By Jess Johnson
Legend, psychedelic music rap star Doja Cat took to twitter March 25 to respond to the overwhelming amount of backlash she received for her cancellation of her set at Paraguay’s Asunciónico festival, due to flooding during bad weather conditions.
She claimed she was quitting music.
“This sh—t ain’t for me so I’m out. Y’all take care,” she tweeted on her public platform.
Ironically, April 4, the queen herself won a Grammy award at the 2022 Grammys for pop duo/group performance for her “Kiss Me More” track featuring SZA. She was nominated seven other times. Therefore, it’s hard to believe this online altercation even happened.
Another upset fan tweeted, “Doja about 4 years ago, you started to achieve fame and all thanks to TikTok. What happened to your humility queen? I loved you.”
To which, a fed up Doja Cat replied, “It’s gone and I don’t give a f—k anymore. I f—kin quit. I can’t wait to f—king disappear and I don’t need you to believe in me anymore. Everything is dead to me. Music is dead and I’m a f—king fool for ever thinking I was made for this. This is a f—king nightmare, unfollow me.”
Under an immense amount of pressure, Doja cracked and tweeted that she was quitting music, essentially done with her fans. And honestly, many people under that amount of hate probably would have done the same.
Celebrities are people too. Morally, yes, it must have sucked for the fans who were unable to see Doja perform the night the concert was scheduled for. They did have a right to be upset, as seeing an artist as talented, funny and real as Doja is a lifetime opportunity.
However, just like anyone else, she is a person. She is an idolized rap artist by many, and well known for albums such as her most recent, “Planet Her,” released in 2021. Outside of that, she is still a human being. She makes mistakes, just like any other celebrity has had scandals, and she owns up to them. The amount of backlash she got for canceling a concert due to weather conditions beyond her control, and most likely looking out for the safety of fans and herself as a performer, is ridiculous in itself.
On TikTok, Doja Cat does have a large fan base of 22.6 million followers, due to the funny reaction videos she does, rap songs about Taco Bell, random clips of her staring into the camera and overall just being herself. Many of her songs such as “Say So,” “Streets,” “Kiss Me More,” “Boss Bitch,” “Ain’t Shit” and more have all gained popularity on the app through other users posting themselves lip syncing to the lyrics, creating dance trends and doing acting challenges. However, TikTok is not the only source of her success, nor is it the reason she is as talented as she is.
She built her fan base from the beginning.
Amalaratna “Amala” Zandile Dlamini started her journey in music originally on Soundcloud, a platform where artists can upload and share individually produced tracks. She uploaded a track titled, “So High” which was then featured in a television episode of “Empire,” after it had started gaining traction on the app. In 2014, Doja Cat signed with RCA Records and Kemosabe Records. She then released her first EP named “Purrr!”
She began to gain even more fame in 2018, with her release of “Moo!” in 2018, which fans had turned into many memes online. She began collaborating with coveted artists such as Rico Nasty, with singles like “Tia Tamera,” released in 2019, as well as another solo album titled, “Hot Pink,” later that year. Many songs on that album gained tons of attention, such as singles like “Streets,” that contain slow to fast rapping and a melodic beat.
Her biggest release the past few years was the album, “Planet Her,” released in June 2021, containing 19 tracks and has become a hype album for women who honestly — feel the daily toxicity of men. The album embodies the empowerment of women, and taps into inner sexuality and femininity. The tracks were practically the album of the summer.
These tracks are still supposed to be seen live by fans as Doja is scheduled to perform as a guest with the Weeknd on his upcoming After Hours tour of North America. She assured fans during the red carpet at the 2022 Grammys, while talking to Entertainment Tonight, that, “It’s gonna happen.”
Her fame has only risen, and that’s seen in her beginning to win these huge awards. No matter how much backlash she may get, at the end of the day, she is a phenomenal artist, who onstage and off, is genuinely herself in everything she does. She shows the goofy, happy side of herself on Tiktok, and the sensual, empowered side in her performances. And in-between songs, is unapologetically herself.
It’s unknown whether she will keep to her promise of quitting music, but fans most likely want her around for a long time, regardless of the mistakes she makes and learns from. She is an extremely talented artist, especially at such a young age.
Let’s not ruin that, y’all.
Like Doja said during her acceptance speech at the Grammys, “I like to downplay s–t. But this? It’s a big deal.”
