Iggy Azalea Needed To Have A ‘Psychotic Breakdown’ Before Staging Her Comeback

Iggy Azalea nearly disappeared last year after she cancelled her highly anticipated first arena tour to promote her debut album, "The New Classic." Four months before the first schedule performance, she cancelled the "Great Escape" tour and claimed, "I just feel I deserve a break."

Almost a year later, the 25-year-old rapper (born Amethyst Amelia Kelly) is now saying she needed to have a "psychotic breakdown" before she could launch a comeback. She released a new song, "Azillion," in January and plans to release the lead single "Team" off her upcoming album, "Digital Distortion" on March 18.

"I had to have a psychotic breakdown last year," Azalea said. "I felt tired and stressed out."

The Australian native faced intense media criticism and was involved in several high-profile feuds with Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj. She also cancelled a performance at last summer's Pittsburgh Pride event when LGBT groups accused her of homophobia stemming from now-deleted tweets.

"Last year, I felt like I was definitely not in control of the media's narrative of me," Azalea said. "It made me feel very out of control of my own life or my ability to have my own perception of who I was. You don't want someone else writing your narrative and making you the villain."

Azalea originally postponed her "Great Escape" tour due to production complications. She's planning a new tour for her "Digital Distortion" album and is ready to get back out there.

"Now, I feel like my energy's renewed," she said. "I just realized that, you know what, you can't control it and I think I accepted that and moved on to living my life."

She also will be tying the knot soon with her fiancé Nick Young. The Los Angeles Lakers player proposed at his 30th birthday part in June. The couple started dating in October 2013.

"It's too much stuff! I've got to have a wedding and go on a f-----g honeymoon and... put on an arena tour, all across the whole world," she said.

Azalea did find herself at another controversy earlier this year when Macklemore and Ryan Lewis called out her and Miley Cyrus in their new track, "White Privilege II." She questioned why Macklemore had been so friendly if he felt she had "exploited" black culture and he responded that he was implicating himself for stealing that culture and music as much as she and Cyrus had.

Azalea will perform her new single, "Team," on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Tuesday, March 22.

Tags
Iggy Azalea, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Nick young
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