Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born 7 June 1990), known professionally as Iggy Azalea, is an Australian rapper, songwriter, and model. At the age of 16, she moved to the United States in order to pursue a career in music. Azalea earned public recognition after releasing the music videos for her songs “Pussy” and “Two Times” on YouTube. Azalea shortly after released her debut mixtape, Ignorant Art (2011), and subsequently signed a recording contract with American rapper T.I.’s Grand Hustle label.

Azalea’s debut studio album, The New Classic (2014), peaked among the top five on several charts worldwide, but received mixed reviews from within the industry. The album eventually topped the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, making Azalea the first non-American female rapper to reach the top of the chart. The New Classic was preceded by Azalea’s debut single “Work” and chart-topping single “Fancy” (featuring Charli XCX), which hit the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Azalea was featured on Ariana Grande’s 2014 single “Problem”, which peaked at number two behind “Fancy”. With these hits, Azalea became the second musical act (behind The Beatles) to rank at number one and two simultaneously on the Hot 100 with their debut appearances on the chart. In addition, she achieved three top ten hits simultaneously on the Hot 100 with the aforementioned songs and the album’s fifth single, “Black Widow” (featuring Rita Ora), which debuted later that year.

After her debut album, Azalea released a slew of singles to build anticipation for her intended second album, Digital Distortion. However, a series of conflicts with her label, as well as personal conflicts, resulted in the project being cancelled. Consequently, Azalea switched labels, releasing the EP Survive the Summer (2018) under Island Records. Further disagreements led to Azalea becoming an independent artist and creating her own label, Bad Dreams, through a distribution deal with Empire. Her second album, In My Defense, was released in 2019, followed by another EP, Wicked Lips, that same year, and a third studio album, The End of an Era, in 2021.

Azalea’s accolades include two American Music Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, a People’s Choice Award, four Teen Choice Awards and four Grammy Award nominations. Azalea’s official YouTube channel has accumulated 3.4 billion views, with 15 music videos receiving over 100 million views on Vevo.

An aerial perspective of Mullumbimby, New South Wales, Australia, where Azalea grew up
Amethyst Amelia Kelly was born in Sydney and grew up in Mullumbimby, New South Wales. Her father, Brendan Kelly, was a painter and comic artist, while her mother, Tanya, cleaned holiday houses and hotels. Azalea lived in a house that her father built by hand from mud-bricks, surrounded by 5 hectares (12 acres) of land. She has two siblings named Mathias and Emerald Kelly. Azalea has also said that her father “made her look at [art] as a teenager”, which has always influenced her life and work. She began rapping at age 14. Before embarking on a solo career, Azalea formed a group with two other girls from her neighborhood: “I was like, I could be the rapper. This could be like TLC. I’ll be Left Eye.” Azalea eventually decided to disband the group because the other girls were not taking it seriously: “I take everything I do serious [sic]. I’m too competitive.”

In pursuit of her desire to move to America, Azalea dropped out of high school. She worked and saved the money she earned by cleaning hotel rooms and holiday houses with her mother. She claims to have hated school, which, apart from art class, only made her miserable. She also said she had no friends and was teased for her homemade outfits. Azalea traveled to the United States in 2006, shortly before she turned 16. She told her parents she was going “on a holiday” with a friend, but eventually decided to stay and shortly afterward told them she was not coming back home: “I was drawn to America because I felt like an outsider in my own country, I was in love with hip hop, and America is the birthplace of that, so I figured the closer I was to the music, the happier I’d be. I was right.” She recalled, “My mum was crying, saying, ‘Just be safe.’ I was thinking, ‘I’m going by myself. I’m fucking crazy!’.” After she arrived in the US, she received her General Educational Development (GED), and resided in the country on a visa waiver for six years, returning to Australia every three months to renew it. Azalea worked in the US illegally until February 2013 when she was granted a five-year O visa. She chose the name Iggy after her dog. In 2018, Azalea was approved as a permanent U.S. resident.