Doja Cat has released a new album titled "Scarlet"

Rapper Doja Cat released her fourth album, "Scarlet," on September 22nd. Rising to fame in 2018 with the viral video for the song "Mooo!," Doja became a TikTok and red carpet star (at the Met Gala 2023, she appeared in "cat" makeup, and her other looks, such as the one with red crystals or makeup with fake eyelashes instead of whiskers, also became notable events). All of this has made her one of the most popular rap stars of the 2020s. In many ways, she dedicates her new album to her fans, whom, as she admits on social media, make her life unbearable. Critic Lev Gankin talks about Doja Cat's relationship with her listeners—and her musical discoveries.

"What I wanted, I said!"—with this assertion, emphatically reinforced, begins "Scarlet," the fourth album by singer Doja Cat. Does it sound a bit strange for the first phrase of the whole record? Yes—it sounds more like a line from a long-running conversation, one that has clearly taken on a somewhat contentious character. And our impression doesn't deceive us: an active social media user, indebted to her popularity precisely to the internet (Doja Cat entered the top league of pop music in 2018, after the video for the song "Mooo!" went viral), the singer seems to interpret her songs primarily as extended comments on her own tweets, in which—and also in interviews and Instagram streams—she has indeed been quite vocal in recent months.

For example, she practically devalued her two most successful albums to date: "Hot Pink" (2018) and "Planet Her" (2021, which set a record for the most streams on Spotify for a female rap artist). "[Both] were just money grabs, and you fell for it," she tweeted in May of this year. "In the morning in the newspaper—in the evening in the verse: 'They say pop brings in money... but I don't need loud features and new collabs anymore,' she reads in the song 'Paint the Town Red' from her latest record. 'And I don't need new fans either: the main thing is that my boyfriend likes it.'

By the way, the mentioned boyfriend is not just anyone, but Jay Cyrus, a media influencer with a controversial reputation: Twitch followers accused him of emotional abuse. "I DON'T GIVE A SHT WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MY PERSONAL LIFE, AND I ALWAYS WON'T," Doja Cat declared in caps lock on social media, responding to fans' questions about her boyfriend. "GOODBYE, AND SCATTER, YOU STUPID SHEEP." "Looks like we don't give a sht about anything, looks like we don't give a sh*t about anything," a whole chorus of girls coos tenderly in another composition from "Scarlet" ("97"): so the artist not only draws themes for her songs from tweets but also some specific formulations.