Hot Pink

As opening lines go, you can’t do much better than “Said play with my pussy, but don’t play with my emotions.” That’s how Doja Cat kicks off “Rules,” a semi-vulnerable highlight from a sophomore LP that’s forced to contend more with following last year’s “Mooo!” than her excellent debut from a few months earlier, *Amala*. “Mooo!” was an absurdist stunt (“Got the methane/I’m a farter/With my farmer/McDonald”) whose homespun video was designed to go viral—which it did, garnering cosigns from Chance the Rapper and Katy Perry along the way. While *Hot Pink* never shies away from a punchline—or much of anything, really—it also re-emphasizes the California native’s artistry, whether she’s paying tribute to Nicki Minaj (“Cyber Sex”) and posteriors (“Juicy”) or making easy work of a woozy blink-182 sample (“Bottom Bitch”) and weightless West African guitar (“Won’t Bite”).

On her first full-length release since her viral breakout, the rapper-singer and songwriter proves that her real gift is her versatility.

Amalaratna Dlamini samples Blink-182 and ropes in Gucci Mane on her second album, an R&B-infused bonanza of versatility and bawdy punchlines

While millions first discovered Doja Cat by way of her ridiculous 2018 viral novelty R&B hit "MOOO!" (perhaps better known by its lyrical hook "Bitch! I'm a cow!") that goofy standalone track was by no means representative of her larger creative potential.

The internet made Doja Cat’s 2018 track ‘Moo’ a viral hit, with its infectiously catchy chorus and immediately identifiable aesthetic -