Seriously...what is going on with Doja Cat?
design: Revati Mahurkar
We miss the old Doja.
by HAILEY ROY ★ SEPTEMBER 28, 2023
Celebrities rebranding their image is nothing new in Hollywood. Taylor Swift transformed from a country singer to a pop icon, and Kim Kardashian had an astounding wardrobe transformation (we've all seen her Vogue cover), but something about Doja Cat's new look seems darker than usual. The once bubbly, eccentric popstar is now disrespecting her fans, uploading eerie photos to social media and now posing as a Demon in a recent music video.
When I first discovered Doja Cat, she was dressed in a cow costume, singing her viral frivolous song "Mooo!" in front of a green screen covered with images of farms, cheeseburgers, and cow prints. The Grammy award-winning artist went on to become one of Gen-Z's most popular artists, collaborating with stars like Ariana Grande, SZA and Post Malone. Her avant-garde style, carefree energy and versatility between pop and rap captivated fans all over the country. But has her carefree energy taken it a step too far?
In July, Doja Cat took to Instagram to let her fans know that if they call themselves “kitten” or “kittenz,” they need to get off of their phones and “get a job.” Ouch. She then took it a step further by responding to a fan requesting Doja to say she loves them. The singer responded, “I don’t though because I don’t even know y’all.” This incident cost Doja a loss of over 500,000 Instagram followers.
If you’re thinking Doja’s image couldn’t have taken a darker route… think again. The artist completely restructured her Instagram, uploading photos of what appears to be blood, bats, demons and odd selfies of her. The artist even edited all of her album covers– across all platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music–to have a deep red tint. The cherry on top was the release of her music video, Demons, from her upcoming album Scarlet. Fair warning: it is horrifying. In the music video, Doja is shown as a demonic being with red eyes haunting Christina Ricci–the Addams Family it girl. We definitely don’t recommend watching it before going to sleep.
But Doja is not a rookie when it comes to trolling, controversies, or straying away from norms of fame. The 27-year-old called her successful albums Hot Pink and Plant Her “cash grabs” on Twitter in May and that her fans fell for it, describing her work as “mediocre pop.” The star would also go back and forth between tweeting she’s quitting music and following up with “jk,” delving deeper into her controversies.
Back in 2020 (yes, there’s more), Twitter users, now called X, discovered an old song by Doja titled a derogatory term used to mock Black victims of police brutality. During the same year, she referred to the then minor at the time, 17 year old Noah Schnapp (also known as Will from Stranger Things), as a snake live on TikTok for posting a screenshot of their DMs. Essentially, Doja reached out to Noah to get the hook up with Joseph Quinn, aka Eddie Munson, also from Stranger Things. This stunt cost her a loss of over 200,000 Instagram followers.
So the question is, is this evil-esque branding of Doja Cats' image for media attention, or is there something more sinister in her newfound erratic behavior?