Missy Elliott Gives Doja Cat Advice On Staying ‘Far-Left’ In The Music Industry

Doja Cat is a few months into the release of her anticipated album Planet Her, which landed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Throughout the album rollout, Doja Cat has remained true to her left-of-center brand, asking her fans to roast her for falling on stage and joking that she’s been canceled “maybe 350 times.” Now, Doja Cat gets the chance to speak to another musician who is known for staying true to herself: Missy Elliott.

Elliott and Doja Cat sat down for a conversation with Interview Magazine. Throughout their chat, Doja Cat gushed about how much Elliott has influenced her as an artist. Elliott also gave Doja Cat advice on how to stay weird and authentic with her music, saying that she should stay away from second-guessing herself:

“For my first album, I didn’t listen to the radio. I didn’t watch videos. I didn’t do any of those things, and I didn’t realize how much that helped me at the time. But it helped, because me and Timb, we didn’t mimic. So if we did something far-left, we weren’t afraid, because we didn’t know what was hot anyway. But now, when I got my phone and I’m seeing things, I can think of something really far-left and then I’ll be like, ‘They’re going to think I’m crazy. Let me reel it back.’ […] It gets tricky sometimes, so here’s some advice. Whatever you’re doing, if you feel like you’re in this place, and it seems to be working, stay there. Don’t allow other things to make you second-guess yourself, as long as it feels good to you.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Doja Cat opened up to Elliott about what she hopes to hone in her music. Along with wanting to fine-tuning her flow, Doja Cat says she hopes to open up about her personal life a little bit more in the future. “When it comes to rap I could be better,” Doja Cat said. “I think everybody feels that way with their own art, in all kinds of ways. But I see all these incredibly talented rappers around me, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m doing pop, but I should focus on my pen now more than ever.’ I’m good, and I can be funny and charming, and I can do little punchlines here and there, but I need to talk about my life more, and about what’s going on.”

Read Elliott and Doja Cat’s full conversation with Interview Magazine here.

Missy Elliott is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Doja Cat’s Close-Up 3 Way Face Slay

Okay, so that really doesn’t work, but it somehow works. As wacky as the West Coast weirdo might be when it comes to her social media, there’s no denying her musical talent. Check out these close up pics that Doja Cat posted for fans via her socials. 1. What’s Hiding Under That Sweater? For anyone […]

Doja Cat Heads To The Desert For A Sultry Live Performance Of ‘Need To Know’

Vevo already had a knack for helping artists create live performance videos of their songs that felt like mini-concerts, but that platform has only been more useful in the midst of a pandemic. Now that it’s been months since most of us have been out to see our favorite artists on tour, these live slices of artists performing their new work is as close as it comes lately. Since the release of her long-awaited album Planet Her, Doja Cat has almost had to pick and choose which singles to promote, there’s so many good options on the record’s extensive tracklist. Clearly, though, one of her personal favorites is “Need To Know,” and it was one of the last singles to be released before she finally announced the album’s release date back in June.

In this new clip, Doja wears a futuristic high-fashion black look while perched out in the middle of the desert, singing the song while casually sitting on a cliffside. Eventually, she stands up and makes her way to the middle of a clearing where she can stretch out a few dance moves during an interlude. Check out the clip above, as well as her earlier collaboration with Vevo on “Ain’t Sh*t.”

Doja Cat’s ‘Planet Her’ Merch Is Bad, According To Doja Cat

When you get to be an artist of Doja Cat’s stature, it’s inevitable that you at some point won’t be able to control everything about your brand. While Doja presumably has final say over things like her music and cover art, it appears she’s not as involved with the merchandise side of things, because she thinks the merch she’s currently offering isn’t good.

Over the weekend, a fan shared an image of one of the t-shirts in Doja’s merch store, which features a photo of her in a skimpy pink outfit and wearing a pink dual-pointed headpiece. The tweet was captioned simply with question marks, and another fan replied, “who is designing this new batch of merchandise lol.” Doja quoted that tweet and responded, “i don’t know.” She quickly followed up, “the merch is bad. i’m aware. don’t worry.”

Another user tweeted, “b*tch i ain’t buying a hat for THIRTY FIVE dollars… nawt me sorry bae,” to which Doja responded, “i understand.”

Aside from the aforementioned shirt and hat, Doja’s online shop currently offers designs based on NASA logos and generic-looking Planet Her imagery, printed on crop top shirts, t-shirts, hoodies, shorts, and sweatpants.

Revisit our recent review of Planet Her here.

Doja Cat Thinks Fans Look At Female Rappers Like They’re ‘Less Than Smart’

As female rappers continue to gain in popularity, more of them have spoken out about the unfair perceptions facing women in hip-hop. Cardi B recently addressed the double standard that follows them, saying in essence that they must work twice as hard for half the respect, a sentiment that up-and-coming rapper Latto co-signed a few weeks later.

In a new interview for Nick Cannon’s show on LA’s Power 106, Doja Cat also fielded questions about why she believes women face these obstacles. “When you dress up like you are going on a night out in Miami… People will put you in a category and for them to be comfortable, they’ll make it seem like you are not very smart, you are just a girl who is just a rapper,” she said. “You don’t have a great sense of humor maybe, or you’re stuck up… like female rappers are vapid or less than smart, I feel that’s how they’re looked at.”

Incidentally, it seemed that the interview itself simply affirmed her outlook, as she later tweeted, “If you’re gonna interview musicians try to ask them about their music,” highlighting how Cannon’s line of questioning apparently ignored the fact she has a new album, Planet Her, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the singles “Kiss Me More” with SZA and “You Right” with The Weeknd, as well as a deluxe edition featuring Eve’s first rapping appearance since Missy Elliott’s 2017 “I’m Better” remix.

Watch Doja Cat’s interview with Nick Cannon above.

Doja Cat Finds Out She’s Paul Rudd’s Soulmate In A Behind-The-Scenes ‘You Right’ Video

It’s been about two weeks since Doja Cat dropped her astrology-inspired “You Right” video featuring The Weeknd, a track off her otherwordly Planet Her album. The singer has now shared some behind-the-scenes footage of the shoot where, true to the video’s theme, Doja researches her astrology sign. In doing so, Doja finds out that she’s apparently very comparable with Paul Rudd.

The behind-the-scenes footage opens with Doja calling up her mom to find out the exact time she was born, a crucial piece of information needed for finding out an astrology birth chart. Doja’s birth chart describes her as “committed and assertive,” to which she responds, “Oh. This is about me being a b*tch.”

Using the same app, Doja looks up Paul Rudd’s birth chart to see if they are compatible. Doja reads off the results: “Right away, Paul might have seemed familiar, like you two were close friends or family in a past life. This sense of shared history creates an ease of comfort between you and a deep sense of immediate trust. It’s like Paul’s the kind of friend you can let down you guard with, you can be yourself with.” The singer then mentions, “I’ve never met this guy, but that’s very weird because his demeanor is very much like my family, which is very strange.”

Doja then checks her compatibility with Beyonce, which is apparently her “strongest connection.” The app says the two musicians would make “incredible allies,” and Doja seems to agree.

Watch Doja’s “You Right” behind-the-scenes above.

Planet Her is out now via RCA. Get it here.

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