Iggy Azalea: 'Fancy' sets new Billboard record for a song by a female rapper

Iggy Azalea's song 'Fancy' beat the record held by Lil' Kim's song 'Lady Marmalade,' according to Billboard. Australian Iggy Azalea also collaborated on Ariana Grande's hit song 'Problem.'

|
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Iggy Azalea performs at the BET Awards.

Rapper Iggy Azalea’s song “Fancy” recently claimed the title of a track by a female rapper that has spent the longest time at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, according to Billboard.

The song has spent six weeks at that spot, according to Billboard. It topples the song “Lady Marmalade,” which was released in 2001 and featured rapper Lil’ Kim singing with other vocalists such as Pink and Christina Aguilera. “Marmalade” was first recorded by Labelle in 1974 and Lil’ Kim’s version was released as part of the soundtrack for the Baz Luhrmann film “Moulin Rouge.” 

Azalea’s song “Fancy” was first released this past February and features singer Charli XCX. “Fancy” is a single from Azalea’s album “The New Classic," which was her first studio album. 

Ariana Grande’s song “Problem,” on which Azalea is featured, was at No. 2 on the chart for five weeks, according to Billboard, giving Azalea the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the Billboard chart. However, this week, it dropped to No. 3. (Azalea ties with singer Ashanti for the length of time a female artist has held those two spots.)

She was nominated this year at the BET Awards for best female hip-hop artist but lost the award to rapper Nicki Minaj. In addition, she was nominated in 2013 for the MTV Video Music Award category Artist to Watch but lost to singer Austin Mahone and is nominated in the Teen Choice Awards category of Choice R&B/Hip-Hop Artist. The Teen Choice Awards ceremony will take place on Aug. 10.

The Australian rapper (who's real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly) recently spoke with the Guardian about how she’s sometimes reluctant to have others work with her on her songs 

“I never want to do duets,” she said. “I don't think of other people when I'm writing my songs. I have to try and hold my own so much, it does not seem natural to me to ask for help. Sometimes a feature feels like asking for help." 

She said she was actually unaware that Charli XCX was working on “Fancy.”

“I have no idea how that song with Charli came about," she told the Guardian. "I have no idea how she got on it – they decided it would be a good idea and I found out later. I thought, she sounds good, let's keep her!”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Iggy Azalea: 'Fancy' sets new Billboard record for a song by a female rapper
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2014/0703/Iggy-Azalea-Fancy-sets-new-Billboard-record-for-a-song-by-a-female-rapper
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe