Doja Cat is a powerhouse thespian of her kind, and rightfully so, her bold visual presence has helped her rock the world as one of the best live performers. Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Doja, whose real name is Amala Dlamini, has three studio albums up to this writing with the latest being released in 2021. All of them were a commercial success, amassing over 63 million streams monthly and one Grammy Award on the way.
While many have somewhat tried to discredit her hardwork by calling her an overnight success, Doja has been killing it since the SoundCloud days when she was a teenager. It wasn't until 2018 that her career took off when her "throwaway" comedic song "Moo!" went viral. To celebrate the release of her recent "Vegas" song from Austin Butler's Elvis biopic's soundtrack, here's a look into Doja Cat's life before stardom and what's next for the rising star.
8 Doja Cat's Family Life As A Young Girl
Doja, born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini in 1995, hailed from an artistic family in Tarzana from a graphic designer mother and a South African artistic performer father. The latter spent his days among the original Broadway cast members of Sarafina! musical and its film adaptation, but he was mostly absent from her life.
"She would always think her dad was coming, and he didn’t come,” Gabrielle Hames, one of Doja's childhood friends, told Rolling Stone in 2021. “She’d say, ‘My dad is gonna come, he lives in Africa, he’s just performing,’ and he wouldn’t come."
7 Doja Cat's Struggle With ADHD
During her youth, Doja Cat struggled with ADHD which hindered her development in high school. She called it as her artistic awakening moment as she revealed to Rolling Stone, "I definitely didn’t like to leave my room. I don’t know if I was agoraphobic, but I definitely thought that I was at the time."
6 Doja Cat Dropped Out Of High School At The Age Of 16
As a result, Doja dropped out of high school at the age of 16 while in her junior year. She was fascinated by the internet and self-taught how to rap, sing, and make beats. She told GQ, "I wasn't going to school – I dropped out of eleventh grade – so I had all the equipment that I needed. It wasn't good. It was GarageBand and SoundCloud, where I could post stuff."
5 When Doja Cat Began Posting To SoundCloud
Doja's first song, "So High," was released on SoundCloud in November 2012 at the age of 17. Despite disliking and calling it a "cringeworthy" effort, Doja ended up securing a recording deal under Kemosabe & RCA Records thanks to this song.
"It was a rap song; I wasn't singing on it. It was littered with all these filters, like telephones filters, because I was insecure, so I put a really thick telephone distortion over it," she recalled.
4 After Creating Buzz In The Underground Scene, Doja Cat Signed A Lucrative Recording Deal In 2014
Two years after its initial release on SoundCloud, Doja Cat signed her first-ever joint recording deal under Kemosabe & RCA Records in 2014 under label exec and pop music magnate Dr. Luke. At the same time, however, the latter was at the height of his courtroom battle over sexual assault allegations against fellow singer Kesha, which made their relationship quite questionable. She released her "spacey, eastern-influenced R&B" debut EP, Purrr!, shortly after.
3 Doja Cat's Debut Album
Doja Cat finished her debut album, Amala, in 2018, but it was initially a commercial disaster. It only sold 74,800 combined units in the US and peaked at #138 on the Billboard 200 chart. However, Amala became another case of sleeper hits after its deluxe comedic single, "Moo!" went viral and propelled Doja's career to another level.
2 When Doja Cat's Song "Moo" Went Viral
In Doja Cat's world, "Mooo!" was initially a "throwaway" song, but the delightful comedic track became a viral internet meme and amassed over 100 million views on YouTube at the time of this writing. She quickly turned the disappointing commercial and critical performance of her debut album into a stepping stone. "I knew that it was goofy. It’s very blatantly a joke. But I also wanted it to musically sound good to people, and it does," she told Rolling Stone.
1 What's Next For Doja Cat?
So, what's next for Doja Cat? Ever since her career took off thanks to the comedic single, the powerhouse entertainer had released two more albums, Hot Pink (2019) and Planet Her (2021), all to commercial and critical successes. However, fans were worried that she may be retiring from music after a series of explosive Twitter rants back in March. For whatever it was, we surely hope that she gets back on her feet real soon and continues to bless us more with her energetic dance bops.
