Doja Cat hasn’t been one to stay in one musical lane throughout her career. Though she gained worldwide recognition for her pop anthems like “Say So” and “Kiss Me More,” the Grammy-winning rapper delved deeper into experimental sounds on her 2023 album Scarlet. Now, the hitmaking artist is back in more familiar territory with Vie, her fifth studio album out today.
Vie’s musical direction was clear from the release of the ‘80s-inspired single “Jealous Type” last month. Tracks like “Gorgeous,” “Stranger,” “One More Time,” and “Silly! Fun!” similarly live in a pop sonic landscape, complete with Doja’s signature ability to bridge the worlds of hip-hop and radio-ready pop by switching seamlessly between rapping and singing. She even reunites with “Kiss Me More” collaborator SZA on “Take Me Dancing.”
The grit of Scarlet hasn’t been entirely wiped away, however. On “Aaahh Men!” she rips into immature men who can’t live up to the pressure of dating a star like her. On the more laidback “Couples Therapy,” she gives a man a piece of her mind while leaving the door open to reconciliation.
With a vision of ’80s-meets-2020s in mind, Doja wanted to reflect on past personal experiences in a way that still felt authentic to herself.
“I had been in relationships that made me think about things in a different way and I think naïveté is a big part of this album,” she told Zane Lowe of the LP, calling out the emotional rollercoasters of “rushing” into relationships and going through “love-bombing” in the early stages of a new romance.
The honesty of divulging those past experiences became the crux of Vie – a title she originally intended to play off the Roman numeral for five but came to encompass the spirit of sharing her life experiences openly. “What is life without love?” she said of the title. “Some people have really good examples of love early on in their life… But a lot of people don’t have that. And so it’s up to you to search for that knowledge and wisdom.”
As for those who try to box her into the label of a pop artist or a rapper, Doja asserts that she’s simply an artist who can’t be defined.
“I know that I can make pop music, and pop is just that it’s popular. It starts to become a bit of a thing that’s viewed as a sport by people who are just bystanders to it, who enjoy it, but maybe also don’t respect it or what it is, which is just music,” she told V magazine. “I have a lot more knowledge of how to use my voice as an instrument, more than I ever have in my life.”
Doja will take Vie on the road on the Ma Vie World Tour, kicking off Nov. 18 in Auckland and criss-crossing Oceania and Asia before wrapping up Dec. 21 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. More dates, possibly in North America or Europe, are yet to be announced.
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