Doja Cat and Star Image by 201562155

Doja Cat's startup (2018)

lucyelliottp — 2023-10-31 12:56:41 UTC

In 2018 Doja Cat released her first viral song "Mooo!" which is a satirical song, described as "pure unadulterated joy" (Haylock, 2020) which she produced and released as a "parody rap" (Bernard, 2018). Unexpectedly, this song, which she also utilised 'meme' culture within the music video as she dressed up in a cow costume with a green screen, launched her success. This song accelerated her popularity in the music industry due to her unconventional persona as a music artist as she actively makes herself look unserious which is something the music industry typically lacks, making her star persona seem relatable and engaging. With Doja Cat creating this identity of an artist who isn't afraid to redirect the norms of star image, she ultimately contradicts Shingler's idea that the "unique personality [of a star] is rarely glimpsed by fans and audiences" (Shingler and British Film Institute, 2012, pp.122), as she launched her career from being true to herself and her personality from her first viral song.

lucyelliottp — 2023-10-31 13:08:14 UTC

After the release of her viral song '"Mooo!" The Independent released an article analysing the means and motivations for the song and how this launched her success. The Independent described this song as "nothing more than a bright spark of fun", whilst also creating "an eccentric level of sex appeal" which is typical for female rap artists in the industry (Bernard, 2018). Doja cat therefore relates to Dyer's concept that some stars "root their characters in their own self of self and star image" as Doja Cat doesn't actively create a persona which is aimed to fit the typical norms of artists in the music industry (Shingler and British Film Institute, 2012, pp.123).

Doja Cat Hot Pink

lucyelliottp — 2023-10-31 15:07:51 UTC

Doja Cat's second studio album 'Hot Pink' departed from her Star Image of being a satirical and lo-fi rapper / singer and instead directs her intent for the album so have sex appeal and focuses heavily on femininity. For example her opening track on 'Hot Pink' is called "cyber sex" which articles write not only the song, but the entire album "oozes sex appeal" (Demas, 2019). Due to the release of this album, Doja cat has created a star image that relates to Glendhill's concept that "image [is] spun off from the persona [...] and roles, both condensing and dispering desires, meanings, values and styles that are current in culture" (Shingler and British Film Institute, 2012, pp.125). This is because previously Doja Cat's image was centred by her audience as being a satirical rapper, however in Hot Pink she has embraced her sense of self and has incorporated both satirical and fun rap styles, with her sense of sex appeal in songs on the album such as "Juicy", "Rules", "Cyber Sex", "Wont Bite" and many more.

Music Videos

lucyelliottp — 2023-10-31 15:30:01 UTC

One particular music video which directly inrojects Doja Cats desire to depart from her star image of being purely a satirical rapper / singer, is 'Streets'. In the 'Streets' music video Doja cat elevates her character as being focused on sex appeal with the video's red lighting which ultimately creates a focal point on her silhouette, whilst paired with her provocative body movements.

Hot Pink Release Party

lucyelliottp — 2023-10-31 15:45:38 UTC

Doja Cat intentionally chose her release party for her new album 'Hot Pink' so be located at The Museum of Sex Superfunland, intentionally to portray to family, friends, and fans that the album was taking a step away from her usual fun type of rapping, to a more adult and provocative turn.

Need To Know

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 17:14:29 UTC

On June 11th 2021 Doja Cat released her first song from her upcoming new studio album and left fans in shock. It seems that every album Doja Cat releases there is a different theme and star image she intentionally creates. The music video for 'Need To Know' pairs seductive lyrics with a sci-fi like visual approach. This ultimately contrasts to the themes of her previous albums and shows fans a preview of what the upcoming album is going to be like.

PLANET HER

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 17:22:45 UTC

Doja Cats third studio album 'Planet Her' is a very pop inspired album contrasting from her previous. The album focuses very heavily on themes of femininity as in one of the songs in the track list named 'Woman', the sings "devine feminine i'm feminine". The album is mainly revolved around pop-funk instrumentals along side vocals which play on changes of tone and character, especially in one of the tracks 'Get Into It (yuh)' in which Doja Cat, in some verses, changes from her normal singing style to a fun character. This essentially, yet again, changes her star image as in each album she shows her fans a different style, continuously providing fans with a new version of her self in each album she creates and in turn demonstrates her versatility and capability in her music.

BET AWARDS 2019

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 17:29:07 UTC

As Doja Cat was still an upcoming artists with only slight notoriety, she played on her stage name of Doja Cat as the inspiration for her outfit, in which she played on the star image of her being a cat. Not only this, but she also demonstrates to the public that she isn't afraid to stray away from traditional norms when it comes to red carpet outfits, instead of dressing formal, she stands out in an unconventional, entertaining outfit. At this stage of her music career, her star image was mainly focused on standing out for being distinctive, bold and humorous.

2020 Billboard Awards

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 17:45:41 UTC

Doja cat strayed away from her previous star image at the Billboard Music Awards in 2020 after her music started gaining lots of popularity for her sex appeal. Due to this, Doja Cat revolved her star image around sex appeal by showing off her body in provocative outfits.

December 2021 Jingle Bell Ball

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 18:01:08 UTC

Once again Doja Cat flaunts her body and in turn stays on track with her star image of sex appeal.

Paris Fashion Week 2021

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 18:04:46 UTC

Doja Cat shocked the music industry by completely and dramatically diverting away from her typical star image of sex appeal and femininity. Instead she shaved her hair and eyebrows off and shocked the internet.

Met Gala 2023

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 19:49:08 UTC

For the 2023 Met Gala the theme was the late Karl Largerfeld. Doja Cat's inspiration for her outfit was his cat which fitted her star image perfectly as her name is associated with Cats.

Scarlet

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 19:53:34 UTC

Doja Cat's fourth studio album 'Scarlet' shocked the internet with its demonic first appearance, completely contrasting the past 4 years of her career.

Demons

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 20:05:14 UTC

The music video for her song 'Demons' on her newest album 'Scarlet' completely changed her star image and fans weren't happy. The once girly, sex appealing singer / rapper dramatically became the demonic female rapper. The whole music video is directed as if it was a horror film with many demonic scenes and metaphor's such as goats, demons, blood and paranormal activity. The music video however, is artistically related to the sound of the song itself, as 'Demons' includes distorted shouting as well as very aggressive lyrics.

Doja Cat responds to the hate on her image

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 20:18:54 UTC

After the backlash from the internet about her brand new appearance, Doja Cat responded by tweeting that she doesn't care about what people say about the way she looks because it makes her feel "amazing" and takes her new star image in pride.

Social Media

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 20:33:46 UTC

since the beginning of her rise to fame, Doja Cat has never shy'd away from expressing her real quirky and weird personality. Despite having over 24.4 million followers, she continues to post the most random things to make her fans laugh, showing that she is human and is just as weird as the rest of the world.

Controversy

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 20:49:35 UTC

Doja Cat, despire being adored by many for her personality, has been notorious for controversy over the years. During Covid 19, the star recieved a lot of backlash for downplaying the deadly virus as a "flu" in which she stated, "I don’t give a f*** about corona. B****, it’s a flu. I’m not scared. Y’all are p****, period.” (Thomas, 2023), despite the virus killing thousands of people.

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-01 21:19:38 UTC

When Doja Cat released her song 'Say So' in 2020 it became a breakout hit and has achieved over 900 million streams. It became popular on the social media app TikTok. In the music video her star image is extremely girly with an 80s theme.

Juicy

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 12:22:56 UTC

In 2019 one of Doja Cat's break out hits 'Juicy' launched her career and in turn created a star image that was based off her body and sex appeal. The song is about women's bodily figures and the music video compares a woman's body to fruit. The fashion inspiration for the music video was focused solely on different fruits as Doja Cat's outfits included watermelons, banana's and cherries.

Acceptance speech

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 13:29:45 UTC

In 2022 at the Grammys, Doja Cat's acceptance speech made the internet laugh with her natural humour and whit. The speech went viral due to her having to run from the bathroom onto the stage, in which he stated to the world "i've never taken such a fast p**s".

Interview

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 14:35:05 UTC

In this interview Doja Cat breaks down her song 'Attention' and says she "channeled her earlier musical influences", such as "east coast rap" as the song is very rap focused with little singing. She also explains that the style she wears in the music video is different to her typical music video's, as she states she usually likes do include "costumes" in her music videos but instead for 'Attention' she wanted to create a more laid back approach.

Planet Her Interview

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 14:46:30 UTC

In this interview Doja Cat explains how her inspiration for her album 'Planet Her' was heavily inspired by the afro-pop genre of music, in which she states "I love afro music" and "I feel like it's natural for me because my dad is from Africa".

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 15:00:26 UTC

many music videos incorporate revealing costumes in order to create sex appeal as many articles suggest.

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 15:05:18 UTC

many promotional posters incorporate suggestive and sex orientated objects such as the bushes behind Doja Cat in this promotional poster.

lyrics

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 16:09:31 UTC

In her song 'Demons' Doja cat addresses the backlash she has been receiving and proves that her rapping ability should be taken seriously instead of being labelled as a TikTok artist.

Tired of Say So

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 16:12:49 UTC

Doja Cat publicly admitted to being "tired" of her biggest hit song due to it labelling her as an artist who only makes music for people to dance to on TikTok.

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 16:14:10 UTC

In her song 'Attention' she addresses the hate on her new star image

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 16:51:27 UTC

Doja Cat has gained 72 million monthly listeners in her 4 year career

MOOO!

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 16:53:17 UTC

The lyrics to the song 'Mooo!' which was her first song to go viral

Weight Loss

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 16:59:59 UTC

During her time in the spotlight Doja Cat decided to lose weight despite being notorious for being a bigger woman which she flaunted in her songs whilst she was still on the rise to stardom.

Youtube collaborations

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-02 17:02:04 UTC

As Doja Cat is notorious for her personality, she continuously collaborates with famous youtuber's

Merch

lucyelliottp — 2023-11-03 22:37:32 UTC

Doja Cat played on the fact that her new star image recieved a lot of backlash and as a result made a joke about it on her merchandise.