First listen Making sense of Azealia Banks’ ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’

Now it all makes sense. Almost, at least. The label woes, delays and scatterbrained build-up to ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’ - an album that, let’s face it, barely anybody expected to actually arrive - can all be explained. A few hours after its release, here stands one of the most batshit, least cohesive records in an age. Songs could be lifted from different chapter’s in Azealia’s life (maybe one for every month since ‘212’’s release). Different musicians, even.

Those responsible for releasing this record have their reasons for delaying. When packed together, barely any of these songs make sense. It’s the opposite of a flowing, perfectly-formed debut album. If anything, it reflects just how bonkers and unpredictable Banks’ past couple of years have been, from Twitter rages to the countless provisional release dates. Some songs beg the question, ‘Is this even real?’ How is it possible that this emerged from the same mind that burst onto the scene with a brutal debut single that’s barely been topped in the buzz stakes ever since?

The only way to digest the record at this stage is to approach each song on a one-by-one basis. ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’ throws up the occasional piece of gold, but it’s submerged in a sea of crazy. Good crazy, though. The kind that could only emerge from someone like Azealia.

Here’s how ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’ sounds on first listen: