The music industry is and has always been a brutal game of up and downs with yesterday top-tenners still likely to appear as footnotes today. There are odd moments however when we sleep on the artists who deserve far more credit than what they are accrued. That’s exactly what happened with Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea – two women who dominated the early 2010s but somehow got shuffled to the back of our collective music memory.
Let’s be real here: when was the last time you heard someone genuinely hyping up these underrated icons Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea? Never and never a guess; and that is a sin against taste. And these women did not only create catchy songs but they influenced the whole period in pop music that we still cannot get over nowadays.
The Rita Ora Renaissance We Never Acknowledged
Rita Ora come out like a storm of blonde, and we all just… got over it? The lady provided us R.I.P. with Tinie Tempah which was an utter banger and everyone made some unexplainable dance moves in 2012. Then there was How We Do (Party), Radioactive and all of a sudden Rita was everywhere, on the covers of magazines, appearing on red carpets and working with the likes of Calvin Harris and Charli XCX.
However here is the good part: Rita never left. We all got preoccupied with the next sparkling bubble gum pop star and she was slowly (or rather stealthily) expanding her empire. Her album which was made in 2018 titled phoenix, featured a more mature artist that knew how to masculate her way through the industry waters. Such songs as the “Anywhere” and the “Your song” helped Rita not to be a one-hit-wonder on the train of early 2010s nostalgia.
The solution to the issue was not that Rita ceased to produce good music, but rather we have ceased listening. In the year 2025, when art becomes currency and artists are supposed to be multi-hyphenates, Rita Ora was already ahead of the future. She had become a performer at the talent shows, a judge, a line producer of fashion designs, and her works made her appear authentic instead of obvious.
Iggy’s Complex Legacy in Hip-Hop
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Iggy Azalea. No discussion about underrated icons Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea would be complete without acknowledging that Iggy’s journey has been… complicated. The cultural appropriation discourse, the authenticity discourse, the Twitter beef, it all turned into noise that overwhelmed whatever happened musically.
On top of the music charts, “Fancy” with Charli XCX was not only a hit, but a cultural moment as well. That song was a song of 2014 that could not be compared to some songs. It was inevitable, quotable and certainly catchy. Whether you loved her or hated her, Iggy knew how to do make a hook that stuck in your brain and took up permanent residency there.
However, this is what gets lost amidst all the hype, Iggy was breaking new grounds and making new conversations that the music industry was dying to buzz about. Her breakthrough stopped us into asking who has the right to engage in hip-hop culture, what is the meaning of authenticity in a globalized setting, and how we cut music into the artists that do not fit within certain blocks.
The Collaboration That Should Have Happened
Come to imagine the two giants colluded when they were in their prime. The pop instincts of Rita with the rappin attitude of Iggy would have been great. We saw them on divergent universes, instead and they even had to intersect once in a while at award shows but never to exploit the potential of two stars sharing the same screen.
This lost opportunity is just evidence of a larger issue in the music industry, female artists are set to battle each other rather than being taught to build each other up. Male singers and rappers appear regularly on the tracks of each other, forming protracted musical family, whereas women are supposed to be in the battle of an insufficient number of positions at the top.
Why 2025 Is Their Moment
The music landscape in 2025 is perfect for a Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea comeback. We live in a world where the artists such as Dua Lipa are actively scavenging through the early 2010s, Y2K aesthetics are considerably on-trend, and streaming has fundamentally democratized the process of music discovery. The same platforms that once seemed to work against these underrated icons Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea could now be their greatest allies.
The fact that Rita has been trying more experimental pop of late reflects an artist who is not one to live off her previous successes. Her collaborations with electronic music stars and readiness to play around with various genres show how such an artistic development can make the difference between two equally trendy personalities, an artist and a celebrity.
The Streaming Revolution’s Second Chances
The way we find and re-find music has been transformed by streaming. The pop songs that might have been long forgotten in the CD world can all of a sudden be reanimated through placement on a playlist, or TikTok or just being promoted by an algorithm that knows musical DNA more than we do.
That is especially true in the case of artists such as Rita and Iggy, whose discographies feature obscure singles that never received serious airtime on the radio. There are deep cuts that may have passed by in the year 2014, and when these songs hit again as a viral sensation in 2025, these artists could be exposing these works to a completely new audience that had not been listening the first time the song was released.
Learning From the Industry’s Mistakes
The treatment of underrated icons Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea serves as a case study in how the music industry handles female artists, particularly those who don’t fit traditional molds. The problem that Rita had to face was that she was not only overhyped but also underrated at the same time people appreciated her looks and connections but could often ignore her as a musician.
The story was even more complicated in the case of Iggy since there was the politics of culture which could not be addressed delicately by the industry. Rather than leading honest discussions on appropriation and authenticity, the debate would more likely turn into veiled-by-slurs personal attacks and snappy remarks that did little to leave any artistic quality unchallenged.
The Path Forward
Discussing the future of the pop music industry, we can consider some subtle discussions on the contribution that these artists make. The impact that Rita Ora has had on the look and the sound of pop in the early 2010s cannot be underestimated and her artistic transformation as an independent woman should not be overlooked. In the same way, the influence Iggy had in commercial viability of female rap is one thing that cannot be overlooked despite the controversies that trailed her emergence.
The conversation about underrated icons Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea isn’t just about nostalgia – and it is kind of giving the credit where due and remembering to not always like the most interesting artists, the ones that we find ourselves uncomfortable with, or that challenge, makes us question our premises.
These ladies cut a niche in an un-receptive industry, made music that people still remember and shaped the soundtrack of a generation, and to this day are still growing as musicians even when the camera has shifted its attention to other people. That is not only underrated, that is iconic.
We still have to come along with how to deal with issues of authenticity, cultural ownership and the value of art, so by 2025, the tales of Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea will give us insight into how to live in a world where pop stardom is seldom pure, or easy. Perhaps they should no longer be relegated to the position of add-ons but rather be taken seriously as artists that are clever, intelligent and so much more.
