Iggy Azalea Has A Song With Jungle Noises On Her Debut

Iggy Azalea’s highly anticipated Island Def Jam debut The New Classic was originally scheduled to be released in October. However, in a recent interview with Australia’s Herald Sun, she revealed her album has been pushed back until next year. "The official date? Fucked if I know!" she explained. "It's done, it's so depressing to say this but it's the beginning of March, it's so far away but I just have to accept that."

We’re sure Iggy’s fans wished for a different scenario, but the 23-year-old Aussie native has kept expectations for the record high with infectious singles like the anthemic “Change Your Life” featuring T.I. and the aspirational “Work.” It’s clear from those tracks she’s ready to reveal more of herself, experimenting with different topics and sounds that fit her eclectic tastes. Last month, we caught up with Iggy before she heads on the Australia leg of Beyoncé’s ‘The Mrs Carter Show World Tour’ to get a preview of The New Classic. The majority of the production is handled by The Invisible Men, the relatively new to hip-hop production team that's previously worked with Jessie J and Rita Ora. Here, Iggy breaks down selected tracks, from the house-inspired “New Bitch” to the frantic jungle noises appearing on "Monkey.” Stay tuned. —Eric Diep

Previously: Iggy Azalea Finds A New Home At Def Jam And Hits The Road With Beyoncé

On Working With The Invisible Men:

Iggy Azalea: They worked on “Work” for me. They’re actually American, but they live in London. [They're] three guys. They did a lot of my album. They did a lot of the production on this. They are kind of new talent. They are new to hip-hop, but they have a lot of top 10 hits in the UK. They did “Do It Like A Dude” for Jessie J, for example. They did some of Rita Ora’s singles. I know them quite well, but they’ve never worked with rappers before. I saw things in their production that I liked. I kinda of just played them a lot of rap music over the last few months. I was like, “Get into this shit!” We even played them Sugar Free in the studio and they loved it.

I think [I also like working] with somebody that doesn’t necessarily produce rap music because I don’t think it’s given. I don’t think the album is any less hip-hop, but I just think it brings a fresh perspective of somebody that’s almost three new fans of rap music. They are hearing this stuff for the first time and they are being inspired by it. And they are making their own shit. I really loved doing that with them.

"Walk The Line"

Produced By: The Invisible Men

Iggy Azalea: I sing on that song and it’s kind of like a rapper’s rap song. It’s a song where I talk about me getting my deal. I’ve got my deal now. It’s sort of in essence like “Work” where I am talking about my struggles and shit that I gotta go through. Now, I’ve got a record deal and talking about the shit that happens after I have a record deal. And the struggles of after you have a record deal. It’s cool. It’s like a double-time flow. And it’s pretty aggressive and it comes into this hook that’s singing. It says on it, “This is a line that I walk alone.” Even when I have a label or have support, there’s still certain things or battles that you are still going to have on your own. It’s a cool song. I love that song. Sounds a bit like a sample-y hook although I sing it. People hear it and say, “Oh, what sample is that?” I’m like, “That’s actually my voice.” [Laughs.]

"New Bitch"

Produced By: The Invisible Men

Iggy Azalea: "New Bitch" is bit more kind of dance, house-y. It’s a bit more electronic, ‘90s house-y. “New Bitch” is basically about a guy that I sort of started to date and he’s a baby daddy. He just had a baby. So I started to date this guy and this is a true story that "New Bitch" is about. The baby mama was still kind of sniffing around. I was in the studio and I was like, “Ah! I just wanna….” She even had my phone number and she started texting me. I was like, “Oh hell no. I just want to say to this bitch. Back the fuck up. I’m the new bitch. Deal with this shit. I am the new bitch on the scene. You are the old bitch. Get a fucking life.” That’s what “New Bitch” is about. Although I didn’t end up dating the guy and he ended up back with the baby momma ironically. [Laughs.] But, I got a good song out of it.

“New Bitch” is basically its telling that story. It’s really telling that story and I think all girls can feel that way in a new relationship. You can even feel like that when you are a guy and you have a new girlfriend. You have the old girl sniffing around and it’s like, “Look, I’m the new bitch. I’m the new girlfriend and you need to chill.” I made another record called “Just Asking” that didn’t make it to my album. That was the second song I recorded for my album was “New Bitch” with those guys and [Greg] Wells.

“High Life”

Iggy Azalea: “High Life” … I don’t even know if I am going to put “High Life” [on the album.] I know “High Life” won’t be on a standard, but those four songs that were at the end of my tracklisting. They are separated like that because those are the songs that I have to do a deluxe edition and they are going to go on it. But, “High Life” is a smooth sounding song. It kind of sounds like high-class runway type of music. It’s got a male vocalist on it. He’s singing. It just kind of sounds like smooth and chill. It sounds like drinking champagne. That’s “High Life.” On some private jet type shit. That’s what that song is about.

“Monkey”

Produced By: Bro Safari

Iggy Azalea: It’s not going to be called “Monkey.” It’s probably going to be called “Animal.” I called it “Monkey” because its monkey sounds. It’s all jungle noises is the beat. It’s produced by guy called Bro Safari. It’s fucking crazy. It’s like jungle birds, monkeys and it’s all been put together in a beat with an 808 behind it. It’s just like fucking insanity. It has the biggest build-up and when it drops then there’s these fucking monkeys. Every guy that hear it is like, “Hey, what the fuck is this?” Every person I know who likes EDM music and is into a bit of alternative shit is like, “Oh my fucking god! This is crazy.” But all my friends from Inglewood and shit that come around here is like, “Dog, what the fuck is this weird shit?” It’s like a crazy rap song. It’s heavily beat-oriented that beat because it’s so much in it because its monkeys and it’s a lot going on. I basically did one long rap verse it’s like 90 bars. The guy who produced it chopped them all up. So it’s choppy and there’s parts, but there’s no true hook. There’s no traditional song structure on that. It’s just a beat that you hear and go fucking crazy. It sounds like nothing else I ever heard of in my life and it’s all monkeys.