Doja Cat has our Attention on Scarlet
Elena Fry-Hernandez - Music Editor
Doja Cat has someone she would like you to meet— her alter ego, Scarlet. She’s quite recognizable. Fully nude and drenched in blood, she’ll probably shove you out of the way if it means she’s closer to the top. This new “I don’t give a shit” attitude has gotten Doja Cat in hot water on more than one occasion this summer. Since May, she has been in a Twitter beef with her own fanbase. It all began with a series of tweets where she berated her fans for dubbing themselves “kittens.” She then declared she was “sick of pop” and referred to her two previous albums, Hot Pink (2019) and Planet Her (2021), as “cash grabs.” In July, supporters started to question her choice of men when she was seen with J. Cyrus, a Twitch streamer with a lengthy history of abuse allegations. More recently, she has offended the Filipino community after naming the album’s fourth official single “Balut,” which brought negative attention to the culture’s delicacy. But this kind of controversy isn’t new to the world of Doja Cat. And quite frankly, she doesn’t seem to care.
The album opens with “Paint the Town Red,” a rap track with jazz influence that recently topped the Billboard 100. Over a sample of “Walk on By” by Dionne Warwick, Doja raps: “Bitch, I said what I said / I’d rather be famous instead / I let all that get to my head / I don’t care, I paint the town red.” The accompanying music video to the number one track features the bloodied Scarlet and Satanic imagery. We see this again in the videos for “Attention” and “Demons.” The latter includes Doja painted pitch black while she portrays Christina Ricci’s sleep paralysis demon. Back to “Attention,” the track is mystifying with instruments like the loon and harp utilized. She compares her vagina to a submissive animal during the pre-chorus, although it could also be interpreted as the relationship between celebs and the general public, like the saying, “Any publicity is good publicity.”
“If you like it, just reach out and pet it / This one doesn’t bite, it doesn’t get aggressive / Show you how to touch it, hold it like it’s precious / It don’t need your lovin’, it just needs attention,” she sings softly, as if she’s placing a spell on the listener. Finally, the stand-out track “Agora Hills” is a “fuck ‘em all” love song characterized by heavy bass and a valley-girl cadence. She details her need to publicize a romance regardless of what opinions the public may have. Interestingly enough, “agoraphilia” is also known as the desire to have sexual intercourse in public spaces. She closes the song with the refrain, “Hold my hand / You can hit it while they watch, boy”.
Although Doja Cat’s previous works are, without a doubt, pop-classics, this record has solidified her position in the rap game. She knows how to get people talking, whether it’s good or bad. The album’s reception seems to be quite mixed since its release on September 22, 2023. Many are praising the record, with some even going as far as declaring it “the perfect female rap album … with no skips.” Others aren’t as convinced. Pitchfork scored the album at a 5.9, saying, “In proving herself as a rapper, Doja Cat offers up an uneven album that is accomplished but gets bogged down in reactive and repetitive songs.” Regardless of what everyone may believe, one thing is certain: she has our complete and undivided attention.