Doja Cat Lives Life in Her Own Lane on 'Vie'
Veering into 1980s sonic influences, the songstress returns to her pop roots on the soulful, almost fully solo new record.
Summary
- Doja Cat has dropped her fifth studio album, the long-anticipated Vie
- Spanning 15 songs, Vie is almost a full solo record, with one feature coming from SZA on “Take Me Dancing”
- Today, Doja also released the music video for standout single, “Gorgeous”
One thing about Doja Cat: she doesn’t care what you think. Her artistry has always been an authentic mirror into the current status of her soul, each project a musing on just a morsel of her boundless bank of sonic and stylistic inspiration.
Her fifth studio album is no exception, another well-penned peg in Doja’s genre-jumping trajectory, on which every step she takes is a highly intentional one. Ignoring any industry constraints and immune to any boxed-in expectations, Doja has pivoted back and forth between pop, rap, and R&B, carving out her own, one-of-one lane in the music zeitgeist that allows her the freedom to zig-zag between sounds.
Marking one of the most anticipated projects of the year, the vibrant, vivacious, and vintage-leaning Vie is finally here, and it hears Doja harken back to her early, unjaded pop sound through her more seasoned, honed-in lens.
Across Vie‘s 15 tracks, Doja dabbles in the 1970s – 1990s era soundscape, infused with soulful samples, saxophone solos and some of Doja’s sharpest lyricism yet. After all, she made history with Vie as the first female songwriter to handle a full project completely solo.
The title, says Doja, is above all, “a choice of wordplay by me starting with the simple fact that this is my fifth album.”
“I wanted to stretch this from the Roman numeral ‘five’ tattoo on my collarbone. Five in numerology represents curiosity, adventure, and change. I chose Vie as a nod to La Vie en Rose and tied it together with the theme of romance, and throughout this project, I give my interpretation on love, sex, romance, pain, and wonder within a relationship. These songs can be related to the relationship with yourself or others. I feel strongly about the meaning of the word Vie because without life there is no love, and without love there is no adventure. This is an adventurous album and with homages and nods to the 80’s, 70’s, and 90’s, I wanted to give my own personal modern twist.”
An almost fully solo endeavor, the immersive new record is elevated by one feature from SZA on “Take Me Dancing.”
1. Cards
2. Jealous Type
3. Aaahh Men!
4. Couples Therapy
5. Gorgeous
6. Stranger
7. All Mine
8. Take Me Dancing feat. SZA
9. Lipstain
10. Silly! Fun!
11. Acts Of Service
12. Make It Up
13. One More Time
14. Happy
15. Come Back
Stream Vie, out on all streaming platforms now.
