Doja Cat’s Transformation Is Disturbingly Glorious
Despite not being a hip-hop head, I’ve been a secret Doja Cat fan for a long time. The underground Soundcloud days? I was there. Yet, I admit I was one of the first fans to flee after she started her “weird” turn. Frightened and confused I decided she was one of those out-there artists whose music could be better enjoyed the less you knew about her. It seems I’m not the only one.
The new princess of hip hop (for the moment) was recently in the headlines, once again for the wrong reasons. This go-around, however, I find myself a bit more sympathetic to her plight. She’s angered many of her fans by refusing their demand to say, “I love you.”
Taking this event in isolation, Doja just seems like an entitled jerk. Brought into conversation with the other myriad of things she’s gotten negative press for, she seems like a really messed up, entitled jerk. However, viewed in concert with the rollout of her new album, “Scarlet.” Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini seems to be attempting to be an iconoclast like Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, Sophia Loren, and a few very brave, very famous others.
Iconoclast (noun)
icon*o*clast
1) a person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions
2) a person destroyer of images used in religious worship.
Doja Cat’s new album, Scarlet, came out recently, and the rollout for the album was immaculate. She won the top song slot with “Paint the Town Red,” during the album’s debut week, suggesting that the music world resonates with her even as they scold her arguably ungrateful behavior.
Doja Cat’s “persona” is obviously a detriment to her musical ability or, at the very least, a distraction. Yet, her willingness to risk her massive success just avoiding say “I love you” to her fans, is also endearing to the extent that it’s a unique position to take relative to her rap-star peers.
This bravery to break the mold isn’t nothing. Doja Cat is achieving iconoclast status through her willingness to break apart what it means to be a “proper” celebrity.
Like Brando’s insistence on mumbling his lines even though it meant no one ever understood what his characters were saying, Doja Cat too is difficult to deal with, even if you like her work. Yet, her eagerness to stand by her convictions even when they potentially hurt her career suggests she’s tapped into the current youth culture who seem to strongly define themselves by the ideals they believe in, compared to previous generations who were a bit more willing to “play the game.”
In my attempt to stay up on the most popular platforms out there, I’ve often come across Twitch streamers who do very well by more or less emulating Doja Cat’s entire look, behavior, and mannerisms. She may seem strange as all heck to the rest of us. But, she’s resonating right now with the most currently coveted demographic of music listeners.
Nobody’s Pop Icon
The Rapper-Songstress’s ability to dodge several cancellation attempts makes it obvious that corporate media will protect you if your fanbase is large enough to warrant it.
Doja Cat has gotten away with that which no other celebrity has before her and a lot of us are scratching our heads wondering how she gets away with it.
Generally speaking, Doja Cat doesn’t apologize for the hurtful things she does. And when she does, it’s only after the situation has escalated quite severely. This is in contrast to most celebrities’ strategy to douse the flame of fan rage as soon as it flickers with a public relations friendly apology that seems like it was crafted by Chat GPT.
Aggregating her various responses over her young, yet highly successful career so far — Doja Cat’s overall attitude towards criticism seems to be that she could care less. She doesn’t care about appealing to the male gaze. She doesn’t bother herself with fitting into the current mold of female rappers along the lines of Cardi B., Megan the Stallion, Glorilla, Sexxy Red, Ice Spice, and Nicki Minaj.
Most of all, the talented performer absolutely does not care about her fans, often referring to the fact that “she does not know them,” as a reason why she shouldn’t be obliged to deal with their feelings.
Harold, she sounds ruthless. Why on Earth are you insisting her behavior is somehow glorious?
Well first, I’m saying it’s disturbingly glorious. The disturbing part is important.
Really though, the reason I’m willing to give Doja Cat a pass is because she’s forcing us to reexamine our hero-worship of certain musicians, actors, and athletes.
More than that, however, I admire the young artist’s willingness to risk her own career to disrupt an industry she feels is problematic in its encouragement of parasocial relationships between celebrities and their fans.
We need our youth to break things that aren’t working anymore (Okay, I’m making myself sound old. But I’m only a few years older than Doja Cat is.) The rest of us either lack the ability or the will to challenge society in such a grand fashion.
And like the legendary Hollywood iconoclasts before her, it actually seems to be working for Doja Cat.
