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In My Defense

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For the Freddie Mercury song, see In My Defence.

In My Defense
Studio album by
Iggy Azalea
Released19 July 2019
Recorded2018–2019
GenreHip hop[1][2]
Length35:32
Label
Producer
Iggy Azalea chronology
Survive the Summer
(2018) 		In My Defense
(2019) 		Wicked Lips
(2019)
Iggy Azalea album chronology
The New Classic
(2014) 		In My Defense
(2019) 		The End of an Era
(2021)
Singles from In My Defense
  1. "Sally Walker"
    Released: 15 March 2019
  2. "Started"
    Released: 3 May 2019
  3. "Fuck It Up"
    Released: 19 July 2019

In My Defense is the second studio album by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. It was released independently on 19 July 2019, by Azalea's label Bad Dreams Records and Empire Distribution serving as the follow-up to The New Classic (2014).[3] The album contains features from Lil Yachty, Kash Doll, Juicy J, and Iggy's protégée Stini, with production including J. White Did It, who executive produced the album with handling production on majority of its tracks, as well as with Smash David, Go Grizzly and Rico Beats.

In My Defense was preceded by three singles. "Sally Walker", released on 15 March 2019, debuted and peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Started" was released as the second single on 3 May 2019. "Fuck It Up" featuring American rapper Kash Doll was released as the third and final single on the day of the album's release.

The album debuted at number 50 on the US Billboard 200 and number 6 on the Independent Albums chart selling 11,261 album equivalent units in its first week. The album received generally negative reviews from music critics.

Background

[edit]

In early 2016, Azalea released "Team",[4] the intended lead single from her second studio album, then titled Digital Distortion. Several other songs were released throughout 2016, 2017 and 2018, including the singles "Mo Bounce", "Switch" and "Savior". In late 2017, Azalea announced that the album had been shelved completely because of her ex-fiancé basketball player Nick Young cheating on her[5][6] and she was working on a new record. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that she had signed to Island Records. In mid-2018, Azalea released the extended play Survive the Summer, which includes the RIAA-certified single, "Kream", featuring Tyga.[7] Several months after the EP's release, Azalea announced she had left Island Records and had become an independent unsigned artist.[citation needed]

In August 2018, Azalea expressed her anticipation to record her album on Twitter.[8] In November, Azalea signed a multi-million dollar distribution deal with Empire[9] after her departure from Island Records.[10][11][12][13] In February 2019, Azalea announced the first single release, "Sally Walker". The single was released on 15 March 2019.[14][15] The second single "Started" was released along with its music video on 3 May 2019.[16] Azalea also teased an upcoming collaboration with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on Twitter. On 28 June 2019, "Just Wanna" was released as a promotional single along with the album pre-order.[citation needed]

Singles

[edit]

"Sally Walker" was released on March 15, 2019, as the lead single for the album. The single would experience moderate success, reaching number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 27 on the US Rhythmic Chart, marking Iggy's first appearance on both charts, since her single "Kream" in 2018. The song was also performed in Las Vegas, Nevada on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! Show. The music video was released the same day as the single's release and featured a cameo from YouTuber James Charles.[citation needed]

The second single "Started" was released on May 3, 2019, and reached number 20 on the Songs Bubbling Under Hot 100 and 76 on UK Singles Chart. Its music video was released the same day. On August 10, 2021, the RIAA certified its sales with a Gold plaque after selling 500,000 units in the United States.[17]

"Fuck It Up" featuring rapper Kash Doll was released on July 19, 2019, as the third and final single and reached number 40 on the New Zealand Hot Singles Chart.[citation needed]

"Just Wanna" was released as the only promotional single on June 28, 2019, alongside the album's pre-order.[citation needed]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic39/100[25]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[18]
Clash5/10[19]
HipHopDX[20]
Idolator[21]
Pitchfork3.8/10[22]
New Zealand Herald[23]
Tom Hull – on the WebB+ ((3-star Honorable Mention)(3-star Honorable Mention)(3-star Honorable Mention))[24]

In My Defense was met with negative reviews from music critics, Aggerator Metacritic the album received an average score of 39 out of 100, based on four reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[25]

AllMusic's Neil Z. Yeung said that on the album Azalea "continues bragging, boasting, and fronting without any depth or sounding pleasure".[18] In a negative review, Pitchfork's Dani Blum wrote "The album is stacked with cartoonish approximations of what she thinks a rap song should sound like: shivers of bass, the occasional 'skrrrt,' Mad Libs of designer brands and bodily fluids. Many sound like direct imitations of the rappers she admires," and critiques the album as a whole to be "Iggy cram[ming] her songs with one-liners that sound like branded Instagram captions". He praised "Sally Walker" as the best song on the album, while "Freak of the Week" was described as "a rejected track by Megan Thee Stallion".[22] Siena Yates of New Zealand Herald said that the album "half these songs feature a good 30 seconds of Iggy just repeating the title over and over, and none of them particularly stand out".[23]

Mike Neid of Idolator stated "It's raucous and unrepentant fun. A comedown would only provide a little more depth."[21] Craig Jenkins of Vulture stated "In My Defense is a funny follow-up to the frustrations of the Digital Distortion era because the title and cover art are ruses... It's an improvement over last year's EP [Survive the Summer]. Iggy Azalea seems to be in control of her career for the first time in a long time. Not everyone in the game can say the same."[26] Nicolas Tyrell of Clash magazine praised her overall improvement, "Azalea has improved in both her flow and story-telling in her time away from the mainstream", but noted the album as a whole is "delivered as a project that she thinks that we want to hear, as opposed to what is truly on her mind".[19] Tom Hull applauded the rapper for "doubl[ing] down on her hard edge here".[24]

Commercial performance

[edit]

In the US, In My Defense debuted at number 50 on the US Billboard 200 with 11,261 album-equivalent units, including 5,779 pure album sales and a streaming count of 6.67 million.[27] This marks Azalea's fourth appearance on the chart. The album would also land on the US Independent Albums chart at number 6 and number 25 on the US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.

The album would peak at number 52 and 18 on the Australian Albums and Australian Urban Albums chart respectively, while also reaching number 137 on the Belgian Albums chart.

In the UK, the album did not enter the UK Albums chart but did peak at number 36 and number 35 on the UK Digital Albums and UK Independent Albums chart. It also reached number 7 on the UK R&B Albums chart.

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks produced by J. White Did It, except where noted

In My Defense track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Thanks I Get"
 2:34
2."Clap Back"
 3:28
3."Sally Walker"
  • Kelly
  • Ronny Wright
 2:58
4."Hoemita" (featuring Lil Yachty)
 3:03
5."Started"
  • Kelly
  • Ronny Wright
 3:06
6."Spend It"
  • Kelly / Ronny Wright
 3:12
7."Fuck It Up" (featuring Kash Doll)
 2:51
8."Big Bag" (featuring Stini)
  • Kelly
  • Stini
2:49
9."Comme des Garçons"KellyRico Beats3:39
10."Freak of the Week" (featuring Juicy J)
 3:12
11."Just Wanna"Kelly 2:47
12."Pussy Pop"Kelly 1:53
Total length:35:32

Samples

Personnel

[edit]

Credits adapted from Tidal.[29]

Technical

  • AJ Putman – vocal engineering (tracks 1-7, 9-12)
  • Mac Attkisson – vocal engineering (tracks 1, 11)
  • Vekz Madison – vocal engineering (tracks 8-9)
  • Chris Davis – vocal engineering (track 8)
  • Evan LaRay – mixing (tracks 1-9, 11-12)
  • Leslie Brathwaite – mixing (track 10)

Artwork

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for In My Defense
Chart (2019) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[30] 52
Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)[31] 18
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[32] 137
Irish Independent Albums (IRMA)[33] 13
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[34] 36
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[35] 35
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[36] 7
US Billboard 200[37] 50
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[38] 6
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[39] 25

Release history

[edit]
Release history for In My Defense
Region Date Format Label Ref.
Various 19 July 2019
Bad Dreams
2 August 2019 CD [40]
26 August 2019
[41]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Williams, Aaron (19 July 2019). "All the Best New Hip-Hop Albums Coming Out This Week". Uproxx. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  2. ^ Williams, Aaron (24 July 2019). "Iggy Azalea's 'In My Defense' Makes a Case for Her Inclusion in the Hip-Hop World". Uproxx. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Iggy Azalea Readies New Album 'In My Defense'". 25 January 2019. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Iggy Azalea Says Next Single Is Titled 'Team'". Billboard. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Iggy Azalea Says the 'Digital Distortion' Rollout is Coming to an Abrupt End". Billboard. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Iggy Azalea Delayed Her Album Because Nick Young Got His Ex Pregnant". Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Iggy Azalea's 'Survive The Summer' EP Is Here: Listen". Billboard. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  8. ^ @IGGYAZALEA (11 August 2018). "I can't wait to start recording my album - Life is so boring when I'm not in the studio. I need to get back into my routine" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ "Iggy Azalea Signs Multi-Year Partnership With EMPIRE". Billboard. 20 November 2018. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Iggy Azalea Parts Ways With Island Records: 'I'm Officially Unsigned!'". 3 November 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  11. ^ "Iggy Azalea Claims She Inked a New Deal Worth $2.7 Million: 'I'm So Grateful'". Billboard. 16 November 2018. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  12. ^ @JWhiteDidIT (19 February 2019). "@IGGYAZALEA got some 🔥🔥🔥 coming! I can't wait till y'all hear this new music! I'm extremely proud of her‼️" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ^ @IGGYAZALEA (27 February 2019). "he executive produced the entire project!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  14. ^ "James Charles Turned Iggy Azalea Into a Drag Queen for Her New Single". 1 March 2019. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  15. ^ "Iggy Azalea set to drop 'Sally Walker'". 4 March 2019. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  16. ^ AZALEA, IGGY (19 April 2019). "What you read? It's true. Iam a bitch. STARTED MAY 3!pic.twitter.com/QXsrnHEQpW".
  17. ^ "IGGY AZALEA - STARTED". RIAA. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  18. ^ a b Yeung, Neil Z. (5 August 2019). "Iggy Azalea – In My Defense". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  19. ^ a b Tyrell, Nicholas (22 July 2019). "Iggy Azalea - In My Defense". Clash. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  20. ^ Spielberger, Daniel (25 July 2019). "Review: Iggy Azalea's "In My Defense" Is Offensively Mediocre". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  21. ^ a b Neid, Mike (25 July 2019). "Album Review: Iggy Azalea's 'In My Defense' Was Worth The Wait". idolator. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  22. ^ a b Blum, Dani (25 July 2019). "In My Defense | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  23. ^ a b Yates, Siena (25 July 2019). "Album review: Iggy Azalea, In My Defense". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  24. ^ a b Hull, Tom (5 August 2019). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  25. ^ a b "Iggy Azalea - In My Defense by Iggy Azalea Reviews and Ratings". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  26. ^ Jenkins, Craig (July 2019). "Iggy Azalea 'In My Defense' Album Review". Vulture. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  27. ^ "Hip Hop Album Sales: Nas' "The Lost Tapes 2" Crawls Into Billboard 200's Top 10". HipHopDX.com. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  28. ^ Welch, Isaac (19 July 2019). "Iggy Azalea's "Freak Of The Week" Interpolates Juicy J's "Slob On My Knob"". Genius. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  29. ^ "Try the TIDAL Web Player". listen.tidal.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  30. ^ "ARIA Chart Watch #535". auspOp. 27 July 2019. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  31. ^ "ARIA Australian Top 40 Urban Albums – ARIA Charts". 29 July 2019. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019.
  32. ^ "Ultratop.be – Iggy Azalea – In My Defense" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  33. ^ "IRMA - Irish Charts - Independent - Week 30 2019 - Week Ending 26 Jul 2019". IRMA. 26 July 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  34. ^ "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  35. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  36. ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  37. ^ "Iggy Azalea Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  38. ^ "Iggy Azalea Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  39. ^ "Iggy Azalea Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  40. ^ "In My Defense - CP". Iggy Azalea Shop. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  41. ^ "SIGNED In My Defense - LP". Iggy Azalea Shop. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
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