Digital Distortion

Background

In December 2014, Azalea announced plans of a new tour through her Twitter account called The Great Escape Tour, stating that it went along with the title of her upcoming second studio album, which would also be promoted on it. On 4 May 2015, she released a collaborative single with Britney Spears, "Pretty Girls", produced by The Invisible Men, who had previously worked with Azalea on several songs of her debut album and its reissue. In March, it was announced the tour was being postponed to the Fall, with Azalea saying she'd take advantage of the free time to finish recording her album. On 29 May 2015, it was reported The Great Escape Tour had been canceled and there would be a new tour planned around Azalea's new album to be released in the following year. Azalea later clarified she "had a different creative change of heart" and would also be taking a break to figure out the progression she wanted for her sound and visuals.

Recording and production

In January 2015, Azalea declared that she had started working on her second studio album. In February 2015, during an interview, Azalea stated she was focusing on writing songs that didn't necessarily have features as hooks and that was one of her goals. On that same month, Jess Glynne claimed she had worked on a song for Azalea with The Invisible Men and Nicola Roberts. In March 2015, while talking about the direction for the new project, she commented that with her first album being pushed back many times she had "two years of recording on and off," which was reflected in the album a lot, "I talk about trying to make it, trying to breakthrough," concluding that her second album would be "a little bit more up-tempo and just really fun. I just want to have something so summer and so girly, so loud and obnoxious and braggadocios."

In June 2015, when asked details on her new music, Azalea explained she had scrapped six months of work to start from scratch, later saying she would like to add more sounds she's previously used on mixtapes and that a new single would only be released in 2016. In September 2015, Azalea revealed that her second album was being produced entirely by D.R.U.G.S, the production team that handled her breakthrough mixtape Ignorant Art (2011). In October 2015, she noted having writing sessions in the studio with Max Martin. In December 2015, Azalea posted on Twitter she had also been writing "some last minute hooks" with Bebe Rexha. In February 2016, R. City mentioned they had worked with Azalea for her upcoming album. Azalea talked about the album's production in an interview for the April 2016 issue of Elle Canada: "I wouldn't say it's an angry album. It's still uptempo and fun, but it’s a little more grown-up and moody. I didn't want people’s commentary to take me away from the style of music that I make..." She referred to its sound being related with the title claiming that the album "has a bit of an electronic, digital influence, so the name fits sonically. But then, of course, topically, we all know the different things that were said about me in 2015," continuing, "it's interesting that we live in this age of digital distortion where we're all distorting each other and distorting ourselves and our perception of who we all are, and none of it is really accurate anymore."

In March 2016, while speaking to etalk, Azalea emphasized: "My approach was different, I didn't think so much about what I thought would be successful. I just really wanted to have a good time in the studio and have fun creating stuff, trying not to have that pressure of having to succeed." She affirmed there would still be featured artists on the album and enjoying the "companionship" provided by them, despite trying not to lean on collaborations, "My first single has no feature on it which was my number one goal, to try to achieve a song which was strong without needing somebody else to sing it," declaring to have had singing lessons in the previous year. Visually, contrasting to her "campy" and "kitschy" previous album looks, Azalea would try to be "a bit more fashion-forward." In May 2016, Azalea stated she was working with Zedd. She elaborated that he had re-produced two tracks from her album and produced another original song. Azalea also confirmed YG and French Montana would be featured on the album. In August 2016, she had more recording sessions with Verse Simmonds. The following month, Azalea said she had recorded new material during the Summer after ending her relationship with her fiancé, "I just kind of felt like, on top of me needing the personal time, then feeling, 'Okay, I'm single now. I want to have sexy songs. I want to say stuff about being single.'"

Release and promotion

In October 2015, Azalea announced her second album would be called Digital Distortion. She also announced that it was set for release in the following year, along with a buzz track "Azillion" and the project's lead single. In December 2015, she revealed that the single would be titled "Team" in a Twitter Q&A with fans. During that month, she also shared snippets of both "Team" and "Azillion", along with another song tentatively named "7teen". On 8 January 2016, "Azillion" was made available for free streaming on SoundCloud. After the track's premiere, Azalea claimed that her main record label, UK-based Virgin EMI, did not "allow" a music video for it among other frustrations, deciding to permanently switch to her US label Def Jam. She then previewed the lenticular cover art for the album.

"Team" was released for digital download on 18 March 2016 along with a dance video. On 31 March 2016, its official music video was uploaded on Azalea's Vevo channel. In September 2016, Azalea explained she was delaying Digital Distortion to 2017, despite it being ready for a July 2016 release, after experiencing personal setbacks, "[I] just needed to have some me time to get my life in order and process the changes that are happening in my private life," and wanting to record new songs that reflected her mindset: "when I wrote [my album] I was about to get married ... I don't want to go and promote my album and get asked about my relationship that has just crumbled." While in Australia for her judging role on The X Factor, Azalea disclosed that a new single would be out in January 2017 and feature another female artist. On 3 March 2017 she announced via Twitter than she would be releasing a new single with rapper Lil Uzi Vert the following day with more music to come throughout the month.

Recorded songs

Songs recorded for the album: