Iggy Azalea is getting ready to drop her first album in five years, titled In My Defense, and it's already off to a tremendous start with her new single "Sally Walker."
As you might have imagined, "Sally Walker," is inspired by the familiar nursery rhyme ("Little Sally Walker"), and as Iggy explains, was the result of a nostalgic studio session with producer J. White. She tells us of how the song came to be, "We were talking, just about all our old favorite songs, rap songs and nostalgic things that we remembered about being a teenager or being a kid. And somehow me and J. White, who produced the song, got to talking about nursery rhymes and discussing which ones or things, games that we played in Australia, and which ones we didn't, which ones he played in America or knew of. And 'Sally Walker' is the one thing that we both knew, and that we both kind of had our own nostalgic little memories from when we were kids. So, we remixed it, cause I feel like some of the best, most catchiest hip-hop songs throughout history have been remixes of nursery rhymes. So, I wanted one of my own and nobody had done 'Sally Walker.' So, we decided we'd see how it went, and we just uploaded it to Instagram not even knowing if it would come out or ever make it as a single, and people just loved it so much that I decided that I have to put this song out, and it's gone really good."
The official "Sally Walker" music video is as eye-catching as the song is ear-catching, as it was partially filmed in a cemetery — which didn't creep out Iggy at all. She says, "It wasn't weird filming in a cemetery because growing up I lived down the street from a cemetery, and I used to walk through the cemetery to go to high school. So, maybe I'm a bit immune to the weirdness." But, the song's visual also features some famous faces from RuPaul's Drag Race including Shea Couleé, Mayhem Miller and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. Azalea is a huge fan of the show and was looking for any reason possible to include these stars in one of her music videos, and "Sally Walker" was it. The song does shout out the show after all ("Don't get your a** dragged like RuPaul"). Iggy tells us:
"I really just wanted any excuse to put my favorite girls in a video, and I've been the biggest Shea fan, since I saw her perform live in Chicago at this drag bar, and she just blew me away, she was so good. So, I was kind of looking for an excuse for a long time, and I wrote the RuPaul punchline into 'Sally Walker,' so I was like, this is my chance to have an excuse to put them in my video. And I actually asked a couple of different girls, and some of them were busy working, and some of them could come. So, Mayhem and Vanjie and Shea were able to come and be in my video, and it was really exciting. I felt like I was fangirling over it, getting to watch them do their thing. And I edited the video, and I think I put them in the video almost more than I put myself in. Just cause that's what I would want to see, and it was really good. Other people seemed like they were excited that they were in there too. I didn't know if everybody would know who they were, and they did, so I know it's not just me that loves them and that made me feel really happy."
"Sally Walker" is setting up Iggy's long-awaited sophomore studio album, In My Defense, and Azalea is eager to share the project with fans. She tells us, "I'm so excited for In My Defense because it's probably the only thing I've ever released that was organized and has no delays. I'm very proud of that, but also I think they're gonna love it. I hope that it's going to be everybody's summer album. That's why I'm really making sure I get it out right at the beginning of summer, so that everybody can just live with it, and love it, and have memories of it this year. That's my goal for my fans."
For In My Defense, Azalea worked with J. White to produce every song on the album and she says of working with him, "We were fans of the same things and that made for a good connection, and he did every song. The whole thing is such a collaboration and it's made it, so, I don't know, it's just so sticky and gluey and all good in one thing, and that's what I love about it. So excited about it. It was the best time making it."
While fans are enjoying "Sally Walker," they have a lot to look forward to on the rest of the album as Iggy is preparing to release another new song called "Started," as well as a track that she refers to as the "atomic bomb of the album" called "Freak of the Week." The rapper tells us:
"'Sally Walker' was my favorite song for a long time, but then we made 'Started,' which is going to be my next single, and nobody would admit that it was the new favorite song in the room. And then one day, J. White was like, 'I'm just gonna say it, don't judge me, 'Started' is my favorite song.' And I was like, 'No way, I've been thinking the same thing.' And then we made a song that same night called, 'Freak of the Week,' which is even better. It's kind of like my atomic bomb of the album, I think, but I wanted to make sure that I saved my absolute favorite as a surprise, because I don't wanna have the best and then everybody listen to the music that's on the album when it comes out and they already had the absolute biggest present under the tree. So, I've saved the biggest present under the Christmas tree for the album and hope they'll like it too. But, 'Freak of the Week,' it's my favorite song, it's pretty cheeky."