The fans are everything? You don’t even know them! You have to be able to articulate that sometimes.
Anyone who really has something to say in pop has an army of fans with their own name behind them. Taylor Swift has the Swifties, Ariana Grande has the Arianators, Ellie Goulding has the, well, Goulddiggers. Doja Cat had the kitten until recently, but now she has a bunch of distraught fans on her hands. In a post, the musician complained that her “fandom” gave itself such a stupid name as “Kitten.” When she was asked to at least make a small declaration of love to her supporters, she replied: Why, she doesn’t even know these people.
This is of course correct, but it is also a moderate scandal for many fans who find parasocial relationships with their stars completely normal. At the same time, Doja Cat’s little reality check is a refreshingly bold twist from a singer who became known as an online phenomenon and with the support of many people willing to hype her. Dressed in a cow costume, she gained global attention in 2018 with her song “Mooo!” as a rap talent with a great disparate post-internet aesthetic and a knack for meme-ready videos.
Abysmal, but never seriously disturbing
With the release of her fourth album SCARLET, she now seems to want to get rid of the last remnants of the cuteness of this early success. She turned into an unsightly hellish figure in the video for her song “Demons” and also got into trouble with a German metal band because the original artwork was extremely similar to one of their album covers.
It all seems a bit as if a Soundcloud celebrity is trying to finally be taken seriously as a crosser of boundaries, but it sounds pretty great: mysterious, but never seriously disturbing, as the imagery suggests. The carefully annoyed fans have been vomiting about the new, nasty Doja Cat for weeks. The biggest point of this anti-campaign: The fans are still allowed to listen to their music in secret. Doja Cat’s single “Paint The Town Red” was even at number 3 on the singles charts.
This column first appeared in Musikexpress issue 11/2023.