Scarlet (Doja Cat album)

Scarlet
Two pearlescent spiders, one smaller, mouths touching, against a white background
Studio album by Doja Cat
Released	September 22, 2023
Recorded	2022–August 2023
Genre	Hip hop R&B
Length	51:54
Label	Kemosabe RCA
Producer	D.A. Got That Dope DJ Replay Earl on the Beat Jean-Baptiste Kurtis McKenzie Rogét Chahayed Rubin Yeti Beats Y2K
Doja Cat chronology
Planet Her (2021) Scarlet (2023)
Singles from Scarlet (Doja Cat album)

Scarlet is the upcoming fourth studio album by American rapper and singer Doja Cat. It is set for release on September 22, 2023, through Kemosabe and RCA Records. Disillusioned with pop music and dissatisfied with music critics questioning her status as a rapper, Doja Cat felt inspired to create a "masculine" follow-up to her third studio album, Planet Her (2021). Musically, the record marks a departure from the pop-driven sounds of its predecessor, being predominantly centered around the genres of hip hop and R&B.

Scarlet has spawned one single, "Paint the Town Red", which was a massive commercial success, becoming Doja Cat's first solo number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100, the UK Singles Chart, the Billboard Global 200, and several other national charts worldwide. Promotional singles for the album include "Attention", "Demons" and "Balut". To support the album, Doja Cat will embark on The Scarlet Tour in October 2023, her first arena tour as a headliner.

Background

Doja Cat began her career as a rapper heavily involved with the underground scene in her hometown of Los Angeles. She rose to prominence in August 2018 as an internet meme, following the viral success of her novelty song "Mooo!". She continued to gain mainstream attention with her pop and R&B-infused second studio album, Hot Pink (2019). The remix to its standout single "Say So", which featured Nicki Minaj, became the first song by a female rap duo to reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Doja Cat's third studio album, Planet Her (2021), continued the pop-R&B blend and was met with critical and commercial success. It became the most-streamed album by a female rapper on Spotify, and its lead single, "Kiss Me More" featuring SZA, won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

After being nominated for the BET Award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist in May 2021, Doja Cat was criticized by social media users who felt she was "too pop" to be considered as a rapper. She responded to the criticism on Twitter, by writing, "Don't ever fuckin [sic] disrespect me as a rapper. After the last song I dropped, you will respect my pen and that's fuckin [sic] that." She weighed in further on the debate during a cover story with Rolling Stone in December, saying, "Anyone who says that I'm not a rapper is in denial. They don't know what they're talking about." A few days after the profile piece was published, Doja Cat revealed on an Instagram livestream that she was interested in creating a double album; with one side focused on her pop rap sounds, and the other side containing 12 hip hop songs produced by 9th Wonder and Jay Versace.

In an interview with Elle in May 2022, Doja Cat addressed claims that she was not a rapper in the "traditional sense" by stating that she has "rapped since the beginning, and I really couldn't even sing that well to begin with—I got a lot better. I use my voice as a tool to create these worlds, and it's fine if people think that I can't rap." She also confirmed that her upcoming fourth studio album will be "predominantly rap". She doubled down on the album's main genre in April 2023 by stating "no more pop", and that she agrees with "everyone who said the majority of my rap verses are mid and corny. I know they are. I wasn't trying to prove anything, I just enjoy making music. But I'm getting tired of hearing y'all say that I can't, so I will." Doja Cat also denounced her previous two albums as "cash grabs" and "digestible pop hits". On April 26, radio personality Ebro Darden shared that he had the opportunity to listen to approximately eight songs from the album while it was in its "early stages", stating "I heard straight rap records". After being asked about potential producers, he responded "I don't even think it's producers that we know. I think she's got her own batch of producers." In April 2023 while drafting the tracklist, she revealed the titles of several tracks that would later make the final cut. On August 27, she revealed that the album was finished, and she announced the release of the album three days later.

Conception

Imagery

File:De monstris - Ex recensione Gerardi Blassi Wellcome L0027760.jpg

While recording the album, Doja Cat was heavily inspired by occult imagery, such as Fortunio Liceti's De monstris (1655).

Leading up to the album's release, Doja Cat adopted a darker aesthetic and image, claiming that she had "a lot of pent-up feelings and anger" which she wanted to express through beauty, further describing her new style as "punk", "experimental" and "manic". She initially shaved her hair and eyebrows, and then got a number of tattoos, including a creature from Fortunio Liceti's De monstris (1655) on her arm, a scythe surrounding her ear, and the skeleton of a bat on her back, which she claimed to symbolise a "new beginning". At times she also wore red contact lenses and blood-like makeup. She expressed similar imagery in the music video for singles "Attention" and "Paint the Town Red", the latter of which also depicted occult-like paintings by Doja Cat herself. These changes in her persona received criticism from some fans, who deemed these changes "demonic" and "frightening", and accused her of being a Satanist, and a member of the Illuminati. She was unbothered by these reactions, tweeting in February 2023 that she enjoyed "playing with people’s ignorance and stupidity for [her] own happiness and personal gain", and then in April 2023 addressed her fans in saying "Your fear is not my problem".

Title

Doja Cat shared a name for the album, Hellmouth, in March 2023. By April, she was unsure of whether or not the name would stick, and later clarified to Interview magazine that she did not have an album name yet, with the working title subject to potential change. While speaking to Time for their annual list of influential people, she shared that she "might just mess with everybody and completely turn the tables on them. But I like the idea of Hellmouth because it sounds good. And it's provocative." On May 9, she revealed another title, First of All, through social media, before retracting on May 15. In an interview with Business Insider on May 26, Doja Cat revealed that the reason she kept changing the title is due to a combination of indecisiveness and crowdsourcing. She described her process for selecting an album title as her putting her "ADHD kind of on display — by accident, I guess. I thought that Hellmouth was the name of the album, but then it wasn't. But I'm good at doing things last minute. So I've been firing off random stuff and reading comments and seeing how people receive it and then, you know, saying 'no' a lot. 'Just kidding'." She concluded by saying she thinks she finally has a name for the album, and swiftly added, "It's not First of All." In an article for Harper's Bazaar, author Angie Martinez revealed the title to be Scarlet, on August 16, 2023.

Artwork

On August 29, 2023, Doja Cat initially shared an album cover to Instagram which featured a painting of a big pinkish arachnid and a small drop of blood; containing no text. Fans then noticed that it looked almost identical to the cover for Of Gloom, the third studio album by German metalcore band Chaver, which is slated for release on the same day as Scarlet. Both covers were designed by American artist Dusty Ray, whom Chaver wrote had "been with [them] since [their] first album". Doja Cat then deleted the post from her Instagram the following day, while Chaver's post remained online and the band continued to promote the album with this cover. She revealed an "updated" cover the day after, which featured two pearlescent arachnids instead of the single pink arachnid.

Composition

During a cover story with Variety in February 2023, Doja Cat expressed that Scarlet will diverge from the "pink and soft things" and "pop and glittery sounds" that she has been noted for; opting instead for a more "masculine" sonic direction. She claimed to have purposefully misled journalists and fans into thinking that her album would be inspired by 1990s German rave music, rock, experimental jazz and R&B, rather than rap. However, it was later confirmed that the upcoming album will blend various hip hop and R&B genres, although Doja Cat stated that this album would exclusively contain rap songs. She admitted that she had become tired of creating pop songs, adding that the genre is not exciting to her anymore.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in June 2023, Doja expanded on the influences and inspiration for her upcoming album, saying that she had been reconnecting with the music that she was raised listening to, such as Erykah Badu, John Coltrane and 90s hip hop.

Doja Cat explained that the first three singles from Scarlet were all written during a period before she recorded the rest of the album in Malibu, California within the space of ten days, noting that the songs recorded during the second period are very different in nature.

Release and promotion

Singles

"Paint the Town Red", the lead single of Scarlet, was released on August 4, 2023, to commercial success. The song became her first solo single to top the Billboard Global 200, as well as the US Billboard Hot 100, the UK Singles Chart, the Canadian Hot 100, and national charts in several other countries such as Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Three promotional singles preceded the album's release as well. The first, "Attention", was released on June 16, 2023, alongside an accompanying music video directed by Tanu Muino. It reached the top 40 in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It was followed by "Demons" on September 1, 2023 alongside a music video co-directed by Christian Breslauer and Doja Cat and co-starring American actress Christina Ricci; the trailer first premiered at Cinespia in Los Angeles on August 27. "Balut" was released as the third promotional single on September 15, 2023.

Tour and live performances

Main article: The Scarlet Tour

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American rappers Doechii (left) and Ice Spice (right) will join Doja Cat on the opening leg of The Scarlet Tour.

On June 23, 2023, Doja Cat announced The Scarlet Tour, exactly 67 days before she officially revealed Scarlet as the title of the album. The first headlining arena tour of her career; it will take place in North America and feature rappers Doechii and Ice Spice as supporting acts. This comes after the Hot Pink Tour in support of her second album was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scarlet Tour will start on October 31, 2023, in San Francisco and conclude on December 13, 2023, in Chicago, consisting of 23 dates across the US and 1 date in Canada. Fan registration for the tour took place on June 25, followed by its presale three days later. Tickets went on sale on June 30 via Ticketmaster.

At the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, Doja performed a medley of "Attention", "Paint the Town Red", and "Demons", dressed in a grey suit and glasses, and "trailed by blood-soaked dancers". Justin Curto of Vulture highlighted the performance as one of the best moments of the night, describing the "preppy" outfit as "giving Joan Cusack in School of Rock", while Joey Nolfi of Entertainment Weekly compared it to Britney Spears in the "...Baby One More Time" music video. Pitchfork's Madison Bloom echoed Nolfi's sentiment, while describing the dancers' choreography as "recall[ing] Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake" and praising the performance as one of the best of the night.

Track listing

Scarlet track listing
No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Paint the Town Red"	Earl on the Beat Rubin Jean-Baptiste DJ Replay	3:51
2.	"Demons"	D.A. Got That Dope	3:15
3.	"Wet Vagina"		3:12
4.	"Fuck the Girls (FTG)"		2:32
5.	"Ouchies"		2:02
6.	"97"		3:01
7.	"Gun"		3:01
8.	"Go Off"		3:17
9.	"Agora Hills"		4:25
10.	"Can't Wait"		3:55
11.	"Often"		3:18
12.	"Love Life"		3:56
13.	"Skull and Bones"		4:08
14.	"Attention"	Y2K Rogét Chahayed	4:37
15.	"Balut"	Yeti Beats Chahayed McKenzie	3:27
Total length:			51:54

• signifies additional producer

Sample credits

• "Paint the Town Red" contains a sample from "Walk On By", written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, as performed by Dionne Warwick.

Release history

Release dates and formats for Scarlet

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label	Ref.
Various	September 22, 2023	Box set CD digital download streaming	Kemosabe RCA