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"Team" is the lead single of Iggy Azalea's scrapped second studio album, Digital Distortion. It was released on March 18, 2016, followed by a music video to accompany the song on March 31, 2016. It debuted at 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Background

In October 2015, Azalea announced her second studio album was titled Digital Distortion and set be released in the following year, along with a buzz track titled "Azillion" and the project's lead single premiering before its release. In December, during a Twitter Q&A with fans, she revealed that the lead single would be titled "Team", later sharing a snippet of the track and clarifying: "lead is TEAM. meaning: I've got my own back, I am my own team. 20% meaningful 70% bop 10% ratchet." In March 2016, she announced the song would be released on 18 March and unveiled the single's cover artwork, a "colorfully distorted" portrait of Azalea with a white cap. She also shared a second snippet featuring Azalea chanting the lyrics: "Yeah, that's all I need/ That's all I need/ Baby I got me, only friend I need/ Playing on my team is someone like me."

During an interview with etalk that same month, Azalea commented while talking about her upcoming album, "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." "It was good to get back to doing a song where I only had to consider myself when creating," elaborating later on how her experience influenced the making of the track, "If I'm gonna have everyone try to come at me, then I have to support my own self and I have to be strong on my own and I don't need all of that extra stuff. I'm just gonna rock it myself."

On 14 March, she continued teasing the track on Twitter posting another preview addressing: "Kylie Jenner, we know you're technically a Jenner, but you're still a Kardashian in our hearts," with the pun lyrics, "Watch a new car dash/ Call me Kylie." On March 18, a "dance video" for "Team" was uploaded on Azalea's Vevo channel and the song became available for digital download on iTunes. Following the release, it topped the real-time Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 chart, becoming the "most shared and discussed track on the social-media network for five straight hours through noon ET."

Music video

On 31 March 2016, the music video was uploaded on Azalea's Vevo channel. Directed by Fabien Montique, the visuals start off with Azalea making a break from a crowd in a Ferrari, narrowly escaping the stampede, performing donuts and burnouts to make her way to an airport where she heads through security before meeting up with her team, composed by dancers and supporters, on a private hangar. From there, everyone douses an aircraft in spray paint, covering it with graffiti tags related to her upcoming album "Digital Distortion". Azalea is then also featured in a dance breakdown. The police eventually show up and escort Azalea inside the jet where she comes face to face with an eerily familiar figure with a digitally distorted face that she had encountered along the clip and is now recognized by herself.

Trivia

  • In some live perfomances, the line "Are you fucking with the team?" is replaced with "Are you rolling with the team?" for a clean version.
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