Iggy Azalea has been confirmed as Dannii Minogue’s replacement on the X Factor Australia Judging Panel when the show returns for its eight series this year.
Azalea, who was born in Sydney but has resided in LA since her career took off, is known for a string of international hits such as Fancy, Work, Trouble and Team, as well as featuring on Ariana Grande’s Problem and teaming up with Rita Ora for her own song Black Widow. Her second album, Digital Distortion, is expected for release soon.
Dannii Minogue revealed earlier this year that she had quit the show after 3 years on the panel, and 4 years on the UK panel directly before that, totalling 7 whole years as a judge on the show. Last year Minogue was joined on the panel by UK singer James Blunt, who is also not expected to return, Australian singer Guy Sebastian and rockstar Chris Isaac.
Minogue was a well received judge, and had won the UK show twice with Leon Jackson and Matt Cardle, as well as winning the Australian Show with Dami Im, who recently took Europe by storm and finished second in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest as Australia’s official representative.
Azalea had previously teased a return to Australia on Twitter, promising to reveal on Sunday (Today) why, but The Official X Factor Australia Twitter got there before her and shared the news online.
I-G-G-Y put her name in bold! Your first #xfactorau judge for 2016 is @IGGYAZALEA. ? pic.twitter.com/nS3Yji878L
— #XFactorAU (@thexfactorau) June 11, 2016
When asked by the Sydney Confidential about her role on the show, Azalea said “I really didn’t picture myself being a judge on any kind of television show but I think that actually this could be a good fit for me, so I said yes”.
Internationally, Azalea will be the best known judge the show has had since Spice Girl Mel B, with a string of hits in the US, UK and all across Europe.
What do you think…is Iggy a good match? Let us know on Twitter @CelebMix or in the comments below.