Doja Cat – Hot Pink (2019)

Doja Cat is seen to be an up-and-comer in the realm of today’s music. This album, with its raunchy cover and Doja Cat, with her dyed pink hair, is seen to be that in a musical sense. Does it have any musical listening merit, however? Let’s find out.

Cyber Sex kicks off with some catchy beats and brilliant sound effects. It talks about internet sex tapes on camera (yes, really) and Doja Cat does have a good voice to show to the world. This is actually surprisingly good. It’s rather funny, in fact. For all those who enjoy such a thing, this is your song.

Won’t Bite comes next and is a musical pun on Doja Cat’s name. It’s not that good, to be honest. It seems the era of computerised Rap and RnB brings some artists to the fore and fails many others. The rapping and swearing do not suit Doja Cat’s persona, and the guest’s appearance is unnecessary. Would have been better if it were thought out properly.

The next piece is somewhat better, Rules. It is actually okay, but still, there is a feeling that this album will sink into the memory of history, taking all concerned in it with it. This is the sort of music sold to teenagers who spend their parents’ money on CDs, such as this one. It’s okay but only okay.

Following is Bottom Bitch. It’s another raunchy sounding piece, probably designed to be listened to in the car with the subwoofers cranked. It’s okay, but not really that good. Sounds like someone here needs to be a prostitute, not a singer/rapper. Still, it is an interesting listen anyway. The computerised sounds towards the end are awful.

Say So is the biggest hit from the album, and sounds Disco influenced with funky guitar riffs. It’s a surprisingly good listen, better than other hits released today. If you can hear only one Doja Cat song, this is it. It’s somewhat good overall, but still sounds like try hard Rap. The part towards the end is interesting, a good bit of computerised production here.

Like That (feat. Gucci Mane) sounds like a sort of tune played on Pornhub adverts. It’s okay, but like the rest of the album, largely forgettable. Gucci Mane’s appearance is actually decent, but the album seems like artificial Pop music to one’s ear at this point. It’s fortunately short, however.

Next is Talk Dirty. It has some computerised melodies, surprisingly good beats and some annoying Rapping. It has some really puerile lyrics to listen to. It’s not a good tune overall and leaves something to be desired. Not worth listening to. Pretty awful and forgettable for a four minute long Pop song. The outro is actually pretty good, mind you.

After that, we come to Addiction. It’s supposed to be a deep and meaningful tune but doesn’t come across like that. Still, it’s an improvement over the other tracks here and talks about relationship issues. Rather catchy, oddly enough. It’s okay, but there are no meaningful lyrics here, unlike other songs in Doja Cat’s catalog.

Streets is another rubbish sounding track. It features more emphasis on sonic textures than actual consistency. It’s listenable, but only just so. It’s really awful and drags the quality of this album down. Fortunately, it is a rather short album, so it is easy to sit through or skip in that aspect. Still, it could have been easily rethought.

Shine comes next, and the album goes way downhill from here. It features some atrocious piano parts and some crap rapping by Doja Cat. It’s getting so awful here that Doja Cat is descending into Billie Eilish’s territory in terms of music being awful on this album. This music seriously needs a rethink here.

Next is Better Than Me which sounds even worse. It has some awful guitar parts and sounds like an awful tune. The uptempo nature of this album in the first half, which was good, is seriously let down by the second half here. Fortunately, the album is almost over, what a relief.

Lastly, Juicy has a cool intro, with a semi-psychedelic sound. It’s a much better track, but unfortunately points out the inconsistency of this album. It talks about Doja Cat’s booty, which is quite a humourous topic. It’s a better tune to hear but ends the album with us asking questions about a missed opportunity on this album.

This album is okay, but nothing special. It’s the usual postmodern Rap/RnB release. Sure, it has its moments here and is not the worst album out there. But there is definite room for improvement here. Doja Cat will continue to be popular, but the music here is not the best. Let’s hope the next release is a better one.

6/10