Pop Doja Cat Is so Back: ‘I’m Doing What I Know I Know How to Do’

Doja Cat is pressing rewind on her sound. The rapper-singer confirmed to the New York Times that her upcoming album, Vie, will be a return to the pop world that launched her into superstardom.

“I’m doing what I was perfecting in the beginning,” she said. “I’m doing what I know I know how to do.”

That means fans can expect something more in line with Hot Pink and Planet Her, the glossy, potent projects that cemented her as a radio and playlist mainstay. Vie is a deliberate pivot from her 2023 album, Scarlet, which leaned harder into rap (but was still pretty pop) and gave us the chart-topping “Paint the Town Red,” but otherwise didn’t land with the same sparkle. As the Times put it, the album was “less successful than the two before it.”

Doja herself didn’t mince words about the project, either.

“Not to diminish it, but it was a bit of like, I just need to get this out — it was a massive fart for me,” she said in the interview. “I thought fixing that would entail making music that was more visceral or more emotional or maybe more angry or more sad. And I enjoyed performing it onstage, but it didn’t get me all the way there. So I want to return back to what I know.”

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♬ Jealous Type - Doja Cat

Still, Scarlet had its defenders, and plenty of fans will be hoping some of its darker edges bleed into Vie. The Times reports the new record will lean on “‘80s synths” and “up-tempo R&B.”

Doja’s always had an interesting relationship to her older music, even saying in the profile she felt like she was only making music others liked.

“I listen to so much good music, and when I do that, I beat myself up and think that my music should be better,” she said. “I remember making all those songs for ‘Planet Her’ and ‘Hot Pink’ and being like, ‘I don’t wanna listen to this.’”

For now, she’s doubling down on Vie, pulling out of Austin City Limits to focus on promotion for it, and debuting its lead single, “Jealous Type,” at the VMAs.

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