Despite a career that’s seen almost as many dips as peaks, Austrailian rapper Iggy Azalea is still plugging away, searching for the one single that will return her to the charts and the public’s good graces. “Savior” may or not be that single, but much like many of her previous ones, it’s a hooky, upbeat joint with a poppy, tropical beat that reaches for pop appeal while displaying Iggy’s signature, hardcore rap-inspired flow.
This time, though, she brings along a secret weapon in the form of Quavo, who has a Gucci Mane-esque habit of appearing on just about everything. Here, he is merely relegated to hook duty, crooning the track’s trademark refrain: “I’ve been looking for a savior.” Iggy also borrows a bit from Lisa Stansfield’s 1989 hit “Been Around The World,” underpinning the song’s romantic overtones and perhaps aligning herself a bit more strongly with past pop rappers like Sean “Diddy” Combs (aka Puff Daddy, aka Love).
Iggy seems to have taken her many, many lumps in stride, but couldn’t help boiling over at recent, sexist comments made by Recording Academy president Neil Portnow. After the most recent Grammy Awards, where only one woman — Lorde — won any award, Portnow said that women need to “step up” to receive more acknowledgment. Iggy, who has worked multiple singles and endured dozens of internet thinkpieces on her place in hip-hop, felt that she and others have more than stepped up, only to be ignored or outright mocked by their male peers and executives.
No word on whether “Savior” will land on the oft-delayed Digital Distortion (or whether Digital Distortion is even still planned for release), but expect Iggy to keep doing what she does, trying to find the hit that will save her flagging career.
