Paint the Town Red (Doja Cat song)

"Paint the Town Red" is a song by American rapper and singer Doja Cat from her fourth studio album, Scarlet (2023). It was released on August 4, 2023, through Kemosabe and RCA Records as the lead single from the album. The song was written by Doja Cat and produced by Earl on the Beat, Rubin, Jean-Baptiste, and DJ Replay. The track samples Dionne Warwick's 1964 song "Walk On By". In the lyrics, the rapper dismisses her critics and asserts her own identity following arguments with fans on social media.
"Paint the Town Red" was a massive commercial success, topping the charts in 19 countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the United Kingdom, it became the first solo song by a female rapper to top the UK Singles Chart, and in the United States, it became Doja Cat's second single, and first as a solo artist, to top the Billboard Hot 100. It reached the top ten as well in over 15 countries, including France, Belgium (Flandres), Finland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. "Paint the Town Red" made history by becoming the first solo female rap song in Spotify history to top the platform's Global and US Top 50 chart and the fastest solo female rap song to amass 100 million streams.
The song received a nomination at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance. It was voted in at number one on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2023.
A two-second preview of the song was shared by Doja Cat on April 17, 2023, along with other tracks from her upcoming album. Doja would tease the song by continuously using the blood drop emoji, as well as putting a red filter over thumbnails of her previous music videos and album covers. She played the song in full length on July 18, while painting a white canvas in red. The painting would later turn out to be the single cover.
"Paint the Town Red" is a rap song. Upon release, the lyrics were interpreted by some as a reference to her previous behavior on social media, including the disapproval of a name used by a significant amount of her fanbase, and the subsequent arguments she had with some of them, in the weeks leading up to the release. Sampling Dionne Warwick's 1964 track "Walk On By", the song is backed by a "bouncy production" that sees Doja Cat rapping over a "subtly brassy, finger snap-laden beat", constituting an "contrast to the comparatively laid-back "Attention". The song is composed in g minor with the BPM being 100 beats per minute.
"Paint the Town Red" broke a number of streaming records on Spotify, making history as the first solo female rap song to top the platform's US Top 50 daily chart, and the Global Spotify 200 daily chart, and the fastest solo female rap song to amass 100 million streams.
The song peaked atop the Billboard Global 200 chart. It also became the first ever rap song to top Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.
In the United States, "Paint the Town Red" debuted at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the chart issue dated August 19, 2023. Two weeks later it reached number five, after moving 21.1 million streams, 5,000 digital downloads sold, and 22.6 million airplay audience that week, a 49, 81, and 37 percent increase from the previous week. The song gained traction on the video-sharing app TikTok, with its audio soundtracking over 618,000 videos on the platform. The surge in popularity online fueled the song's performance; after moving to number three, it reached number one on the Hot 100 on the issue dated September 16, 2023. It became Doja Cat's second leader, her first solo US number-one, and the first rap song to top the Hot 100 in over a year since Nicki Minaj's "Super Freaky Girl" (2022). The song also topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts for three weeks as well as their streaming and digital sales component charts. The song is also her 7th number one single on the Pop Airplay chart, the most among all artist this decade. The song is also her first to peak atop the Radio Songs chart.
"Paint the Town Red" debuted at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart on August 17, 2023. It rose to number 15 the following week before entering the top ten on August 31, 2023. It reached number four, becoming Doja Cat's fourth top ten hit in the UK and outpeaking its sample "Walk On By", which hit number nine. On August 27, 2023, the Official Charts Company announced that the song was leading the race to hit number one that week, with only 1,000 units separating "Paint the Town Red" from its competitors. The song then reached number two, blocked by Olivia Rodrigo's "Vampire" from the top spot. The following week, "Paint the Town Red" rose to number one, becoming Doja Cat's first chart-topper in the United Kingdom.
An accompanying music video was released on August 4, 2023, and was directed by Nina McNeely. It features Doja Cat peeling out her eyeball which then falls into hell. Doja is later seen keeping company with death and Satan. Other scenes show her throwing bloody chunks of meat and riding on a green creature through the sky.
Doja Cat performed "Paint the Town Red" for the first time at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards as part of a medley with the tracks "Attention" and "Demons". The performance featured the singer dressed in a grey suit and glasses, and "trailed by blood-soaked dancers". Writers praised the performance as one of the best moments of the night and compared Doja's "preppy" outfit to those worn by Joan Cusack in School of Rock and Britney Spears in the "...Baby One More Time" music video.
On November 1, 2023, "Paint the Town Red" would be used in a video on social media by All Elite Wrestling to promote their women's division, with wrestlers including Toni Storm, Hikaru Shida, Saraya, and Kris Statlander appearing.