Switch
by Iggy Azalea (featuring Anitta)

Album: Single release only (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Here, Iggy Azalea delivers a swaggering tune with lightning-quick rhymes full of braggadocio, laced with some sexually charged euphemisms. Many of the rhymes are aimed at an unnamed ex.

    He don't love you, that ring ain't big enough

    As soon as the song was released, fans started speculating the song is aimed at Azalea's former fiancé Nick "Swaggy P" Young. The rapper split from him in 2016 after discovering he was fathering a baby with an ex-girlfriend.
  • Azalea told People the track is primarily a women's empowerment anthem. "I wanted to make a song that could be fun to dance to, but the lyrics when you really listen to them are very powerful," she said, adding "it's not a victimized sexualization" but instead more a matter of "a woman being in control of what I want to do and when I want to go and when I want to stop."
  • AzaIea recruited Brazilian pop star Anitta to join her on the song. She said Anitta's feature was a natural fit. "[The song] has that tropical vibe and a Latin flavor people are really enjoying right now," she said. "I wanted to find the perfect girl who already had that kind of style and as soon as I saw her videos on YouTube, I was like 'This is the perfect person!' She's very unapologetic and strong but super feminine. We clicked straight away."
  • The track's breezy Latin production is courtesy of Eric Weaver and The Family, who also worked on songs like Fifth Harmony's "Top Down" and JoJo's "Save My Soul."
  • Azalea also went all-out tropical for the song's music video, which features custom-made costumes and real-life toucans. "It's sort of this fantasy safari of badass women," she said. "Some of the stuff I would see back on camera and think to myself, 'Wow, this must seem like it's all green-screen,' but it's really happening! I feel really nostalgic thinking about the music videos I liked as a child and not knowing how much was reality or what was computer-generated. I want to be able to give that to the kids and adults of my generation."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Prince

PrinceFact or Fiction

Prince is shrouded in mystery, making him an excellent candidate for Fact or Fiction. Is he really a Scientologist? Does he own an exotic animal?

Grateful Dead Characters

Grateful Dead CharactersMusic Quiz

Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?

Glen Ballard

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

Ramones

RamonesFact or Fiction

A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & TearsSongwriter Interviews

The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.