Doja Cat is one of the cover subjects for Harper’s Bazaar’s Icons Issue. Do you think Doja is an icon or in any way iconic? Eh. She’s actually talented, but she seems to kind of hate her fans, and there are too many incidents where she comes across like a total sketchball (and poseur). Anyway, Doja was interviewed before the SAG-AFTRA strike, which Bazaar notes for some reason – it’s not like she’s promoting a film or any kind of struck work. She does say that she wants to move into acting though! Some highlights:
Whether or not she sees herself as an icon: “I don’t. I think I deserve love and respect from the people that I love and respect back—and I guess respect means different things to some people. I put myself out there on social media and TV. I shoot my image out onto these screens. But I don’t really put myself out there in real life. I don’t go to clubs. I stick to creating.
She loves positive feedback: “I love positive feedback. I appreciate when people speak up for someone who is getting bullied or attacked by internet trolls. … Some of the most moving moments for me have been when my fans have stood up for me or for other people. That’s fighting for something real. I really appreciate that because people like to sh-t-talk.
Parasocial relationships: “My theory is that if someone has never met me in real life, then, subconsciously, I’m not real to them. So when people become engaged with someone they don’t even know on the internet, they kind of take ownership over that person. They think that person belongs to them in some sense. And when that person changes drastically, there is a shock response that is almost uncontrollable. … I’ve accepted that that’s what happens. So I put my wigs on and take them off. I shave my head or my eyebrows. I have all the freedom in the world.
Exploring other projects: “There are other kinds of projects I want to branch out into. I want to make clothing, dabble in makeup. I want to explore acting. I would love to do movies that I believe in. I would have to stop the music for a minute. But I would be down to immerse myself in acting for a certain period of time. I love comedies and action films. I want to learn martial arts and be in a film like John Wick.
She refers to “one of my boyfriends” at one point: “I love love. I’m possibly a serial dater. I definitely have had that in me a little bit. But right now I’m in a different place in my life where I am very committed and very much in love in a different way than before. I think I’ve evolved. I’m learning to love myself, so the way that I love other people is very different. I don’t feel like a lost little teen. I feel like a woman who is coming into her own.”
Real question – do you think she’s lying about her age? She’s apparently 27, but for some reason, she feels older? Like, as I was reading this, it felt like she’s a woman in her 30s who reinvented herself as a young, hip badass. Anyway, I kind of like that she’s putting it out there that she wants to get some acting jobs. It will probably work – she’ll get a role in the next Fast & Furious movie or some Netflix spy movie or something.
Cover courtesy of Bazaar, additional photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 10: American rapper Doja Cat (Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini) wearing an outfit by Viktor and Rolf arrives at The Daily Front Row’s 9th Annual Fashion Media Awards held at The Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center on September 10, 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States.,Image: 721694920, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Doja Cat, Credit line: Christian Lora / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Doja Cat attends 2023 TIME 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 26, 2023 in New York City,Image: 772224719, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Doja Cat, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
“Doja Cat is one of the cover subjects for Harper’s Bazaar’s Icons Issue.”
That Icon is thrown around a lot. I don’t think that she is and icon At. All. While she is quite talented, I dont really listen to her work and think she’s a jerk, especially the way she treated Noah Schnapp. Noah apologized for sharing the DM that Doja sent him asking about Joseph Quinn, and SHE is the one who should have stayed out of the DM’s of a child. Creepy.
Yeah, icon has lost a lot of its meaning because the youths call everyone an Icon or Iconic without really knowing what the word means. She is most definitely NOT an icon. Her music is mediocre and time will tell if she or her music stand the test of time – let alone achieve Icon status.
Last I heard she was dissing her fan base. Does she have any fans left?
Actors get even more rabid fans than pop stars. I just get a feeling she hasn’t thought this through completely. She wanted to be famous, but doesn’t like it and doesn’t like her fans? Yet she wants to do even more in the spotlight. I get that it’s hard…but is it? She needs a better manager imo.
Even if you’re not in the SAG-AFTRA at the moment, if you cross that picket line during a strike, you will not be allowed to become a member in the future. That’s why it was mentioned that she did the interview before the strike.
Honestly, as someone who’s had a public life for decades (not as a singer, but as an niche author with a weirdly dedicated reader base) she’s not wrong about how fans treat their favorites.
It’s part of the social contract of any kind of “fame” (even if it’s small and niche like mine): you put a version of yourself out there, people project their shit on you, and you get paid for it.
It’s a valuable exchange — we all love having characters outside ourselves to project on, love, hate, gossip about, worship, cancel, etc. (I mean it’s what fuels this website!) And as someone on the receiving end, that dynamic can be weird if you’re not ready for it.
But part of your job is to be gracious and loving about it. If you can’t, then cash out and go live your life privately. Make your art in peace and enjoy the quiet.
If you stay in the public eye, dealing with the psychodynamics of parasocial relationships is literally your job. It’s what you get paid to do! Doja needs to make her peace with the trade off, or enjoy an early retirement.