Iggy Azalea has had a roller-coaster 48 hours. After the rapper, who is doing a shoe line with Steve Madden, was displeased with some images she saw on the brand’s Tumblr yesterday, she tweeted, “Everything in a collaboration is supposed to be mutually approved. But Steve Madden just did the most disgusting photo shoot and never even told me about it, I’m just seeing now as its [sic] uploaded on some random tumblr page and I am livid.” Both the tweets and the Tumblr photos — which the Huffington Post reports contained photos of models with their heads cropped out of the frame and the phrases “Modern-day Spice Girls,” “Unapologetic, loud and fun,” and “I wanted to make shoes your girlfriends would love and your boyfriends wouldn’t understand” — have since disappeared.
In their place was an Instagram of Azalea’s official campaign images for the brand and the following wordy caption (just assume [sic] throughout).
For the record: I absolutely LOVE these images, they are from the shoot I directed for my Steve Madden campaign. Im incredibly proud of the shoes we’ve made together, as well as these images that I’ve been anxiously waiting to share with you all. What I had a “rant” about on Twitter isn’t in regards to these pictures, it was about another, different set of images i wasn’t a part of creating that I felt weren’t reflective of my vision and direction for the collection. I’m an artist and I’m extremely passionate and emotional and crazy sometimes because I care ALOoOoot about this shit! I love Steve and he gets it! Artists clash sometimes, it doesn’t mean I dislike the brand. I love Steve Madden as an individual and as a company. I have 3 more seasons I’m making with these guys and I’m going to enjoy it. Shit just happens sometimes and you gotta fight for what you believe in! I believe in this collection immensely; that’s why I just wanted it to be perfect. it comes out tomorrow and I hope you guys enjoy it because I put my heart and soul into them! Sorry for the drama! I didn’t mean for it to turn into some big blog situation (as usual) but I’m not gonna sit back and totally let Steve Madden get dragged under the bus because as a whole they’re awesome ppl. I just don’t support neoprene Jesus sandals WITH socks 😉. That all.
A spokesperson for Steve Madden gave the following comment to the Huffington Post: “This was a lover’s quarrel. We love Iggy and are very excited about our collaboration. When you get two artists working together sometimes there are fireworks. It’s our creative differences that allow us to design an incredible collection and we are looking forward to sharing it with the world!”
A shoe-related “lover’s quarrel” resolved just in time for Valentine’s Day — and the release of the collaboration. We can all breathe a deep sigh of relief.
