Girl to Know: Doja Cat
photo: @dojacat
While the general populace, that being Tik Tok, have only recently discovered Doja Cat, the other half was already quite familiar with her 2018 unapologetic sex-jam "Go To Town”. We’re just happy that Doja Cat is done simmering and has exploded on to the music scene as definitely one to watch for in the coming year.
A native Angeleno, Amala Zandile Dlamini goes by the moniker Doja Cat, a name that she borrowed from her cat. The first foray into music was at age 16 when she uploaded her first song on Soundcloud in 2013. In 2018 she debuted with the album Amala, full of candy coated beats and hip-hop, r&b touches. It wasn’t until her song ”Mooo!” that she began to reach viral stardom with over 10m views on YouTube. The recent 2019 album Hot Pink moves away from dancehall beats and into more smoky, almost disco, r&b and hip-hop vibes. Coming from a family of artists, it’s no wonder that Doja Cat is very multifaceted with her style of music.
From her current album, the song “Say So” became her first Billboard top 20 hit, which is probably in part to its Tik Tok fame when it was featured in more than 9 million videos as part of the “SaySo” dance challenge.
Doja Cat is the Harajuku for the hip-hop girl. She might be this next generation’s Gwen Stefani, although she is growing into her own tough woman persona, “I love being a punk to people who take things way too seriously," Doja explains to Paper Magazine.
For those who are less swayed by Tik Tok hysteria, you can also appreciate Doja’s skincare and face regimen as seen in her tutorial for Vogue (video below). In that sense, she’s just like us, covering up spots, lines and trying to do the best with what we’ve got.
