Iggy Azalea: The New Classic review – hit-and-miss debut from Australian rapper

Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's debut has appeared in recently typical form for the genre: with a long delay and slew of singles. The New Classic barely resembles the west coast hip-hop Azalea idolised and imitated when developing her voice, and sits somewhere between EDM, dance-pop and trap music. Azalea can still spit out rapid-fire verses, but this album feels less forward-thinking than her 2011 Ignorant Art mixtape. Trio the Invisible Men – behind Jessie J's Do It Like a Dude and DJ Fresh's Hot Right Now – produced most of the album's songs, helping Black Widow and Fuck Love sound reminiscent of collaborations between Diplo, RL Grime and Steve Aoki. On Fancy, Charli XCX is like the Gwen Stefani to Azalea's Eve while New Bitch, co-produced by Timbaland, couples lyrical venom with a numbingly sweet hook – think Nicki Minaj on Starships, and you're just about there. Azalea's rags-to-riches story shines on Work, but elsewhere her "bow down to a goddess" schtick grows tiring.