The New Classic (Deluxe Version)

Editors’ Notes "Ain't no going back now," sings Australian triple threat Iggy Azalea on the majestic opening track of the emphatically titled The New Classic. It's a good thing the rapper/singer/model has such resolve; her debut album faced long delays as she navigated the major-label maze. Having finally arrived, it posits Azalea as pop-hop's latest superstar: a nimble, catty rapper who sounds perfectly at home amid a panoply of club-destined bangers. Helmed by a who's-who of in-demand producers (The Invisible Men, The Messengers, Stargate), The New Classic is impossibly sleek, its beats revved up and zooming like a Ferrari down Rodeo Drive. "100," a slinking guitar groove produced by and featuring the Atlanta trap trio Watch the Duck, includes Azalea running down her shopping list: "No Michael Kors, just Tom Ford." She invites haters to "walk a mile in these Louboutins" on "Work," a trap anthem that describes Azalea's hardscrabble background: "Sixteen in the middle of Miami, no money, no family." Clearly she's come a long way.