Doja Cat[1] had barely left behind Scarlet before diving into her latest release. The Grammy winner made a more rap-focused project with her fourth LP, moving on from the lighter pop and R&B flavor of 2021’s Planet Her. The pivot paid off, becoming her third Top 10 album and garnering rave reviews from critics and longtime fans alike.
But Doja Cat[2] is not one to do the same thing twice. She’s got a brand new sound and look for Vie. Ahead of its September 26th release, here’s everything we know about the new album.
She’s back to pop
As listeners can hear on her lead single “Jealous Type,” Doja Cat is back to the pop sound that helped her break through. “I do want to be self-aware enough to admit the fact that this is a pop-driven project,” she told V in an interview[3] this summer. “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. There are some people who don’t see it as music. They see it as if this is some kind of football for girls and gays.”
This news came as a surprise to her listeners: Back in 2023, she called her own pop music “mid & corny” and tweeted that she was done with the sound. “No more pop music,” she wrote at the time.
The Eighties are a big influence on Vie
Doja Cat is not an Eighties baby but she’s certainly pulling out some deep references to that decade in her rollout. The album’s campaign and editorial aesthetic has made references to everything from classic Grace Jones images to hair metal vixens. During her VMA performance, she transformed into Max Headroom, the computer-generated TV presenter.
“I have so many things that float around in my brain when it comes to the Eighties” she told V. “I have no experience of the Eighties or any relation to it in that sense…I wanted to play with that nostalgia by using these Lo-Fi sounds and samples and things that reminded you of something from your childhood, but it wasn’t on the nose Eighties.”
Jack Antonoff produced the album
What better modern producer to call for an Eighties-inspired album than Jack Antonoff? Doja Cat linked up with him for Vie and sang his praises in a recent interview with Zane Lowe.
“I’m working with Jack Antonoff and working with a person that’s new in my life,” she said. “And so it’s the grappling with talking about something personal and creating something fresh, and then getting to know someone new, and then all of these things fell together really naturally. He’s been such a wonderful person to work with.
The album revolves around romance
On the album cover, Doja Cat’s face is surrounded by roses. It’s a romantic image for a reason: Love in all forms inspired the lyrics on Vie.
“The concept is very pointed towards love, romance, and sex — and discourse in relationships,” she told Vie. “I think right now, you hear a lot of songs about breakups, and a lot of songs about how we’re just kind of sick of men. I have a song like that on this album. But the thing is, there are so many ways to talk about that feeling — like, ugh, men. This album is very much about love in a way that reflects how I want it to be in the future — my hope, my hopefulness. What I hope it could be. Because I remember there was a time when people were talking about wanting to be with each other, and it seems to have gotten a bit more vapid and just sort of like, not real… not loving, not romantic.”
The catchy, sexy lead single “Jealous Type” evokes Prince and his many female protégées like Apollonia or Vanity. On it, she sings and raps about her own jealousy and impatience with how a relationship is progressing. On Instagram Live as well as X posts, she further teased lyrics to songs like “Acts of Service” and “Lipstain” where she says she’s deleted Raya and that a partner has given her keys to their flat.