Doja Cat took us on one wild ride while teasing her album Scarlet, burning the memory of her past eras to the ground along the way. She embarked on a quest to reinvent herself and leave pop influences that put her on the map behind, but Scarlet proves that this decision was a double-edged sword.
It’s impossible to talk about Doja Cat’s new album without mentioning the controversy that shaped it. From trolling us about the album’s title and cover to receiving backlash for bashing her own music and telling fans she doesn’t love them, the Grammy-winning singer burned many bridges while trying to embrace her new alter ego.
Scarlet opens up strong, with previously released singles “Paint the Town Red” and “Demons” – and its opening track became Doja Cat’s biggest hit in recent memory for a reason. This catchy hip-hop banger perfectly captures what Scarlet is all about and it sees the Doja Cat firing back at her critics and making it clear she couldn’t care less.
Unfortunately, Scarlet never lives up to the hype of its two opening tracks and gets pretty repetitive as the songs go by. Despite her promise that she’ll go back to her hip-hop roots, Doja’s new album offers several slower, sensual tracks, such as the recent single “Agora Hills” and “Love Life”. They sound pretty tame in comparison to the rest of the tracks on this record, forcing Scarlet to lose some of its edge, while also making its sound more multifaceted.
Doja Cat’s versatility was always one of her strongest suits, and her decision to leave it behind makes Scarlet her most divisive album yet. It’s certainly a provocative and bold piece of work that perfectly reflects who she is at this point in time, but it’s too long and jumbled to fully get its point across.
