Why is Doja Cat defending her status as a rapper amid fan debate?

Doja Cat defended her status as a rapper after someone on social media started a debate on whether she should be classified as a rapper or not. The Paint The Town Red musician is gearing up for the release of her album, Vie, sometime in 2025. She previously teased in her V Magazine cover story that Vie will be a pop-driven project, but that fans will still hear her rapping on much of it.

That said, X user Play (@playeration) appears to have taken Doja's description of her upcoming album and wrote on X on August 9, 2025:

"Hopefully after Doja drops pop disco album of the century her fans can stop trying to force her into female rap conversations."

play 🇺🇸

@playeration

Hopefully after Doja drops pop disco album of the century her fans can stop trying to force her into female rap conversations

They doubled down on their stance in a subsequent post, saying that someone can't be taken seriously as a rapper if they are not prioritizing "the very things that make rap what it is," like bars, punchlines, and wordplay. The same X user claimed in another post that they asked the Paint The Town Red singer's fans, aka Kittens, to drop their best Doja bar and only got "crickets." It prompted Doja to reply:

"You don't listen to or read enough of my writing to be able to make this claim."

DOJA CAT

@DojaCat

@playeration @unfriendlyvixen You don’t listen to or read enough of my writing to be able to make this claim. I’m alright at what I do and sometimes I’m incredible. Please stop trying to downplay my ability it feels like you’re doling out criticism with no constructiveness based on something that’s deeper

In a subsequent post, Doja Cat encouraged the same X user to listen to her music before passing judgment.

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More to know about Doja Cat's upcoming album, Vie

Doja Cat gave fans an update on her highly anticipated Vie album on July 21, 2025. In an all-French language post, the Grammy-winning artist said that the album is finally complete. It would be her first LP in the past two years, after releasing Scarlet in 2023, which peaked at No.4 on the Billboard Hot 200 and spawned the chart-topping single, Paint The Town Red.

In her V Magazine cover story earlier in July, she shared some peaks as to the sound of her upcoming album. She said:

"I do want to be self-aware enough to admit the fact that this is a pop-driven project. I know that I can make pop music, and pop is just that it's popular."

Doja Cat at iHeartRadio's 102.7 KIIS FM Wango Tango (Image via Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

That said, V Magazine noted that Doja Cat will continue to rap for much of the album. She also told the magazine that the album's concept is very much pointed towards the "discourse in relationships," including love, romance, and s*x. She explained it more, saying:

"Really just relationships in general, and relationships with yourself, even."

She also teased that one song in the album is similar to a lot of songs right now, which is about breakups and how people are sick of men. She added:

"This album is very much about love in a way that reflect how I want it to be in the future—my hope, my hopefulness."

And while she's working hard to make the album, Doja Cat told V that there's something she wanted to avoid throughout the process, which is that "little monster" who only wants to achieve success. She said that she's more focused on creating and perfecting her music and sound to make something worth listening to.

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Doja Cat recently debuted her new single, Jealous Type, from her album Vie, at Outside Lands.