Iggy Azalea has blamed streaming for her poor album sales after her sophomore effort In My Defense failed to make a big impact on the U.S. charts.
The 29-year-old rapper admitted on Twitter she was feeling “defeated” after the long-awaited follow up to her 2014 album The New Classic only debuted at No. 50 on the Billboard 200 – five years after her debut release topped the U.S. Billboard 200 charts.
“I think sometimes I feel defeated because I look at the chart and see how much streaming impacts it, and think, ‘How can I win when I’m up against THAT?'” she tweeted. “But I also feel like: ‘Okay, and?’ There are two options. Quit. Or shut up and just keep fighting. So I’ll keep on fighting!”
The album’s disappointing performance comes after it was mauled by music critics, who called it “unoriginal” and accused the Australian hip-hop artist of cultural appropriation.
“The album is stacked with cartoonish approximations of what she thinks a rap song should sound like,” wrote Pitchfork, who scored the album a 3.8 out of 10.
Responding to a fan on Twitter last week, Iggy admitted she was unsurprised by the bad reviews, and insisted critics have never been fans of her music.
“Babe, relax,” Iggy responded. “Critics have literally NEVER given any album I’ve made a good review and I’m still here! What did you think was gonna happen?”
Despite the setback, the Fancy hitmaker announced she plans to start work soon on her third album.
“Two weeks till I’m back in the Studio! Woke up today feeling a little defeated, ending the day feeling motivated,” she tweeted.
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