In My Defense is the second studio album by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. It was released independently on 19 July 2019, by Azalea's label Bad Dreams Records and Empire Distribution serving as the follow-up to The New Classic (2014).[3] The album contains features from Lil Yachty, Kash Doll, Juicy J, and Iggy's protégée Stini, with production including J. White Did It, who executive produced the album with handling production on majority of its tracks, as well as with Smash David, Go Grizzly and Rico Beats.
In My Defense was preceded by three singles. "Sally Walker", released on 15 March 2019, debuted and peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Started" was released as the second single on 3 May 2019. "Fuck It Up" featuring American rapper Kash Doll was released as the third and final single on the day of the album's release.
The album debuted at number 50 on the US Billboard 200 and number 6 on the Independent Albums chart selling 11,261 album equivalent units in its first week. The album received generally negative reviews from music critics.
Background
In early 2016, Azalea released "Team",[4] the intended lead single from her second studio album, then titled Digital Distortion. Several other songs were released throughout 2016, 2017 and 2018, including the singles "Mo Bounce", "Switch" and "Savior". In late 2017, Azalea announced that the album had been shelved completely because of her ex-fiancé basketball player Nick Young cheating on her[5][6] and she was working on a new record. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that she had signed to Island Records. In mid-2018, Azalea released the extended playSurvive the Summer, which includes the RIAA-certified single, "Kream", featuring Tyga.[7] Several months after the EP's release, Azalea announced she had left Island Records and had become an independent unsigned artist.[citation needed]
In August 2018, Azalea expressed her anticipation to record her album on Twitter.[8] In November, Azalea signed a multi-million dollar distribution deal with Empire[9] after her departure from Island Records.[10][11][12][13] In February 2019, Azalea announced the first single release, "Sally Walker". The single was released on 15 March 2019.[14][15] The second single "Started" was released along with its music video on 3 May 2019.[16] Azalea also teased an upcoming collaboration with Brazilian drag queenPabllo Vittar on Twitter. On 28 June 2019, "Just Wanna" was released as a promotional single along with the album pre-order.[citation needed]
"Sally Walker" was released on March 15, 2019, as the lead single for the album. The single would experience moderate success, reaching number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 27 on the US Rhythmic Chart, marking Iggy's first appearance on both charts, since her single "Kream" in 2018. The song was also performed in Las Vegas, Nevada on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! Show. The music video was released the same day as the single's release and featured a cameo from YouTuber James Charles.[citation needed]
The second single "Started" was released on May 3, 2019, and reached number 20 on the Songs Bubbling Under Hot 100 and 76 on UK Singles Chart. Its music video was released the same day. On August 10, 2021, the RIAA certified its sales with a Gold plaque after selling 500,000 units in the United States.[17]
"Fuck It Up" featuring rapper Kash Doll was released on July 19, 2019, as the third and final single and reached number 40 on the New Zealand Hot Singles Chart.[citation needed]
"Just Wanna" was released as the only promotional single on June 28, 2019, alongside the album's pre-order.[citation needed]
In My Defense was met with negative reviews from music critics, Aggerator Metacritic the album received an average score of 39 out of 100, based on four reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[25]
AllMusic's Neil Z. Yeung said that on the album Azalea "continues bragging, boasting, and fronting without any depth or sounding pleasure".[18] In a negative review, Pitchfork's Dani Blum wrote "The album is stacked with cartoonish approximations of what she thinks a rap song should sound like: shivers of bass, the occasional 'skrrrt,' Mad Libs of designer brands and bodily fluids. Many sound like direct imitations of the rappers she admires," and critiques the album as a whole to be "Iggy cram[ming] her songs with one-liners that sound like branded Instagram captions". He praised "Sally Walker" as the best song on the album, while "Freak of the Week" was described as "a rejected track by Megan Thee Stallion".[22] Siena Yates of New Zealand Herald said that the album "half these songs feature a good 30 seconds of Iggy just repeating the title over and over, and none of them particularly stand out".[23]
Mike Neid of Idolator stated "It's raucous and unrepentant fun. A comedown would only provide a little more depth."[21] Craig Jenkins of Vulture stated "In My Defense is a funny follow-up to the frustrations of the Digital Distortion era because the title and cover art are ruses... It's an improvement over last year's EP [Survive the Summer]. Iggy Azalea seems to be in control of her career for the first time in a long time. Not everyone in the game can say the same."[26] Nicolas Tyrell of Clash magazine praised her overall improvement, "Azalea has improved in both her flow and story-telling in her time away from the mainstream", but noted the album as a whole is "delivered as a project that she thinks that we want to hear, as opposed to what is truly on her mind".[19]Tom Hull applauded the rapper for "doubl[ing] down on her hard edge here".[24]
Commercial performance
In the US, In My Defense debuted at number 50 on the US Billboard 200 with 11,261 album-equivalent units, including 5,779 pure album sales and a streaming count of 6.67 million.[27] This marks Azalea's fourth appearance on the chart. The album would also land on the US Independent Albums chart at number 6 and number 25 on the US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.
The album would peak at number 52 and 18 on the Australian Albums and Australian Urban Albums chart respectively, while also reaching number 137 on the Belgian Albums chart.
In the UK, the album did not enter the UK Albums chart but did peak at number 36 and number 35 on the UK Digital Albums and UK Independent Albums chart. It also reached number 7 on the UK R&B Albums chart.
