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"Lola" is a song by Australian rapper
Iggy Azalea Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born 7 June 1990), known professionally as Iggy Azalea ( ), is an Australian rapper. Born in Sydney, Azalea moved to the United States at the age of 16 in order to pursue a career in music. She earned public recognition ...
, released as the lead single from her fifth
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
'' Wicked Lips'' (2019). The song is a collaboration with British singer Alice Chater, and is included in her 2020 extended play ''Aries''. It was released by Bad Dreams Records (a record label owned by Azalea herself) and
Empire Distribution Empire Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. (stylized as EMPIRE) is an independent American record label, distribution and publishing company founded in 2010 by Ghazi Shami. Based in San Francisco, EMPIRE has offices in New York, London, ...
on 8 November 2019. The song contains a sample of " Mambo Italiano". Azalea and Chater performed the song live for the first time at the International Music Awards in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
on 22 November 2019.


Background and development

Following the release of her long-delayed second studio album in mid-2019, Azalea announced shortly after its release that she would not tour to promote it and would instead work on recording new music. After teasing collaborations with
Brooke Candy Brooke Dyan Candy (born July 20, 1989) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and tattoo artist. Raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, she rose to prominence after starring in Grimes' music video for " Genesis" (2012). Following its success ...
and Pabllo Vittar, Azalea tweeted a photo of her and British singer and dancer Alice Chater in the studio working on a new song. Eventually she revealed the title alongside its cover art in late-October 2019, a week before the official release on 7 November.


Composition

The song was written by Chater, Azalea, A. Cygnaues, D. Gavin, Dhani Lennevald, and Kee Ingrosso and produced by Carl Falk and J. White Did It. The song samples
Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...
's " Mambo Italiano" and references
Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...
's " Livin' La Vida Loca" as well. The lyrics reference Azalea's time in a mental institution during 2018.


Promotion and release

After teasing the song for several weeks on
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, the song was officially released on 8 November 2019. "Lola" was serviced to US pop and rhythmic radio stations the day of its release, with an accompanying music video being released the same day as well. The song was also featured on
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
's Rhythmic and Viral 50 playlists. The duo performed the song live for the first time at the International Music Awards in Berlin, Germany on 22 November 2019.


Music video

Released in November 2019, the video has surpassed over 45 million views as of January 2025.


Background

A music video for the song was released to
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on the same day as the single's release. On Twitter, Azalea stated "Lola" was her biggest production to date. Thom Kerr and Azalea directed the music video. Azalea said on Twitter that she co-directs and co-edits all her videos on
Adobe Premiere Pro Adobe Premiere Pro is a video editing application developed by Adobe Inc. and is distributed as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. It is primarily used for producing high-quality videos across various industries. History Original A ...
. A behind-the-scenes video was uploaded to YouTube documenting the creative process. The video features eight costume changes for the two singers.


Synopsis

The video takes place inside an
insane asylum The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...
named Celestial Heights Insane Asylum for Wicked Lips and Devilish Women. It begins as three older nurses (one which is played by Thelma Gudmunds) roll a cart of pills down to the hospital room in which Azalea and Chater are sharing. Once they take their medications, they slip into a trance during which they dance and sing their way through multiple sets. The first setting shows the nurses in leopard print nurse outfits while Azalea and Chater dance in a gratified room, followed by the duo trying to escape the nurses while dancing down a hallway. After the nurses detain Azalea and Chater, the camera pans to a photo on the wall where it then shows Azalea and Chater dancing in a blood orange-colored padded safety room while wearing fashionable green straight-jackets. Azalea and Chater are then seen in a hyper colored room that has two bathtubs filled with pills. They then are in a pink floral printed bathroom as the duo shave. After, Azalea and Chater have a synchronized dance breakdown in a new room with the nurses while in matching outfits. Before Azalea and Chater come out of their
hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the compelling sense of reality. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming ( REM sleep), which does not involve wakefulness; pse ...
s, they are shown in bathtubs filled with pills. The video is edited to feature psychedelic effects during this segment to emphasize their drug-induced
trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
. Once the scene ends, Azalea and Chater come to and embark on psychotic frenzies in front of the nurses. As Chater belts out her high note, the two girls fall onto their bed, ending their episode and arriving at the conclusion of the video.


Critical reception

Upon its release, "Lola" garnered acclaim from critics and fans alike. Mike Nied of '' Idolator'' praised the song and expressed his expectations of the song having potential to be a "'
Fancy Fancy may refer to: Music Albums * ''Fancy'' (Bobbie Gentry album), 1970 * ''Fancy'' (Idiot Flesh album), 1997 * ''Fancy'' (video), a 2007 video album by Les Claypool Songs * "Fancy" (Bobbie Gentry song), 1969, covered by Reba McEntire in 19 ...
'-sized hit". Daniel Megarry of '' The Gay Times'' called the track "the best video of the year". ''
Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...
'' later listed the song as one of the best pop songs of the week. In a negative review, Daniel Spielberger of ''
HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...
'' points out that the song "sounds like if
Camila Cabello Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the Pop music, pop girl group Fifth Harmony, one of the List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling girl gro ...
's '
Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics, Cardi B is one of the most successful female rappers. From 2015 to early 2017, she ga ...
's ' I Like It' were thrown into a broken blender. Azalea is far from a subtle thief. She can't be bothered to try to disguise the flow and style of Cardi B's superior 'I Like It' verse."


Charts


Release history


References


External links

* {{authority control 2019 singles 2019 songs Iggy Azalea songs Songs written by Iggy Azalea Songs written by Kinnda Song recordings produced by J. White Did It Empire Distribution singles Dean Martin