While her debut album The New Classic proved to be a commercial hit for Iggy Azalea, the Australian female rapper found herself in a lot of drama with her former record label Island Records, who reportedly refused to release a sophomore project based on the underwhelming performance of the project's singles.
Iggy had put out several tracks in the lead-up to the release of a second album, but due to multiple disagreements with executives, she eventually decided to leave the imprint and focus her attention on an independent career instead.
Two years prior, she dealt with her ex-fiancé Nick Young’s cheating scandal, so with everything appearing to fall apart in her personal and professional life, it seemed as if Iggy was ready to ditch Hollywood once and for all.
Why Did Iggy Azalea Leave Los Angeles?
2014 was an incredible year for the mother of one, who landed a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Fancy” featuring British singer Charlie XCX.
The song went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide, leading many to believe that Iggy actually stood a chance to solidify her position in the music industry — especially since “Fancy” wasn’t her only big track.
“Black Widow” featuring Rita Ora was just as successful, going on to shift an impressive seven million units, with all signs clearly showing that Iggy had become quite a moneymaker for Island Records.
But when it came time to record her sophomore album, the label reportedly wasn’t happy with the music Iggy had recorded, which became apparent after she had dropped two singles — both of which failed to chart on Billboard.
Island Records decided to postpone the release of another project until the 30-year-old had a body of work that was strong enough to captivate people’s attention and ultimately make the company their money back on the investment they had made just to keep her recording new songs.
Though a second album was expected in 2016, the blonde beauty later told fans that there wasn’t a release date for a full project until Island Records had given their approval, but as they were skeptical of releasing any further music from Iggy, she quickly realized that her career had stalled because of the hold-up.
And quite frankly, Iggy’s relevance was slowly but surely fading the more time it was taking her to spice up the charts with her catchy tunes.
Two years would go by before Iggy would announce her departure from Island Records, insisting: “I love Island, but don’t want a label, there are conversations happening at the moment.
“I want to be my own boss. I feel I would be better off if I could make my own timeline etc choices and I have the funds to do it.”
“Well still no music this year tho [sic]… I am no where near ready direction wise etc with the stuff I’ve been working on and I don’t wanna jump the gun and have some messy era aesthetically. I’m aiming to be ready to share new music early next year!”
After taking the independent route, Iggy decided that before commencing work on her second album, she was going to leave Hollywood and find inspiration elsewhere — this time, it was Atlanta, Georgia.
Her music career had drastically been affected by the delay of a new project while her relationship with Young turned sour after the basketball star was alleged to have cheated on his then-fiancée on several occasions, resulting in their not-so-surprising split.
So, it seemed as if Iggy had every reason in wanting to leave Hollywood — even if it wasn’t a permanent move. But given that she’s been living there for almost two years now, the “Bounce” hitmaker has clearly made herself feel right at home in ATL.
Iggy had previously lived in Atlanta in the late 2000s, shortly after ditching Australia to embark on a rap career in Miami, before she would find herself signing a record deal in Los Angeles.
In November 2018, she gushed about her move in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, where she revealed: “Yeah, I'm so bad at keeping secrets, so I can't wait to announce everything and kind of, like, let everybody know.
“I'm actually moving to Atlanta in two weeks. Yeah, so I'm gonna go and start recording there and finish my album…and it's really good.”
"I used to live there a really long time ago," she explained. "Maybe 10 years ago now, so it's just good to go back and see old people and get new energy, new things.”