Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as Doja Cat, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began making and releasing music on SoundCloud as a teenager. Her song "So High" caught the attention of Kemosabe and RCA Records, with which she signed a joint record deal at the age of 17, subsequently releasing her debut EP Purrr! in 2014. After a hiatus from music, Doja Cat released her debut studio album, Amala (2018), and later earned viral success as an internet meme with the single "Mooo!", which appeared on the deluxe version of her debut album along with singles "Juicy" (with Tyga) and "Tia Tamera" (featuring Rico Nasty) in 2019.
Doja Cat's second studio album, Hot Pink (2019), reached the top 10 of the US Billboard 200 and spawned the single "Say So", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart following the release of a remix featuring Nicki Minaj. In 2020, Doja Cat collaborated with Ariana Grande on their song "Motive", and later featured on the remix of Grande's "34+35" alongside Megan Thee Stallion, which became her second song to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her third song to reach this feat, "Kiss Me More" (featuring SZA), served as the lead single from her third studio album, Planet Her, which is scheduled to be released on June 25, 2021.
Doja Cat is known for creating music videos and songs that achieve popularity on social media applications such as TikTok and YouTube. She has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and six Billboard Music Awards, and has won two American Music Awards in addition to the MTV Video Music Award for Push Best New Artist and its European counterpart. Forbes named Doja Cat "one of the top breakout stars of 2020" and listed her on their annual 30 under 30 list.
Doja Cat has described life after dropping out of school as "messy", claiming that she slept on the floor and spent "all night and day" browsing the internet, looking for beats and instrumentals from YouTube which she downloaded and used to create her own music. She taught herself to sing, rap and use GarageBand while at home without a job, frequently making music and uploading it to SoundCloud.
She got her stage name from one of her cats as well as her favorite strain of marijuana, stating, "I was heavily addicted to weed and weed culture, so when I began rapping I thought of the word 'doja' and how it sounds like a girl's name."
In late 2012, "So High" became the first permanent upload on her SoundCloud account, and soon caught the attention of Dr. Luke, who signed her to Kemosabe Records, RCA Records and publishing company Prescription Songs when she was aged 17. This deal also came with a temporary artist management partnership with Roc Nation. In August 2014, Doja Cat released her debut EP, Purrr!, described as "spacey, eastern-influenced R&B" by The Fader. "So High" was repackaged and released as her solo commercial debut single prior to the EP's release, and was later featured on the Fox series Empire in the third episode of the show's first season.
In mid-2015, Doja Cat signed to OG Maco's label, OGG. Following the signing, in late 2016, Maco and Doja Cat collaborated on the song "Monster", from Maco's 2017 mixtape, Children of The Rage.
In February 2018, Doja Cat released the promotional single "Roll with Us". The following month, she released the single "Go to Town", which was released with an accompanying music video on the same day and would become the lead single from her debut album. "Candy" was released as the album's second single that same month. The track would become a sleeper hit after a "dance challenge" on the video-sharing platform TikTok went viral in late 2019. Consequently, the single charted in countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, with the latter having the song peak at 86 on the Billboard Hot 100, making this her first solo entry on the chart. On March 30, 2018, her debut studio album Amala was released, including the three singles. She later claimed to have been under the influence of marijuana for most of the production of the album. NPR described the album as a "manifesto of a young woman striving to take ownership of her craft, her image and her sexuality, mixing genres like dancehall, trap, house and R&B with a healthy dose of sass and humor." At the time of its release, the album was largely ignored by critics and failed to chart in any market. The album would later peak at number 138 on the Billboard 200 in late 2019.
Doja Cat performing in October 2018
Doja Cat performing in October 2018
In August 2018, Doja Cat uploaded the completely self-produced music video for her song "Mooo!", a novelty song with absurdist lyrics in which she fantasizes about being a cow, on YouTube. The video garnered attention and viral success as a meme. Due to popular demand following the music video's viral success, she released a single version of "Mooo!" later that month. In February 2019, she released the single and accompanying video for "Tia Tamera" featuring Rico Nasty, which preceded the release of a deluxe edition of Amala.
The re-release of the album included three new songs, including "Mooo!" and "Juicy". A remix of "Juicy" featuring Tyga and its accompanying music video were released in August 2019. Following the release of the remix, the song debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Doja Cat's first entry on the chart, and ultimately peaked at number 41. The song would eventually be certified Platinum in the United States. It led to Amala debuting for the first time on the Billboard 200 album chart in August as well.
Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as Doja Cat, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began making and releasing music on SoundCloud as a teenager. Her song "So High" caught the attention of Kemosabe and RCA Records, with which she signed a joint record deal at the age of 17, subsequently releasing her debut EP Purrr! in 2014. After a hiatus from music, Doja Cat released her debut studio album, Amala (2018), and later earned viral success as an internet meme with the single "Mooo!", which appeared on the deluxe version of her debut album along with singles "Juicy" (with Tyga) and "Tia Tamera" (featuring Rico Nasty) in 2019.
Doja Cat's second studio album, Hot Pink (2019), reached the top 10 of the US Billboard 200 and spawned the single "Say So", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart following the release of a remix featuring Nicki Minaj. In 2020, Doja Cat collaborated with Ariana Grande on their song "Motive", and later featured on the remix of Grande's "34+35" alongside Megan Thee Stallion, which became her second song to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her third song to reach this feat, "Kiss Me More" (featuring SZA), served as the lead single from her third studio album, Planet Her, which is scheduled to be released on June 25, 2021.
Doja Cat is known for creating music videos and songs that achieve popularity on social media applications such as TikTok and YouTube. She has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and six Billboard Music Awards, and has won two American Music Awards in addition to the MTV Video Music Award for Push Best New Artist and its European counterpart. Forbes named Doja Cat "one of the top breakout stars of 2020" and listed her on their annual 30 under 30 list.
Doja Cat has described life after dropping out of school as "messy", claiming that she slept on the floor and spent "all night and day" browsing the internet, looking for beats and instrumentals from YouTube which she downloaded and used to create her own music. She taught herself to sing, rap and use GarageBand while at home without a job, frequently making music and uploading it to SoundCloud.
She got her stage name from one of her cats as well as her favorite strain of marijuana, stating, "I was heavily addicted to weed and weed culture, so when I began rapping I thought of the word 'doja' and how it sounds like a girl's name."
In late 2012, "So High" became the first permanent upload on her SoundCloud account, and soon caught the attention of Dr. Luke, who signed her to Kemosabe Records, RCA Records and publishing company Prescription Songs when she was aged 17. This deal also came with a temporary artist management partnership with Roc Nation. In August 2014, Doja Cat released her debut EP, Purrr!, described as "spacey, eastern-influenced R&B" by The Fader. "So High" was repackaged and released as her solo commercial debut single prior to the EP's release, and was later featured on the Fox series Empire in the third episode of the show's first season.
In mid-2015, Doja Cat signed to OG Maco's label, OGG. Following the signing, in late 2016, Maco and Doja Cat collaborated on the song "Monster", from Maco's 2017 mixtape, Children of The Rage.
In February 2018, Doja Cat released the promotional single "Roll with Us". The following month, she released the single "Go to Town", which was released with an accompanying music video on the same day and would become the lead single from her debut album. "Candy" was released as the album's second single that same month. The track would become a sleeper hit after a "dance challenge" on the video-sharing platform TikTok went viral in late 2019. Consequently, the single charted in countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, with the latter having the song peak at 86 on the Billboard Hot 100, making this her first solo entry on the chart. On March 30, 2018, her debut studio album Amala was released, including the three singles. She later claimed to have been under the influence of marijuana for most of the production of the album. NPR described the album as a "manifesto of a young woman striving to take ownership of her craft, her image and her sexuality, mixing genres like dancehall, trap, house and R&B with a healthy dose of sass and humor." At the time of its release, the album was largely ignored by critics and failed to chart in any market. The album would later peak at number 138 on the Billboard 200 in late 2019.
Doja Cat performing in October 2018
Doja Cat performing in October 2018
In August 2018, Doja Cat uploaded the completely self-produced music video for her song "Mooo!", a novelty song with absurdist lyrics in which she fantasizes about being a cow, on YouTube. The video garnered attention and viral success as a meme. Due to popular demand following the music video's viral success, she released a single version of "Mooo!" later that month. In February 2019, she released the single and accompanying video for "Tia Tamera" featuring Rico Nasty, which preceded the release of a deluxe edition of Amala.
The re-release of the album included three new songs, including "Mooo!" and "Juicy". A remix of "Juicy" featuring Tyga and its accompanying music video were released in August 2019. Following the release of the remix, the song debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Doja Cat's first entry on the chart, and ultimately peaked at number 41. The song would eventually be certified Platinum in the United States. It led to Amala debuting for the first time on the Billboard 200 album chart in August as well.
