Musically, Azalea found inspiration for the composition in the chord progression featured in Outkast's 'B.O.B' (2000). 'Work' was produced by The Invisible Men and 1st Down of FKi.

Azalea also believed that her best output was produced when in an environment outside her comfort zone. Her vocals were recorded at Rockfield Studios and Monnow Valley Studios. Sims, who abandoned four tour dates in order to fly over to Britain to join Azalea,commented on her own involvement in the song that 'Fresh out of a breakup and depressed I spent a month in London in a small 10×10 studio somedays writing and writing and writing… Regardless of whether or not you like the content the song told Iggy's true story of struggle sacrifice and hard work as an artist.' She felt like a location it would help her recall the personal struggles she wanted to write about on the song. Azalea saved money for a flight ticket to Miami and left Mullumbimby, New South Wales before she turned 16-an event referenced in the song's lyric 'No money / No family / 16 in the middle of Miami' which Azalea felt 'said it all'. For this reason, she chose to write and record 'Work' in isolation in Rockfield, Monmouthshire, with no phone reception, visitors, or interruptions.

The track specifically drew inspiration from a period when Azalea suffered from depression, and dropped out of high school to become a domestic worker with her mother. The song was written in Wales during a period of heavy rain which inspired her to create a track that was 'sad, but in a weird way, like happy or calming or sort of peaceful'. With the track, she wanted to give as much information as she could about herself to detract her listeners from being influenced by criticism and tabloid journalism about her she disliked the idea of revisiting her past, but felt that it was necessary for her listeners to relate with. Being her first autobiographical song, Azalea encountered difficulty during its writing because of the personal subject matter which she felt she could not fit into a song on its ownĪzalea wrote the song with The Invisible Men, Trocon Markous Roberts, and Natalie Sims. Sims stated that she, FKi, and Azalea had initially met back in 2008, but lost touch when Azalea moved to Los Angeles. During December 2012 and January 2013, 'Work' was developed by Iggy Azalea as one of the first three songs for her debut studio album, The New Classic.

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