Scarlet

## Singles from *Scarlet*

1. Attention (Promotional)
Released: June 16, 2023
2. Paint The Town Red
Released: August 4, 2023
3. Demons (Promotional)
Released: September 1, 2023
4. Balut (Promotional)
Released: September 15, 2023
5. Agora Hills
Released: September 22, 2023

***Scarlet*** is the fourth studio album by American rapper and singer Doja Cat. It was released on September 22, 2023, via Kemosabe Records and RCA Records. Disillusioned with pop music and dissatisfied with music critics questioning her status as a rapper, Doja Cat felt inspired to create a "masculine" follow-up to her third studio album, Planet HER (2021). Musically, the record marks a departure from the pop-driven sounds of its predecessors Hot Pink and Planet HER which she called cash grabs, being predominantly centered around the genres of hip hop and R&B.

## Background

Doja Cat began her career as a rapper heavily involved with the underground scene in her hometown of Los Angeles. She rose to prominence in August 2018 as an internet meme, following the viral success of her novelty song "Mooo!". She continued to gain mainstream attention with her pop and R&B-infused second studio album, *Hot Pink* (2019). The remix to its standout single "Say So", which featured Nicki Minaj, became the first song by a female rap duo to reach number one on the US *Billboard* Hot 100 chart. Doja Cat's third studio album, *Planet Her* (2021), continued the pop-R&B blend and was met with critical and commercial success. It became the most-streamed album by a female rapper on Spotify, and its lead single, "Kiss Me More" featuring SZA, won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

After being nominated for the BET Award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist in May 2021, Doja Cat was criticized by social media users who felt she was "too pop" to be considered as a rapper. She responded to the criticism on Twitter, by writing, "Don't ever fuckin [*sic*] disrespect me as a rapper. After the last song I dropped, you will respect my pen and that's fuckin [*sic*] that." She weighed in further on the debate during a cover story with *Rolling Stone* in December, saying, "Anyone who says that I'm not a rapper is in denial. They don't know what they're talking about." A few days after the profile piece was published, Doja Cat revealed on an Instagram livestream that she was interested in creating a double album; with one side focused on her pop rap sounds, and the other side containing 12 hip hop songs produced by 9th Wonder and Jay Versace.

In an interview with *Elle* in May 2022, Doja Cat addressed claims that she was not a rapper in the "traditional sense" by stating that she has "rapped since the beginning, and I really couldn't even sing that well to begin with—I got a lot better. I use my voice as a tool to create these worlds, and it's fine if people think that I can't rap." She also confirmed that her upcoming fourth studio album will be "predominantly rap". She doubled down on the album's main genre in April 2023 by stating "no more pop", and that she agrees with "everyone who said the majority of my rap verses are mid and corny. I know they are. I wasn't trying to prove anything, I just enjoy making music. But I'm getting tired of hearing y'all say that I can't, so I will." Doja Cat also denounced her previous two albums as "cash grabs" and "digestible pop hits". On April 26, radio personality Ebro Darden shared that he had the opportunity to listen to approximately eight songs from the album while it was in its "early stages", stating "I heard straight rap records". After being asked about potential producers, he responded "I don't even think it's producers that we know. I think she's got her own batch of producers." On August 27, she announced that the album was finished.

## Concept

### Imagery

Leading up to the album's release, Doja Cat adopted a darker aesthetic and image, claiming that she had "a lot of pent-up feelings and anger" which she wanted to express through beauty, further describing her new style as "punk", "experimental" and "manic". She initially shaved her hair and eyebrows, and then got a number of tattoos, including a creature from Fortunio Liceti's *De monstris* (1655) on her arm, a scythe surrounding her ear, and the skeleton of a bat on her back, which she claimed to symbolise a "new beginning". At times she also wore red contact lenses and blood-like makeup. She expressed similar imagery in the music video for singles "Attention" and "Paint the Town Red", the latter of which also depicted occult-like paintings by Doja Cat herself. These changes in her persona received criticism from some fans, who deemed these changes "demonic" and "frightening", and accused her of being a Satanist, and a member of the Illuminati. She was unbothered by these reactions, tweeting in February 2023 that she enjoyed "playing with people’s ignorance and stupidity for [her] own happiness and personal gain", and then in April 2023 addressed her fans in saying "Your fear is not my problem".

### Title

Doja Cat shared a name for the album, *Hellmouth*, in March 2023. By April, she was unsure of whether or not the name would stick, and later clarified to *Interview* magazine that she did not have an album name yet, with the working title subject to potential change. While speaking to *Time* for their annual list of influential people, she shared that she "might just mess with everybody and completely turn the tables on them. But I like the idea of *Hellmouth* because it sounds good. And it's provocative." On May 9, she revealed another title, *First of All*, through social media, before retracting on May 15. In an interview with *Business Insider* on May 26, Doja Cat revealed that the reason she kept changing the title is due to a combination of indecisiveness and crowdsourcing. She described her process for selecting an album title as her putting her "ADHD kind of on display — by accident, I guess. I thought that *Hellmouth* was the name of the album, but then it wasn't. But I'm good at doing things last minute. So I've been firing off random stuff and reading comments and seeing how people receive it and then, you know, saying 'no' a lot. 'Just kidding'." She concluded by saying she thinks she finally has a name for the album, and swiftly added, "It's not *First of All*." In an article for *Harper's Bazaar*, author Angie Martinez revealed the title to be *Scarlet*, on August 16, 2023.

## Composition

During a cover story with *Variety* in February 2023, Doja Cat expressed that *Scarlet* will diverge from the "pink and soft things" and "pop and glittery sounds" that she has been noted for; opting instead for a more "masculine" sonic direction. She claimed to have purposefully misled journalists and fans into thinking that her album would be inspired by 1990s German rave music, rock, experimental jazz and R&B, rather than rap. However, it was later confirmed that the upcoming album will blend various hip hop and R&B genres, although Doja Cat stated that this album would exclusively contain rap songs. She admitted that she had become tired of creating pop songs, adding that the genre is not exciting to her anymore.

In an interview with *Rolling Stone* in June 2023, Doja expanded on the influences and inspiration for her upcoming album, saying that she had been reconnecting with the music that she was raised listening to, such as Erykah Badu, John Coltrane and 90s hip hop.

## Release and promotion

Scarlet yielded two singles. Its lead single, "Paint The Town Red", was released on August 4, 2023 it was also became a massive commercial success, and marked Doja Cat's first solo number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100, the UK Singles Chart, the Billboard Global 200, and several other national charts worldwide. It was followed by "Agora Hills" in September 2023. Promotional singles for the album includes "Attention", "Demons", and "Balut" that were released in June 2023 and September 2023. To support the album, Doja Cat will embark on The Scarlet Tour in October 2023, her first arena tour as a headliner.

## Tracklist

### Scrapped songs

* "Shots"
* "Seeing Stars"
* "Loon1e"
* "Crack"
* "Take It Back"
* "Disrespectful"
* "Never Have I Ever (NHIE)"
* "First Of All"
* "Finally"
* "GO TEAM"
* "Sweet n Salty"
* "Ain't News"
* "Your Man"
* "Dead Inside"
* "No Hoes"
* I Don´t Minda

## Trivia

* Original titles for the album were; "**Hellmouth**" & "**First Of All**"
* The song "Paint The Town Red" was added as the Side B for the "Demons" on Spotify.
* On September 1, an EP for "Paint The Town Red" was also released, including a clean version of the song and remixes
* This is second no features project by Doja Cat following *Purrr!*.
* "Balut" was supposed to have a feature before deciding she'd make the track a solo (probably was featured by Ariana Grande).

## References

1. ↑ https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/doja-cats-next-album-will-more-masculine-previous-work.html/