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Sauntering on stage to a sold-out Shepherds Bush Empire, Iggy Azalea greets an excitable crowd with an exuberance that appears utterly unphased by the week's unpleasant allegations.
Swishing her muted platinum locks and sashaying her hips in sequin hotpants and a powder-blue harlequin top, she transcends the controversy by transforming on stage into the most badass of high school cheerleaders.
The audience is a mixture of crop top, bindi-clad clad teens taking selfies, young children in sequins and art-school-esque adults. Two twerking boys near Gigwise just can’t stop gushing about 'their girl Iz', shrieking with anticipation whenever the music slows. Urging the crowd to ‘Bounce’ for her, the Amazonian presence that is Azalea is flanked by four gymnast-style dancers, her powerful verses supported with stuttering electro beats as each flirtatious lyric is met with insatiable screams.
She spits bars skilfully against a backdrop of sizzling flames for 'Change Your Life', her American twang seductively snarling through her break-out track, ‘Pu$$y’ which is preceded by a red hot clip of Grace Jones deriding Eddie Murphy in the 1992 film, Boomerang.
Soon, the shadowed silhouettes of exotic dancers appear on the screens behind her and the Empire swiftly descends into a sparkling gentlemen's club. Urging her dancers to 'drop that sheeeet' on a shining pole centre-stage, Azalea really comes into her gritty own. Two pre-teens in bright pink 'Iggy' baseball caps are quickly spirited away at this point by aghast parents, misled by the Australian's bubblegum chart hits. Azalea herself keeps her moves tame throughout, with just a few teasing dips of her famous hourglass figure garnering hysterical screams from the young crowd.
Her considerable rap talent, showcased in tracks like 'No Mediocre' and 'Problem' is more than enough to do the talking. 'Black Widow' sees a suprise cameo from a glittering Rita Ora, clad in a skin tight midnight gown. Her powerful vocal is more than a match for Iggy's rich bars and their chemistry is warming to see even against a backdrop of ominous-looking spiderwebs. Ora applauds her friend and leaves her with a supportive kiss on the cheek.
Arguably the most anticipated track of the night, ‘Fancy’, is performed last against a backdrop of candy coloured swirls and yellow and pink lights penetrate the audience as she proves why she is one of the most engaging rap talents around. Sparkling silver confetti bursts from the ceiling and the crowd erupts, transported straight to a nineties pop arena tour.
Towards the close, after oaying homage to her fans, Azalea addresses her effervescent audience for the first time; ‘It’s been a hell of a week. Sometimes I think you can have the most awful, terrible week but coming on stage and seeing all your faces makes me feel so much better, thanks for supporting me. I could be broke and lonely but as long as I have you guys, I’ll be fine’. With the blow of a kiss, Azalea strides confidently off stage, proving that whatever the tabloids say, she's a rapper truly at the top of her game.
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