Doja Cat is coming. The Grammy-winning artist graced the cover of V magazine on Tuesday (July 1), which sets the stage for her anticipated Vie album arriving this fall.
While she faced backlash for saying in her 2023 cover for the same magazine that making “palatable, marketable and sellable” music didn’t allow her a “mental release,” Doja reveals her upcoming LP is a “pop-driven project.”
“I do want to be self-aware enough to admit the fact that this is a pop-driven project,” she said. “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 … They see it as if this is some kind of football for girls and gays.”
Although the project is pop-leaning, the publication points out that there’s plenty of rapping from Doja across Vie. The 29-year-old has plenty to say about “love” and “romance,” but also reflects on how she wants her relationships to look in the future.
“The concept is very pointed towards love, romance and sex — and discourse in relationships,” Doja said. “Really just relationships in general, and relationships with yourself, even. 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.”
She continued: “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.”
Even if her first-week sales dip, Doja Cat wants to embrace the unknown of what’s ahead, but be happy with the product she released into the world.
“What I want to avoid is that little monster that just wants success,” Doja added. “I want to focus more on ‘How does the mix sound? Do I even need these instruments here? Do I need to recut this verse?’ It’s how things sound that makes the music worth listening to. I would not be an artist if I didn’t care, right?”
She went on: “If for any reason a project of mine does a little less good than the last one, I don’t want to be up in arms and upset about it. I want to embrace that.”
Doja has yet to give fans a taste of the album, but she’s been active in recent months with an appearance on the F1 soundtrack alongside Don Toliver for “Lose My Mind,” and she guested on Lizzo’s rap-heavy “STILL CANT FUH.”
The Los Angeles native’s most recent album, Scarlet, arrived in 2023, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Vie is expected to hit streaming services in the autumn.
