Doja Cat’s Decadent Success: “Planet Her”
Doja Cat’s newest album “Planet Her” seamlessly invites listeners into a glitzy, camp cosmos of sound, oozing with a melodrama only she can create.
Released on June 25, the album earned the biggest streaming debut for a female rapper in Spotify history. With its lead single “Kiss Me More” climbing up the Billboard Hot 100.
Doja Cat and SZA in the “Kiss Me More” music video (via Pitchfork)
Tailored by Doja’s performative storytelling, every aspect of “Planet Her” echoes her nature as an unpredictable entertainer. The duality of her stage and online persona meet in the album, as she carries every lyric with a sing-song rap style reminiscent of her over-the-top Instagram lives.
Using different layers of her vocal register, Doja proves she’s a master of knowing what accentuates a song. Whether it’s breathy notes, ad-libbed onomatopoeia, or purring pronunciations. Songs like “Get Into It (Yuh)” are electric bursts of fun that capture Doja’s consistent ability to reel you in to her dramatic, manic pixie, cyberpunk dance floor.
Doja Cat performs at the 2021 Grammy Awards (via GRAMMY)
Sonically, “Planet Her” is a kaleidoscope of sound from reggaeton, to hip-hop, to R&B, mirroring music’s increasingly genre-less nature. Each track is its own world, and emulates Doja’s character as the industry’s unconventional it girl.
Her vocal malleability is what makes it possible to have artists like Ariana Grande, Young Thug, SZA, JID, and The Weeknd, on one album. Doja effortlessly adapts her rap style to complement the artist beside her, predetermining just how iconic their joint performances will be.
“Planet Her” is a fun, fierce, weird album that takes itself seriously without being too serious. Just like Doja Cat. A meme and a music connoisseur, Doja defines the modern pop artist. “Planet Her” is a testament to Doja’s reinvention, and embodies the sonic growth she’s been through while riding out a year of nonstop success. Whether it’s an Instagram live or album release, Doja Cat’s intoxicatingly unpredictable world will always lure you in, one notification at a time.