7 reasons to get involved
When 2021’s “Planet Her” catapulted Doja Cat to next-level stardom – earning her a nomination for Grammy Album of the Year and a win for SZA-assisted album “Kiss me more” – it almost prepared them for the sophomore doldrums, even though it was their third LP.
But the 27-year-old rapper and singer – née Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini – had already avoided that before her fourth album, “Scarlet,” was released on Friday. She landed at number 1 for the second time – after her 2020s “Say it” – with the LP’s first single, “Paint the Town Red,” earlier this month.
And there are plenty of reasons to believe that she will continue her smoking hot streak with her new boyfriend. Here are seven new Doja tunes to sink your teeth into on “Scarlet.”
1. “Paint the city red”
The first hit single samples Dionne Warwick’s ’60s classic “Walk on By” – one of the best of her many Burt Bacharach-Hal David compositions. It’s a brilliant twist because the two cross-generational divas are queens of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. But don’t let this jazzy brass bop fool you – it’s more cutting than chilling.
2. “Wet Vagina”
If Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion could do “WAP” in 2020, then a song called “Wet Vagina” three years later doesn’t seem so shocking. Over the booming impact of this trap attack, she enthuses about the joys of having “really, really, really hard sex.”
3. “F—k the Girls (FTG)”
This anti-hater anthem is sure to cause division — something Doja isn’t afraid of — as she waves a middle finger in the face of all the women who troll her either in the comments or on the platform. “You need a cookie because you hate it/I could stuff your bitches,” she spits.
4. “Ouchies”
Doja is at her best as a rapper and hip-hop writer, possessing an eccentricity that falls somewhere between Missy and Nicki. And over a spacey, stuttering groove, she’s at her best as she belts out, “A hundred billies, I’m the GOAT, no Eilish.”
5. “Go for it”
Despite the combative title, this is a smooth transition, with Doja taking a gentler approach to deliver a powerful message to each “little mama”: “Pick up your bag, don’t stop, ’cause they won.” “Stop Don’t shut up.”
6. “Angora Hills”
Doja’s new single – for them She also released a video on Friday – is one of the sexy, Janet-style slow jams on “Scarlet,” where she alternates between purring and kittenish delivery in the chorus and letting out the tiger in the rapped verses.
7. “Love Life”
While much of “Scarlet” sees Doja lashing out like an unleashed cat, this jazzy joint is a feel-good version with Mary J. Blige “My Life” vibes.
