Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea have combined for “Fancy” part 2. “Pretty Girls” was manned by the production trio the Invisible Men, which would explain exactly why the song is just like “Fancy,” you already knowwww.
This time, however, the singer is front-and-center with Iggy Iggz riding shotgun, the two classy gals exploring the space where men “got one thing on their mind,” and pretty girls “jump the line,” because “it's just funny, bees to the honey.”
Pretty much any big dumb pop song is gonna look silly when you crop down its lyrics to the brassiest tacks, but this song arrives at a time when Azalea is looking to be queen of the summer (songs) for a second sunny season after a full winter of bruising. The Aussie rapper went home empty-handed at the Grammys ceremony in February, and fell flat during “Saturday Night Live” October. She quit Twitter in early 2015 for a while after abuses were hurled her way for her looks… and for often and shamelessly co-opting black culture for her rap persona.
After a rough few months, Azalea is probably hoping to hit back at the haters and have a No. 1 song on the Hot 100 by time we're drinking from koozies on Memorial Day. But that magic that propelled the senselessly catchy “Fancy” didn't come with the weight of these months, and the masses moving on from that “hey” Mustard beat. For as much adoration as I have for Britney Spears, this isn't her finest moment either, even though (despite the co-lead title) it's her vehicle; it's like she was given instructions to blurt consonant sounds to a bouncing ball.
They don't just sound hungry here, amongst all the high-end snaps, 808 umphs and throwback keyboard. They sound thirsty. Too thirsty. Like the single's artwork, this thing is a mess.
Were it to burrow its way into common teenaged vernacular like so many Gwen Stefani “Hollaback Girls,” then all you have to look forward to a solstice of young'uns screwing up their faces into duck bills and beeping “We're just so pretty!”