Iggy Azalea named GQ's Woman of the Year but will her rap career ever recover?

Azalea, 26, released new single Team in March but it performed poorly in the charts.

Australian rapper Iggy Azalea has received an ego-boost after being named GQ's Woman of the Year. The Fancy rapper took the stage at GQ Australia's Man Of The Year awards in Sydney on 16 November and, during her acceptance speech, made the sardonic – some would say feminist – statement that she had: "the world's best vagina". Azalea may be on cloud nine right now but 2016 has not been her best year. Is she worthy of the woman of the year title?

Addressing the audience during the awards ceremony, which was also attended by Scott Eastwood and Jon Hamm, Azalea said she was proud to have "an award-winning vagina", making no mention of her career accomplishments.

The 26-year-old said: "I've got the best vagina in the world. I have won a lot of awards over the last few years but this one means the absolute most to me because I can finally say I have an award-winning vagina."

A humorous quip, yes, but somewhat divergent - perhaps masking a bigger question: why exactly was Azalea chosen as the magazine's top woman? After the unprecedented global success of her 2014 songs Fancy and Problem, the latter of which featured Ariana Grande, Azalea has somewhat slipped off the radar musically.

In March 2016, the rapper began promotion for her second album, Digital Distortion, by releasing the new single Team. However, the song failed to make an impact on the charts and performed abysmally reaching number 62 in the UK, 42 in the US and number 40 in her native Australia. Subsequently, the album release was pushed back with a new date of January 2017.

Many artists suffer pressure to follow-up their debut album, in this case Azalea's The New Classic, with the notoriously "difficult second album" so it is no surprise the rapper is keen to perfect her next effort. Although if left too long, Azalea may struggle to revive her music career entirely in the ever-fickle world of pop and she is already fighting to prove herself as a credible artist.

Earlier in the year, the Black Widow rapper admitted she contemplated suicide after becoming the subject of ridicule with some of her peers and critics. Rappers Azealia Banks and Macklemore are among some of the musicians to take aim at Azalea in recent years and she was also heavily criticised for admitting to having plastic surgery.

Addressing the backlash, Azalea told Power 106 FM: "It can make a person feel like, well what do I have left to live for? There were times when I just wanted to quit life, the whole thing, really. Sometimes I would drive through the canyons to get to my horses, and I'd be like, what if I just kept driving off the canyon?"

On a brighter note, Azalea was able to escape the backlash and move on from her split with fiancé Nick Young by joining The X Factor Australia judging panel. Based on social media interaction, Azalea's core fan-base has remained strong amidst the various controversies so disappearing from music for too long could be the wrong move.

Congratulations on your GQ Woman of the Year win Iggy Azalea but stop boasting about your "award-winning vagina" and get back to the music.