"Black Widow" is a song by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea featuring British singer Rita Ora. Released through Def Jam Recordings, the song impacted on mainstream radio stations in the US on 8 July 2014, as the fifth single from her debut studio album, The New Classic (2014). It was written by Azalea, Katy Perry, Sarah Hudson, Benny Blanco, and duo Stargate, while the latter also produced the song. Lyrically, it addressed revenge after a failed romantic relationship. An accompanying music video for the song was released on 13 August 2014.
Initially a track recorded by Katy Perry for her fourth studio album, Prism (2013), it was excluded from Prism track listing, and Perry handed the demo to Azalea for her to complete. "Black Widow" has been described as "channeling the Pop" genre, containing an ominous steel drum rhythm, heavy bass and a sparse beat. The song peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Azalea's third top-five hit, following "Fancy" and "Problem". The song also became Ora's first top-three hit in the US. It has also reached number one in Bulgaria and Romania, number four in the UK, and number fifteen in Australia.
Its composition has been the subject of music critics' comparisons to Perry's "Dark Horse". Other journalists praised its beat and Azalea and Ora's vocals. "Black Widow" charted due to strong digital sales during the debut week of The New Classic. Accordingly, before becoming a single it achieved peaks of number 91 in the United Kingdom and number 86 in Australia, and appeared on several component charts. Azalea has performed the song live as part of the setlist for her first headlining tour, The New Classic Tour (2014).
Background
In early 2013, Azalea became friends with American singer Katy Perry through Chris Anokute, an A&R at Azalea's record label Def Jam Recordings. Anokute, who previously was an A&R for Perry at her label Capitol Records, told Azalea that Perry was a fan of her music. When Azalea was nominated at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, Anokute asked Perry if she could promote Azalea's nomination in her category for Artist to Watch. Perry then took to Twitter to rave about Azalea's music, and Azalea later consulted Anokute about a future collaboration with Perry. Shortly afterward, Azalea and Perry began working together with the latter's frequent collaborator Dr. Luke, but the collaboration proved unsuccessful. Azalea then heard about a song Perry recorded, "Black Widow", which was going to be given away to another artist. The song was initially written as a last-minute addition to Perry's fourth studio album, Prism (2013), but the composition finalized only after the album's release. Azalea described the track as "a legend" and a "mysterious record" before she could finally hear it.
On 4 June 2013, Azalea confirmed that British recording artist Rita Ora would feature on her debut studio The New Classic, after previously announcing Ora's feature on 26 December 2012. She stated, "I had a song in mind, and I need a woman with a big voice to sing the chorus because I can't do it". Azalea then asked Perry if she could record "Black Widow" for her album, which Perry then agreed to. The record, however, was never sent to Azalea and on 1 August 2013, she denied that Ora would be collaborating with her on the album. Azalea then met Perry for the first time, as her supporting act at the iTunes Festival that year. At the festival, Perry approached Azalea with an offer to record "Black Widow" as she felt the song would suit her better. Azalea was then invited to Perry's after-party that night, where the two exchanged numbers, and Perry sent Azalea the record. When Azalea received the song, it only consisted of a hook and a beat. She initially wanted Perry to sing the song's hook, but Perry was unable to because of time constraints. In an interview, Azalea mentioned, "It needed someone who could really sing, as Katy's voice is awesome. The sky's the limit for Rita. Rita's a superstar and she will only get bigger. Rita is a great fit. Her voice can blow people away." Azalea and Ora then begun recording "Black Widow" in November 2013 after the MTV Europe Music Awards, and completed it in January 2014.
The final version of "Black Widow" was co-written by Azalea, Perry, Sarah Hudson, Benny Blanco, and its producers StarGate. Tim Blacksmith and Danny D. were responsible for the song's executive production and production coordination. StarGate provided the track's instrumentation and programming. Azalea and Ora recorded their vocals for the song at Record Plant and Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and Jungle City Studios in New York City. Their vocals were engineered by Daniel Zaidenstadt and Eriksen, while Miles Walker was credited as the track's assistant vocal engineer. Phil Tan completed the mixing process at Ninja Club Studios in Atlanta, with the assistance of Daniela Rivera. The song was originally rumoured to be produced by both duo StarGate and Benny Blanco, though upon the release of the album, Blanco was only credited as a songwriter.
Release On 26 February 2014, in an interview with Los Angeles radio station Power 106, Azalea stated that the album's fifth single would be written by Perry and feature an undisclosed female artist. A 90-second preview of "Black Widow" was released on 11 April 2014. The song's full version then leaked online on 17 April 2014, five days prior to the release of The New Classic on 22 April 2014. In an interview with music website HotNewHipHop on 3 June 2014, Azalea confirmed the song as the forthcoming fifth single from the album. It was released on 14 September 2014 in the United Kingdom.
Composition
"Black Widow" is a song which runs for a duration of three minutes and 29 seconds and has been described as a song that "channels more trap music with its beat". The song combines a sparse snap and heavy trap beat with a refrain that follows a slow-building, clapping chorus formula which peaks but deliberately never capitalizes. Instrumentally, "Black Widow" is composed of an ominous steel drum rhythm, and heavy bass, while its dance breakdown is employed with minimalism. Azalea solicits the track's verses with a snarling, bitter technique, consisting of rhyming employed with a spitting delivery. While Ora uses a seething element to sing the track's hook, "I'm gonna love ya, until you hate me / And I'm gonna show ya, what's really crazy / You should've known better, than to mess with me honey / I'm gonna love you, I'm gonna love you / Gonna love you, gonna love you / Like a black widow baby". Combined, Ora and Azalea's vocals are based on a call and response structure throughout the song.
Lyrically, "Black Widow" is a dark love song which deals with the subjects of revenge and feminism in a failed romantic relationship. According to Nedeska Alexis of MTV Buzzworthy, the song "captures the fallout when love turns sour" and is clarified in the lyric "I'm gonna love ya until you hate me / And now I'm gonna show ya what's really crazy". Digital Spy's Emily Mackay denoted the lyrical content in "Black Widow" to contain a theme of "dark, dangerous sexuality" and felt it owned "the bunnyboiler femme fatale stereotype". Nick Aveling of Time Out summarized the track's theme as "boy-baiting drama". The song's beat, hook and production formula garnered many comparisons to Perry's single "Dark Horse" (2013). While Tshepo Mokoena of The Guardian felt "Black Widow" was sonically reminiscent of Azalea's previous collaborations with American disc jockeys Diplo and Steve Aoki, and Craig Mathieson of The Sydney Morning Herald likened the song to the music of Beyoncé.
"Black Widow" is performed in the key of D minor with a tempo of 82 beats per minute. The vocals span from D4 to B4 in the song.
Critical response
"Black Widow" was met with generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Writers for Rap-Up analogized the collaboration between Azalea and Ora as deadly, in the same vein as Azalea's fourth single "Fancy" which featured Charli XCX. The hook was commended for Ora's vocal delivery and enthusiastically described as "hypnotic" and "strong", although Carl Williot felt Ora's hook overshadowed Azalea's verses on the song. Writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Craig Mathieson stated, "while her verses don't have the sustained length of her previous underground releases, Azalea skillfully upsets convention." Laetitia Wong Wai Yi of Today felt the track attained well-deserved hype and commended it for "perfectly" combining Azalea's vocal fluidity with its minimalistic dance breakdown. Glamour journalist Megan Angelo positively reviewed the song, writing, "'Black Widow' isn't just an excellent get-up, get-ready, get-moving song for Friday night—it also happens to be a Women Killing Music summit in the form of a neat little track."
MTV Buzzworthy's Nedeska Alexis and Saeed Saeed of The National claimed "Black Widow" to be a stand-out track on The New Classic. Christina Lee of Idolator deemed it "a surprisingly thrilling, high-stakes moment" on the album. More negatively, Kellan Miller of XXL found it inferior to the album's prior tracks, his rationale being "Iggy veers off course in an all too contrived effort to meet the quota of her colossal ambition." Exclaim! journalist Erin Lowers wrote, "'Black Widow' should pass the threshold between mediocrity and superstardom, but falls by the wayside with little personality." Drowned in Sounds Giuseppe Zevolli negatively reviewed the song, writing, "'Black Widow' is so preoccupied with its overfilled, catchall crescendo that it oozes away before you even notice".
Although Rory Cashin of Entertainment.ie enjoyed "Black Widow" as a darker-toned "Dark Horse", Gigwise's Alexandra Pollard was critical of the track's similarities, dismissing Perry for repeating her "tried-and-tested-formula". StarGate's involvement was panned by Alfred Soto of Spin, who said the song's hook was borrowed from the duo's previous production for Barbadian recording artist Rihanna's "Hate That I Love You" (2007). Additionally, Soto dismissed the track's synth line as being "nicked" from StarGate's production on American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo's Libra Scale (2010). The song was named the eighth worst song of 2014 by Time magazine.
Chart performance In Australia, due to strong digital sales during the debut week of The New Classic, "Black Widow" debuted at number eighty-six on the Australian Singles Chart on 5 May 2014. In Ora's native United Kingdom, the song debuted at number ninety-one on the UK Singles Chart, eventually peaking at number four on the chart, becoming Azalea's highest-charting single as a lead artist in Britain to date. The song also debuted at number fifteen on the UK R&B Chart. In the United States, "Black Widow" debuted at number nine on the Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart issued for 10 May 2014 and entered at number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart issued for 10 July. It debuted at number 36 on the New Zealand Top 40 Singles Chart of 23 June 2014.