“Fancy” by Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX

song info

    “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX (official video) is an electro-hop song.

link to the static song information page for this song:
http://www.thissideofsanity.com/music/songs/fa/fancy.php

    Summary quotation from Wikipedia:

    “Fancy” is a song by Australian hip hop recording artist Iggy Azalea, featuring a guest appearance from English singer-songwriter Charli XCX. The song was first released through Island Records, on 17 February 2014, as the third single from her debut studio album, The New Classic (2014), and became available worldwide on 6 April 2014 through Virgin EMI and Universal. “Fancy” serves as the album’s fourth single outside North America. It is her first song to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Background and release
    On 5 December 2013, an unfinished song by Azalea, which surfaced with the title “Leave It” was leaked online. Azalea later revealed the song was produced by The Invisible Men and The Arcade, whom she collaborated with on her entire album. On 5 February 2014, Azalea announced that she would be releasing a new single titled “Fancy”, featuring English singer-songwriter Charli XCX, later that week. The song was premiered on BBC Radio 1 Xtra at 7PM GMT on 6 February 2014. After the song’s premiere, it was revealed “Fancy” was the song that had leaked titled “Leave It”. On 17 February 2014, the song was serviced to urban contemporary radio in the United Kingdom as the album’s fourth single.

Composition and lyrics
    “Fancy” was written by Iggy Azalea, Charli XCX, Kurtis McKenzie and the production team The Invisible Men, who also produced it, alongside The Arcade. “Fancy” is an electro-hop number with stabby synths, hip-hop chants, and finger snaps. Lyrically, the song is about being “the realest”, “bringing ’88 back,” and ignoring “haters”, while Charli XCX brings some recklessness, threatening to trash the hotel and raid the minibar. “Trashed the hotel / let’s get drunk on the minibar,” chants Charli. “Hot girl, hands off, don’t touch that,” raps Iggy after jumping in. “Look at it / I bet you’re wishin’ you could clutch that.” “I be the I-G-G-Y, put my name in bold/ I been workin’, I’m up in here with some change to throw,” Iggy brags. And then, Charli sings the chorus: “I’m so fancy, you already know/ I’m in the fast lane from L.A. to Tokyo.”

Critical reception
    “Fancy” has received an overall positive reception from music critics. Brad Stern of MTV Buzzworthy remarked, “Not since Fergie’s “Glamorous” has there been such a spectacularly sass-filled ode to the glam life,” praising their chemistry, calling it “a match made in heaven that we never would’ve expected.” Chris Tomas of Hip Hop Wired wrote that the song “could be the hit record Iggy Azalea has been looking for,” noting that “Charli XCX also provides a very potent chorus that women will be chanting in their clubs, cars, and the like.” Mike Wass of Idolator claimed the track is “the duet we’ve all been waiting for” and “a swag-drenched hip hop/pop delight.” Janice Llamoca of Hip Hop DX defined it as “a hip hop-slash-pop party anthem in which the emcee lyrically displays her confidence”.
    Joe Gross of Rolling Stone gave the song a score of 3 out of 5 stars, writing that Azalea “deftly handles the ratchet beat while Charli XCX’s earworm hook holds it all down,” writing that the song doesn’t bring ’88 back, but “they can swing on chandeliers with the best of them.” Jamie Parmenter of Renowned for Sound noted that the song has “influences in Missy Elliot, and Iggy is almost playing a character or parody of herself like Eminem is renowned for,” praising Charli XCX for “nicely break up the song, sounding like an edgy Gwen Stefani, matching like for like with Iggy’s rebel style.” Bill Lamb of About.com echoed the same thought, praising “Charli XCX’s Gwen Stefani styled vocals on the chorus” and noting that its lyrics “has been done even better by Stefani nearly 10 years ago on ‘Luxurious’.” Although praising Charli’s inclusion on the song, writing that “it sells the record,” he noted that “everything sounds a bit too recycled” in the song and didn’t praise its lyrics, calling it “tiresome obsession with material culture delivered with a straight face.”

Music video
Background and production
    The music video for the song was shot in February 2014 in Los Angeles and premiered on 4 March 2014, on VEVO. Directed by Director X, the visuals are inspired by American comedy film Clueless, with Azalea playing Beverly Hills socialite Cher Horowitz and XCX as school-girl bestie Tai Frasier, in a remake of the 1995 cult classic originally starring Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash and Brittany Murphy. On 4 March 2014, a first look with behind-the-scenes footage for “Fancy” was uploaded on Azalea’s YouTube channel, shortly before the music video premiere.
Synopsis
    The video is filled with remakes of classic Clueless scenes, and the outfits are skillfully reinvented to channel the famous stylings of the movie with a slightly modern edge. “Fancy” was also shot in the same Los Angeles high school where Clueless was filmed.
    The video opens with Iggy Azalea in her wardrobe finding by a computer the perfect clothes matching for the speech during school lesson, like the protagonist of ‘Clueless’ Cher Horowitz. After a scene with some cheerleaders, the video moves in the schoolyard: here Charli XCX and Iggy Azalea are sitting on a table and the first one sings the hook. Later, the video develops during a Tennis lesson and the main artist dances with some other characters close to a chain-link fence. Alternated, Iggy Azalea with two other characters who play the part of Iggy’s bestfriend and her boyfriend (inspired by the role of Dionne Davenport and her boyfriend Murray) are seen driving in the highway. Then the video shifts to a modern version of the christmas “Val party” from the movie, where the two protagonists arrive with their convertible. The video ends with the singer and Charli XCX in the school.
Reception
    Chanel Parks of The Huffington Post wrote: “While it might be a little, dare we say it, sacrilegious to replicate this cult classic — we were wondering when there was going to be a music video homage to our favorite movie of all time. So props to you, Iggy.” Brent Taalur Ramsey of Paste magazine praised the video, writing that “Azalea combined a quintessential 90s culture moment with her hip-hop vibes […] this young Aussie brought it all together with some major beats and classic outfits—a sound and look that will be totally trending in the music world of 2014.”

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