What Happened To Iggy Azalea? Is She Retired?

This year marks ten years since Iggy Azalea became a major star in the U.S., and the Grammy-nominated rapper of “Fancy” seems to be marking this milestone with what appears to be a retirement announcement.

In a lengthy message to her fans posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday (Jan. 3), Azalea explained the reasoning behind her decision to shift her focus away from music. “I’ve always been someone who finds my joy in being creative & seeing my ideas come to life.

For a long time I used music to deliver my big crazy ideas to the world,” she wrote. “I know a lot of people have this idea that I was ‘bullied away from music’ and that’s something I’ve always laughed at because I’d never be bullied out of anything! In fact, I’m too stubborn. I think I’ve even resisted changes within myself at times, purely because I don’t like being viewed as someone who quits.”

Her most recent updates about her music included a new fourth studio album, which was set to be produced by the now-incarcerated Tory Lanez. This album was planned as a follow-up to 2021’s The End of an Era, which included collaborations with BIA and Tyga, among others.

“In truth what I’ve known for a long time is that I feel more passionately about design and creative direction than I do about songwriting,” she continued. “That’s why I want to let you know that I’m not going to finish my album.

It’s been paused for a few months while I was giving direction for a different project & in truth I just haven’t felt the urge to go back to it. I feel really happy & passionate in my day to day life when my [mind’s] focused on that and so I want to stick to what’s undeniably best for me.”

Although she was working on an album, Azalea has always been involved in many different creative projects. The “Black Widow” rapper has directed a number of her own music videos, including “Trouble” featuring Jennifer Hudson and 2021’s “I Am The Stripclub.” In 2012, she signed a modeling contract with Wilhelmina Models.

At the start of last year, Azalea joined OnlyFans, a subscription platform where she shares illustrations, poetry, photography, and videos with her dedicated fans. She is also set to perform at the 2024 AVN Awards later this year.

Azalea ended her message by saying, “[Can’t] wait to start sharing some of the things I’ve been involved in creating & hoping you’ll see my quirk & humor in anything I touch!”

Iggy Azalea has had four Billboard 200 entries in her career, including her Grammy-nominated debut album, The New Classic (No. 3), which remains her highest-charting album.

On the Billboard Hot 100, she has had three top ten hits out of 13 entries, with songs like “Problem” (No. 2, with Ariana Grande), “Black Widow” (No. 3, with Rita Ora), and “Fancy” (No. 1, with Charli XCX). Her most recent release was last year’s “Money Come,” which received a remix featuring Ivorian Doll and Big Boss Vette.

Beef with Azealia Banks

When “Fancy” became a hit, Azalea started getting criticism from people in the hip-hop scene, including Nicki Minaj, who accused Azalea of misusing and taking advantage of rap culture. One of the strongest critics was rapper Azealia Banks, who had a big problem with the four Grammy nominations Azalea got 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,'” Banks said in an interview with Hot 97. “And it says to black kids: ‘You don’t have s**t.'”

Azalea reacted to Banks’ comments with several angry tweets, saying, “Special msg for banks: There are many black artists succeeding in all genres. The reason you haven’t is because of your piss poor attitude.”

Things got so tense that even rappers Q-Tip and T.I. stepped in to defend Banks. In one heated moment, Q-Tip tweeted a detailed history of hip-hop just for Azalea. That must’ve stung.

On a more positive note, Azalea and Banks supposedly made up in July 2017 and even agreed to work together on a song for Azalea’s much-anticipated second album, Digital Distortion. Unfortunately, the album release ended up being a disaster (more on that in a bit), and the collaboration hasn’t been released yet.

During her ongoing Twitter argument with Banks, Azalea announced her first arena tour, which was set to begin in Fresno, Calif. in April 2015. However, just weeks before the tour was supposed to start, Azalea postponed it until the fall of that year.

There were rumors that she was being difficult with her management team and not willing to promote the tour. Then, in May 2016, Azalea canceled the tour completely, telling her fans that she’d be back on the road after finishing her second album.

According to sources from Billboard, poor ticket sales were a reason for the tour’s cancellation, with some venues only selling 20 percent of tickets. However, these reports were later denied by concert promoter AEG Live.