After teasing fans for months, Doja Cat finally released her fourth studio album, Scarlet, today (Sept. 22).
The project was preceded by multiple singles, including “Attention,” which peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned six MTV Video Music Awards nominations. Meanwhile, “Paint The Town Red” debuted in August and landed a No. 1 position on the chart.
In the lead-up to the album’s release, life-sized mannequins resembling the Los Angeles rapper appeared in major cities as a promotional tactic. It also experienced a behind-the-scenes hiccup when Doja decided to change the cover art at the last minute due to its resemblance to another band’s artwork.
Moreover, the musician will be supporting the LP with “The Scarlet Tour,” which is set to begin on Halloween at San Francisco’s Chase Center. The 24-date tour will conclude on Dec. 13 at Chicago’s United Center. Ice Spice and Doechii were also announced as opening acts.
Listen to the full release below.
Regarding the LP, Doja told Harper’s Bazaar, “This new album is more introspective, but I’m not leaning so hard into that to where it becomes boring. So I want to give stories and bops. It’s a nice mixture of both. I think this project is a really fun canvas for me to play with my rap skills and talk about what’s going on in my life. But I’m not abandoning who I was and what I know about pop and singing and that aspect of music.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, the rapper spoke about the project’s accompanying visuals. She added, “It’s experimental for sure. It’s very manic. But I am going in a darker direction when it comes to visuals and fashion. I have a lot of pent-up feelings and anger, and I want to express it with beauty. I’ve been playing with a lot of prosthetics lately.”