Iggy Azalea performing at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas in 2014. Photo: Ralph Arvesen via Wikimedia Commons.

Australian rapper Iggy Azalea performed for the first time in Israel on Friday at Park HaYarkon as the headliner of the Tel Aviv Pride Festival.

The “Fancy” singer, 32, told Israel’s N12  she “was surprised to receive the call to come and perform” in Israel, and how she was originally worried that audiences abroad would not know the lyrics of her songs. The mother-of-one also recalled being shocked that fans in Turkey knew her music before she performed in the country, saying, “In the end, it was one of the best performances I have done in my life and everyone knew the lyrics. I love the culture of Turkey, the traditional food and I hope my experience in Israel will be good or even better.”

When asked about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, whose supporters pressure artists to not perform in Israel, Azalea said she had never even heard of the anti-Zionist campaign. She said, “BDS? What is it? Cause I don’t know much, but I’m really happy to come and see for myself, I’m excited to experience something new.”

“I know a lot of my fans belong to the LGBT community and I feel a special connection to them,” Azalea added. “I think maybe it’s because I was an outsider, that I came a long way from being an underdog, maybe it’s something they can identify with.”

Azalea, who moved to the United States from Australia to pursue a career in music, released her third album, “The End of an Era,” in August 2021. She reiterated in her interview with N12 that she is taking a hiatus from music and has no plans to release new tracks or a new album anytime soon.