have danced to her songs in other seasons as well.
Career Highlights[]
At the age of sixteen, Azalea moved to the United States to pursue a career in music. Azalea earned public recognition after releasing the viral music videos for her songs "Pussy" and "Two Times" on YouTube. Azalea signed a recording contract with American rapper T.I.'s label Grand Hustle shortly afterwards and released her debut mixtape, Ignorant Art (2011).
Azalea's debut studio album, The New Classic (2014), peaked among the top five of several charts worldwide and received generally mixed reviews. It topped the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums making Azalea the first non-American female rapper to reach the top of the chart. The album was preceded by her debut single "Work", and generated the US Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single "Fancy". Azalea was featured on Ariana Grande's single "Problem", which peaked at No. 2 while "Fancy" was No. 1. Azalea joined The Beatles as the only acts to rank at numbers one and two simultaneously with their first two Hot 100 entries. She achieved three top-ten hits simultaneously on the Hot 100 with the aforementioned songs along with the album's fifth single, "Black Widow", later that year.
After her debut album, Azalea released a slew of moderately successful singles to build anticipation for her intended second album, Digital Distortion, though a series of label conflicts and personal conflicts saw the project being scrapped. After switching labels again, Azalea released the EP Survive the Summer (2018) under Island Records. Continued disagreements lead to Azalea becoming an independent artist signed to her label, Bad Dreams, through a distribution deal with Empire. Her second album, In My Defense, was released 19 July 2019.
Since her debut, Azalea has sold forty-eight million records worldwide, with twenty-two million singles in the United States alone. Azalea's accolades include two American Music Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, a People's Choice Award, four Teen Choice Awards, and four Grammy Award nominations. Azalea's official YouTube channel has accumulated 2.6 billion views, while she has had thirteen music videos receive over a hundred million views on Vevo.