Iggy Azalea and Ellie Goulding Pay Haters No Mind on ‘Heavy Crown’

Iggy Azalea knows exactly what you think about her, so as she kicks off her 2014 victory lap — marked by next week’s The New Classic reissue, Reclassified — she’s making sure to gloat. The Australian rapper dedicates new song “Heavy Crown” to “everyone who said I’d never make it.” She lets a hook from “Burn” siren Ellie Goulding warn listeners that the emcee is sticking to her guns, no matter how polarizing: “You can’t always please the crowd / but I’m still not bowing down… bitch, I got it now.”

“Heavy Crown” won’t change the minds of anyone who’s already written off the rapper, but Iggy’s double-time rap over the militaristic march seems more at ease than the occasionally clunky verses on early singles. (See her hate-it-or-love-it verse on “Work.”) Iggy critics have docked points for the way her rapping style can sound forced and over-studied, but “Heavy Crown” suggests she’s discovering how to not to be so stiff. In the year that saw “Fancy” stay No. 1 for seven weeks, she’s certainly earned the right to kick back and relax.