It by some means appears like each yesterday and a decade in the past that Doja Cat lambasted her followers, informed them to “get a job,” and misplaced practically 250,000 Instagram followers. The street to Scarlet has been plagued by potential blockades, however like a real feline, Doja Cat flexed her 9 lives and turned the marketing campaign for her new featureless album right into a run that included not simply her first unaccompanied Billboard Sizzling 100 chart-topper, but additionally the primary hip-hop music to achieve No. 1 on the chart in 2023.
The final time Doja put out a studio album, she went intergalactic. Wrapping in entice, Afrobeats, slinky R&B and sugar easy pop, Planet Her netted Doja a No. 2 peak on the Billboard 200, her first Grammy, and a litany of hits, together with the SZA-assisted “Kiss Me Extra” (No. 3), “Girl” (No. 7), “Have to Know” (No. 8), “You Proper” (No. 11, with The Weeknd), and “Get Into It (Yuh)” (No. 20).
Previous to that, the cross-genre marvel joined forces with Nicki Minaj for her first Sizzling 100 No. 1 single, “Say So” — a nu-disco quarantine anthem that helped launch each its father or mother album (Sizzling Pink) and Doja’s profession to staggering new heights. In some ways, Scarlet — with its moody overtone and horrorcore-nodding aesthetic — is a response to the precariousness of these heights and the pressures they place on an artist who merely simply needs to make music and discover happiness in her life.
In some ways, Doja prepped Scarlet as a back-to-basics report that might concentrate on flaunting her expertise as an emcee. She launched the period with the boom-bap-indebted “Consideration,” doubled down on the pop-rap with the Dionne Warwick-sampling “Paint the City Pink,” and dabbled in punk-rap and lo-fi on promotional singles “Demons” and “Balut,” respectively. As an entire unit, Scarlet finds Doja flexing her muscle in several rap subgenres as she depends on a fiery new like to launch from the twisted hamster wheel of the fanatic-artist dynamic. From jazz rap and punk rap to neo-soul and pluggnb, Doja is on the peak of her chameleonic powers on Scarlet.
With a plethora of latest songs to type by way of and a tour on the horizon, which tracks are the true highlights of this report? Here’s a preliminary rating of each music on Doja Cat’s Scarlet.
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“Shutcho”
Pluggnb rears its head for a bit on “Shutcho” — however, fortunately, it makes rather more of a powerful exhibiting elsewhere on the album. “Shutcho” is a cute, inoffensive F.U. anthem, nevertheless it lacks any chew or edge to really be an fascinating music. There’s completely an excessive amount of fiery pent-up vitality on this album for a music this easy to really feel like such a non-event — then once more, that flat refrain isn’t doing the music any favors. At the very least the subsequent music (“Agora Hills”) greater than makes up for a way middling this one is.
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“Cannot Wait”
On prime of already being a subdued observe, “Can’t Wait” sadly lands throughout a piece of the album the place the tempo slows and the momentum stalls, which solely highlights how nondescript it’s. Doja has too many unbelievable songs about being attractive for this one to really feel so flaccid. The drums are the true spotlight of the manufacturing; they fortunately inject a barely funky rhythm right into a manufacturing that depends extra on its empty area than the rest.
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“Love Life”
Considerably of a thematic and tonal turning level for the album, “Love Life” finds Doja actually leaning into the jazz influences which are woven all through a big chunk of the album. Firmly in her gratitude period, Doja celebrates the issues that she loves about her life as she drenches her voice with love-drunk euphoria.
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“Go Off”
“Go Off” is simply tremendous. It’s catchy sufficient to depart one thing of an impression, nevertheless it’s not essentially a very memorable music. The laidback manufacturing forces the music to supply nearly all of its urgency from Doja’s vocal efficiency — however even she will’t actually promote the empowerment-anthem jumble littered throughout the verses.
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“Balut”
This sultry lo-fi observe helps finish the report worlds away from the catchy pop sensibilities of “Paint the City Pink.” Doja boasts about her talent — and whereas she all the time had a declare to take action, it feels particularly potent now, after 15 tracks of some actual spitting. You possibly can take an entire observe to put out the way you’re above competing along with your friends once you’ve spent an entire album displaying why. There’s a way of safety and quiet confidence in “Balut” that feels just like the reward for the emotional journey and developmental arc of each Doja and Scarlet.
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“Paint the City Pink”
Between the pattern of Dionne Warwick’s “Stroll on By” and the finger snap-laden beat, it’s no surprise “Paint the City Pink” discovered its manner atop singles charts around the globe. Whereas it was a bit underwhelming as a standalone single, the bouncy observe works significantly better within the context of the complete album. As Scarlet’s opener, “Paint the City Pink” capabilities as a wise bridge between the extra pop-oriented sound of Planet Her with the darker really feel of Scarlet.
Lyrically, Doja instantly establishes the “no f—ks given” perspective of her Scarlet alter ego (“B—h, I stated what I stated,” she opens the music); structurally, she alters her sung verse-sung chorus-rapped second verse template to put the concentrate on rapping first and singing second. Already a stable observe by itself, the music’s placement in Scarlet‘s sequencing helps it shine a bit brighter.
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“Demons”
On this Child Keem-evoking standout, Doja flirts with punk-rap and horrorcore in a manner that recollects her efficiency of an unreleased music — dubbed “Pictures” — at her 2022 Coachella set. The raucous observe finds Doja in a well-recognized bag of addressing haters, however right here, she’s particularly taking goal at claims that she’s bought her soul to realize her present degree of success. If “Paint the City Pink” is the introduction to the world of Scarlet, “Demons” is the pounding anthem for Scarlet — the vicious, sly alter ego that guides the entrance half of the report.
Whereas it’s not a lyrical standout by any means, D.A. Received That Dope’s brooding manufacturing paired with Doja’s frenetic vocal supply makes for an enticing music that actively pushes the boundaries of her sonic profile.
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“WYM Freestyle”
Though the again half of the album by no means really lets go of the singing, Scarlet ends squarely in rap territory with “WYM Freestyle” — a single stream-of-consciousness verse that takes goal at everybody and every little thing. The blaring bass recollects the horrorcore hints on “Demons,” however this time, Doja trades the theatricality for an incisive hard-hitting jab. Not solely does the construction lend itself effectively to conventional definitions of rap, however Doja’s beat choice — throughout the entire album, actually — consciously shifts her away from prime 40 at a number of activates Scarlet. “I used to be wakin’ all these hoes up in my sleep/ I used to be cakin’ whereas these hoes may barely eat,” she snarls. There’s merely no technique to nonetheless not severely and genuinely think about Doja Cat a rapper after this observe, particularly.
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“97”
As one of many album’s earliest flirtations with jazz rap and lo-fi, “97” makes the sensible transfer to pair these sounds with a gloriously unbothered Snoop Dogg-evoking hook that recollects the breeziness of West Coast rap. Doja works very effectively on this lane, however it’s humorous to listen to her repeat “appears to be like like we didn’t give a s–t” when each music earlier than this one factors in direction of her, effectively, giving a s–t.
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“Ouchies”
On this East Coast-nodding observe — the manufacturing undoubtedly favors Fats Joe — Doja takes on a extra offensive method to deal with her detractors, recalling the announcement cadence of avenue fighter video video games. Right here, Doja packs in some double entendres and addresses the music business with the identical fireplace that she addresses delusional stans. “Okay, I don’t imply to instigate/ Y’all actually cellphone it in with the music recently/ I don’t want one other hit ’trigger it’s ineffective, actually,” she raps.
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“Typically”
A cousin to Planet Her tracks “Been Like This” and “Like to Dream,” “Typically” finds Doja delving even deeper into the neo-soul stylings she’s hinted at throughout her discography. She’s actually exhibiting off how effortlessly she will concurrently function as a main rapper and hook singer with out the standard of both place ever dipping. One of the best components, nevertheless, are when Doja amps up that Badu-esque vocal fry as she delivers the music’s horniest sequences. “Manner you bump and grindin’ on me/ You bought greater than somethin’ I want,” she croons.
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“Consideration”
As the primary style of Scarlet, “Consideration” completely executed its job. Not solely did the manufacturing’s reliance on boom-bap hallmarks sign a sonic shift from Doja’s earlier singles, “Consideration” additionally discovered Doja truly rapping verses with substance. Prior to now, Doja had undoubtedly flexed her rap expertise, albeit on verses that didn’t actually say a lot. Right here, she addresses her controversies whereas additionally carrying herself with a sure swagger that merely doesn’t exist within the pop world. Within the context of Scarlet, “Consideration” is the core of the Scarlet alter ego — as a result of literal consideration is the spine of the darkish fanatic-artist dynamic that Doja spends a lot of the album exploring.
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“Gun”
Straight out of the lineage of “Have to Know”, “Gun” is a slinky, sultry ode to intercourse. Right here, Doja employs an prolonged metaphor to boast about her apparently inimitable expertise in relation to dealing with a person down south. “Right here’s a brand new place from the entrance/ Ain’t gon’ be no duckin’ when ya bust,” she coos within the refrain. The pluggnb-indebted manufacturing helps preserve issues mild, between Doja’s breathless flows and the innate heft of a gun-as-penis metaphor.
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“Cranium and Bones”
On this observe — one other one which’s steeped in lo-fi — Doja lays naked the aim of all of the hellish imagery in a manner that feels redundant, however she delivers the road so wryly that, by some miracle, it really works. “The one factor I bought was a report/ The one factor I folded beneath was strain/ Can I say I digress, you the aggressor,” she raps over a jazzy instrumental. That is the type of soul-baring second that Doja has been working in direction of for years. From addressing devil-worshipping allegations to remaining steadfast in her data of her craft and talent, Doja leaves no stone unturned on this pensive, introspective observe.
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“Agora Hills”
This title has been floating round for months now, and now that it’s lastly right here, it’s clear why so many ears are enraptured by this specific music. On “Agora Hills,” Doja morphs right into a grasp shapeshifter, reworking into a number of totally different characters, voices, and accents as she expresses the complicated emotions of desirous to publicize a love you will need to preserve non-public out of necessity — no matter that necessity could also be. Doja’s Nicki Minaj influences are on full show when she raps a complete verse in a spot-on Kardashian-leaning valley lady accent, giving a meta edge to her commentary on residing life for the general public.
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“Moist Vagina”
Scarlet has its fair proportion of stark transitions, however the abrasiveness of the shift from the album’s first two songs — “Paint the City Pink” and “Demons” — to “Moist Vagina” completely works to its benefit. A frantic, Uzi-recalling entice banger, “Moist Vagina” finds Doja at her most braggadocious on Scarlet; she flaunts her WAP, her success, and her man throughout two unsuspectingly blunt verses. Her tongue-in-cheek supply additionally recollects the humor of prime Ludacris in the best way that it provides a extra nuanced sense of efficiency to her rapping. “Moist Vagina” is just like “Have to Know” in that it’s the quintessential through-line music on a Doja album — a music that connects her from her Soudncloud days and meme queen heyday to her modern pop stardom and nascent rap period.
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“F—ok the Ladies (FTG)”
Over a beat that mixes the booming 808s of ’90s hip-hop with the slinkiness of 2010s entice, Doja absolutely unloads the clip and chants “f—ok the lady.” The biting observe excels due to the theatricality of Doja’s supply; whereas her lyrics are nonetheless a bit weak, Doja’s efficiency transcends all. She absolutely commits to the rowdy, rambunctious on-sight vitality that comes with the utterance of a phrase like “f—ok the ladies.” Maybe what makes this music most spectacular is that it’s capable of exist exterior the realm of “feminine rap beef” as a result of Doja herself has operated as adjoining to that realm at finest. Thus, there’s no misconstruing to whom Scarlet directs her wrath — “Now what the heck, darn, frick? Y’all need consideration/ Since when was y’all my bastard kids? Go ‘head and lift y’all self,” she spits.