AMERICAN rapper, singer and songwriter Doja Cat’s latest single Masc signals the start of a new musical era for the artiste with her return to rap.
Her most recent studio work dates back to September last year when she released her fourth studio album Scarlet.
The Los Angeles-based artiste, whose real name is Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, recently announced on Instagram about the upcoming song, which will be released this Friday. She shared a brief preview of the track along with the post, featuring ethereal, layered synth accompanying her vocals.
In January, the 28-year-old shared a whiteboard, which contained a track listing suggesting that a deluxe edition of Scarlet was in the pipeline. Among the seven songs listed, Masc was included alongside Acknowledge Me, Head High, Gang, Rider, Urrrge and Hungry.
In a recent appearance on The Therapy Gecko Podcast last month, she revealed that the deluxe version of Scarlet will be titled Scarlet 2: Claude Frollo, named after the character from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
“I feel like it connects to the story of Scarlet in some way. . . and if you look up his personality traits and who he is and his story, you’ll understand the whole connection. There’s a control aspect. He just abuses his power and his control,” Doja explained.
Scarlet was crafted as a return to Doja’s rap origins, aiming to address criticisms that she had leaned too far into pop territory, with some fans and critics dismissing her previous two albums as “cash grabs”, or worse, “sell outs”.
The project debuted at fourth on the Billboard 200 and generated hit singles such as Agora Hills, and Paint the Town Red, the latter topping the Hot 100 chart.
Doja is currently set to headline at Coachella, followed by her inaugural headlining arena tour in the UK and Europe as part of her Scarlet world tour.
