"Black Widow" is a song by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea featuring British singer Rita Ora.

Released through Def Jam Recordings, the song impacted on mainstream radio stations in the US on 8 July 2014, as the fifth single from her debut studio album, The New Classic (2014).

It was written by Azalea, Katy Perry, Sarah Hudson, Benny Blanco, and duo Stargate, while the latter also produced the song.

"Black Widow" has been described as "channeling the Pop" genre, containing an ominous steel drum rhythm, heavy bass and a sparse beat.

"[6] Azalea and Ora then begun recording "Black Widow" in November 2013 after the MTV Europe Music Awards, and completed it in January 2014.

[1] The final version of "Black Widow" was co-written by Azalea, Perry, Sarah Hudson, Benny Blanco, and its producers StarGate.

Phil Tan completed the mixing process at Ninja Club Studios in Atlanta, with the assistance of Daniela Rivera.

[8] On 26 February 2014, in an interview with Los Angeles radio station Power 106, Azalea stated that the album's fifth single would be written by Perry and feature an undisclosed female artist.

[14] The song combines a sparse snap and heavy trap beat with a refrain that follows a slow-building, clapping chorus formula which peaks but deliberately never capitalizes.

[11] Instrumentally, "Black Widow" is composed of an ominous steel drum rhythm,[2] and heavy bass,[15] while its dance breakdown is employed with minimalism.

[16] Azalea solicits the track's verses with a snarling, bitter technique,[11] consisting of rhyming employed with a spitting delivery.

[19] Lyrically, "Black Widow" is a dark love song which deals with the subjects of revenge and feminism in a failed romantic relationship.

[21] Digital Spy's Emily Mackay denoted the lyrical content in "Black Widow" to contain a theme of "dark, dangerous sexuality" and felt it owned "the bunnyboiler femme fatale stereotype".

[8] While Tshepo Mokoena of The Guardian felt "Black Widow" was sonically reminiscent of Azalea's previous collaborations with American disc jockeys Diplo and Steve Aoki,[23] and Craig Mathieson of The Sydney Morning Herald likened the song to the music of Beyoncé.

[11] Writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Craig Mathieson stated, "while her verses don't have the sustained length of her previous underground releases, Azalea skillfully upsets convention.

"[24] Laetitia Wong Wai Yi of Today felt the track attained well-deserved hype and commended it for "perfectly" combining Azalea's vocal fluidity with its minimalistic dance breakdown.

[2] More negatively, Kellan Miller of XXL found it inferior to the album's prior tracks, his rationale being "Iggy veers off course in an all too contrived effort to meet the quota of her colossal ambition.

journalist Erin Lowers wrote, "'Black Widow' should pass the threshold between mediocrity and superstardom, but falls by the wayside with little personality.

"[31] Drowned in Sound's Giuseppe Zevolli negatively reviewed the song, writing, "'Black Widow' is so preoccupied with its overfilled, catchall crescendo that it oozes away before you even notice".

[32] Although Rory Cashin of Entertainment.ie enjoyed "Black Widow" as a darker-toned "Dark Horse", Gigwise's Alexandra Pollard was critical of the track's similarities, dismissing Perry for repeating her "tried-and-tested-formula".

[8] StarGate's involvement was panned by Alfred Soto of Spin, who said the song's hook was borrowed from the duo's previous production for Barbadian recording artist Rihanna's "Hate That I Love You" (2007).

Additionally, Soto dismissed the track's synth line as being "nicked" from StarGate's production on American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo's Libra Scale (2010).

[49] On 14 August 2014, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the video set was shown on the second episode of MTV's show House of Style, hosted by Azalea and where she revealed the visuals are inspired by 70s kung fu films and Quentin Tarantino movies.

The man steps on and squishes a spider with his boot, just before Iggy Azalea is shown as a waitress named Fox behind the diner counter.

Azalea's daydream starts, in which she can be seen with Ora in a snowy scene, both dressed in similar jumpsuits with a "Black Widow" on each of their backs.

Meanwhile, Ora, who is playing poker in an underground casino alongside Paul Sorvino and rapper T.I., wins a large amount of money.

"[51] Samantha Nelson of AXS claimed "the video coincides with the female empowerment concept," but was disappointed with the lack of single shots of Azalea rapping and the focus being on the Kill Bill theme rather than the actual performance of the song itself,[52] while Brittney Stephens of PopSugar noted that "Iggy Azalea has already proven that she can pull off the music-video movie spinoff.

Azalea and Ora performed the track in spiderweb-inspired catsuits at the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards, on 24 August 2014.

[58] Azalea and Ora also performed "Black Widow" in the fourth episode of Saturday Night Live's season 40 on 25 October 2014.

[59] On 17 February 2018, Ora performed the song at the Skanderbeg Square, Pristina, at a concert celebrating the tenth anniversary of the independence of Kosovo, her country of birth.