Although Doja Cat has had a huge breakout in the last two years, her success has come with increased scrutiny — especially when it comes to the stratospheric single that launched her to her current level of fame, “Say So.” The disco-pop hit became Doja’s first No. 1, but some fans have criticized the rapper-singer for collaborating with formerly disgraced producer Dr. Luke on the song. In 2014, Luke was accused of sexual assault and abuse by his protege Kesha, and some fans viewed “Say So” helping to relaunch his popularity as a betrayal of another woman on Doja’s part — despite Doja signing with Luke’s Kemosabe label before the accusations were made public.
In a new profile in Rolling Stone, a reluctant Doja Cat addressed the criticism, saying, “I haven’t worked with him in a very long time. A lot of those songs were . . . There’s shit that he’s credited for, where I’m like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t know if you did anything on that.’ ” Although she declines to elaborate on which songs she means, she does offer insight into their future working relationship.
“The point is he’s gotten some credit for sh*t,” she says. “And, you know, it’s whatever. I don’t think I need to work with him again. I don’t think I need to work with him in the future. I know that. I think it was definitely nice of me to work with him.”
In a follow-up statement to Rolling Stone, Doja clarified that, “When asked about Luke I may have said something that someone could interpret as me saying that he had taken credit on things he didn’t deserve to. I just want to be clear that I have no firsthand knowledge of that being the case and I don’t want to participate in the rumor mill. The credits on my music are accurate, and I don’t want to imply anything else.” She attributes the earlier quote to defensiveness about men getting credit for women’s work. “As a young woman I think it is always important to fight for the credit that we are all due, and that was the point I was trying to make there,” she says.
Elsewhere in the rather comprehensive profile, she clears up why she looked bored performing her signature hit toward the end of its run, confirms her viral breakout hit “Mooo!” was an “obvious joke,” and addresses Nas’ throwaway criticism of her on “Ultra Black.”
