Music

Doja Cat is on fire right now, and if her surreal video plunging her own eyeball into the depths of hell is anything to go by, that’s no surprise.

Not only does she cozy up to death, dance with the devil and chuck bloodied meat around, she also rides a monstrous green sea creature through the sky. But why?

‘Paint the town red’ samples Dionne Warwick’s 1964 hit song “Walk on By.” and the for the chorus Doja raps, “Bitch, I said what I said/I’d rather be famous instead/I let all that get to my head/I don’t care, I paint the town red.” Let’s take a quick a look at what the hottest track in town right now is all about:

It’s for the true fans

If there’s one thing Doja Cat has been good at recently its courting controversy – see posting socials wearing a sweatshirt featuring a graphic of alleged ‘Neo Nazi ‘ Sam Hyde for example

In this video she’s seen making use of tarot card symbolism, using the The grim reaper and the death card to represent change in her life, which chimes with her public statements about rejecting image pressure through superficiality and embracing her true self.

It’s a message to the haters

Let’s face it, if you put your head above the parapet and behave outside of societal norms in a digital world, you upset some pretty vocal people. This track seems to be pretty clearly turning that poison into medicine. You can damn her to hell if you want, but she’ll dance with the devil and paint the town red despite you. Not a bad mantra to live by for all of us.

It’s an epic video

There are obscure references to things like the Whore of Babylon, and it’s all very cleverly constructed such as dropping her own eye down to the pits of hell, But basically it’s just extremely visually arresting and works as a fantastic piece of entertainment. Which is after all, what it’s really all about.