If there's one thing that Stan Twitter has proven, it’s that Doja Cat never misses with a project. You can’t scroll for more than ten seconds without her trending or hearing her songs on meme videos or seeing fans Tweet song links, fans never shutting up about how excellent she is. TikTok and mainstream radio hits like Say So, Like That, and Streets have taken the world by storm, solidifying her global footprint as a force to be reckoned with in pop and hip-hop music.
Her highly anticipated album Planet Her dropped globally at midnight on June 25, 2021, and the second I clicked play on the first track, I was in shambles.
I’m burning across the orbit of Planet Her and there’s no point of return as this Afrobeat-inspired track pulls me in for more. The album opener Woman encompasses sexual confidence and femininity while scrutinizing the power that the patriarchy has in both the music industry and life. For far too long, women in the music industry have always been compared as “the New Nicki” or “the New Katy,” sparking debates on the level of talent former and newer artists have and criticizing their every action.
In Get Into It (Yuh), Doja exemplifies her fun and playful personality in homage to rap icon Nicki Minaj, sampling her 2010 smash hit Massive Attack. This energetic, fierce song quickly fell into my top five for this album. Both Doja and Minaj are the most versatile recording artists in pop and rap music today, and for Minaj to be thanked and referenced in this song speaks volumes to both fanbases.
While the album mainly attracts the personas of sexual confidence, it also touches into love and desperation. I Don’t Do Drugs, featuring Ariana Grande, takes the listener on a journey into a universe of seeking love, even when it’s not necessarily good. This track also alludes to the space theme of this album, especially in terms of vocal and instrumental production. When I first listened to this song, I didn’t know what to expect, only that I was going to be in for a treat. I felt myself levitating in the warmth of vocals from both Doja and Grande. The raw emotion and musical intuition the song requires was executed blissfully by both the stylistic vocal agility and tone from these artists.
Speaking of being in love, Been Like This will wreck you. From the stripped-down synths accompanied by 808s to the frustration in Doja’s voice, this track shows off her best lyricism and rap flow on this project. Recognizing the impending doom of your relationship with your current lover is very exhausting; you’re tired, fed up, and just want to give up on love. This is what Doja is yearning about in this track. Listening to this track for the first time is a religious experience everyone deserves to have. It shows a more vulnerable, emotional side from the Juicy rapper that many people wouldn’t expect from her.
The growth Doja Cat has gone through is inspiring to me. Releasing banger after banger and finding creative ways to network with her fans, she is the quintessential musician of our generation, and she’s not going anywhere anytime soon.