Doja Cat’s 9 Hottest Collaborations

Hell hath no fury like Doja Cat’s keenness to surprise her fans. Over the past decade, the queen of pop-rap has doled us out a full suite of giant plot twists – from her first viral moment being a meme song about cows, to her head-spinning fit at this year’s Met Gala (where she literally transformed her entire face to look like a cat).

This year has actually been a huge one for wild Doja moments: back in April, for example, she declared she was done with pop music – in the same breath admitting “the majority of my rap verses are mid and corny” – and her just-released fourth album, Scarlet, does indeed live up to its sell as her most rap-heavy effort.

It’s also surprising for being her first studio album without a single guest feature. Her 2018 debut Amala featured just one – the Konshens-assisted Wine Pon You – but every subsequent effort has increased the tally: 2019’s Hot Pink had joints with Smino, Gucci Mane and Tyga, and 2021’s Planet Her featured Young Thug, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, JID and SZA. But on Scarlet, we hear Doja Cat in her purest form yet – almost defiantly so – galvanised by years of artistic evolution and gripping confidence.

The album itself is out today via Kemosabe Records / RCA / Sony – you can hear it for yourself here – and to celebrate its release, we’re looking back on nine of Doja’s hottest collaborations throughout the years. To date she’s had 13 of her own tracks graced with her (similarly iconic) colleagues’ voices, and she’s appeared on 29 of their tunes as well (at least according to Wikipedia – there are probably stacks more we don’t even know about).

Crank your stereo loud, whip on your sexiest sunnies, and prepare for Doja domination.

Tia Tamera (Doja Cat ft. Rico Nasty)

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Named in honour of the iconic Sister, Sister twins Tia and Tamera Mowry, Doja’s first headlined collab arrived in February 2019, sandwiched between Juicy and Mooo! as a bonus track on the deluxe reissue of Amala. As a whole it’s a testament to her chops as a rapper with incalculable swag, her bars sharp and headstrong but never veering on cocky. Rico Nasty adds a welcomed lashing of colour with her verse, honing in on the buoyant and brash style of rapping that’s made her another modern pop-rap icon.

BANGIEST BAR: “They said, ‘Rico you so nasty,’ I said, ‘Thank you very much’ / He just wanna eat me like some candy, but I’m not his buttercup.”

Like That (Doja Cat ft. Gucci Mane)

Sexually charged and tied together with super dynamic production, it’s no surprise Like That is one of Doja’s biggest hits, racking up three Platinum certificates in the US (as well as Gold certs in the UK and Down Under). Gucci Mane’s verse adds some ebb to Doja’s glittery flow, with his semi-dry and laidback cadence shaking up the energy in a way we simply can’t get enough of. Also unsurprising is how goddamn horny Gucci is on the track – I bet he’d been waiting years to break out the line, “Shakin' like Elvis, damn near broke my pelvis.”

BANGIEST BAR: “I'm the big boss and I got big bread / I'm gettin' big-headed and I like good head.”

Say So (Doja Cat ft. Nicki Minaj)

Doja’s team didn’t actually plan for Say So to be a single, which is kind of wild to think – after blowing up on TikTok and being sent to pop radio, it soared up the charts (hitting the Top Ten in eight territories) and sold enough copies that it’s Doja’s all-time second biggest hit; at the time of writing, it holds 18 Platinum certs across six regions, plus a rare Diamond cert in France.

Nicki Minaj linked up with Doja for this highly anticipated remix, which dropped in May 2020 following months of fan speculation (and, weirdly, rumours that she had beef with Doja). Her verse went on to spur controversy when fans gossip about the target of one particularly barbed line – “Why you talkin’ ‘bout who body fake? / With all them fillers in your face, you just full of hate” – forcing Nicki to deny claims she’d aimed it at Wendy Williams or Beyoncé.

BANGIEST BAR: “Word to my ass-shots, I'm so cheeky / Got 'em tryna palm my ass like young Keke.”

You Right (Doja Cat and The Weeknd)

Silky, sexy and spirited in equal measures, You Right is a match made in 2010s pop heaven. The Weeknd’s appearance – which sees him down so fucking bad it makes Gucci Mane look like a saint – was serendipitous: he and Doja worked together for a different song on Planet Her, but despite initially seeing it as “the perfect song” for them to link up on, Doja wound up scrapping it entirely.

In an interview with E! News, she explained it simply “ended up not working” (and the track itself will likely never see the light of day) – but after hearing an early version of You Right, which “had already been finished with two verses”, The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) became “obsessed”. She said: “That's kind of all I wanted, was a very good reaction... It was really, really great. It’s a beautiful, beautiful song.”

BANGIEST BAR: “I know your man, he ain’t controllin’ you / But you still hesitate / ‘Cause you choose loyalty.”

34+35 (Remix) [Ariana Grande ft. Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion]

Doja fits into this remix like the curved line between Ariana Grande’s yin and Megan Thee Stallion’s yang: the former’s vocal is clean and sweet, the latter’s is fierce and commanding, and Doja’s shines with the perfect balance of fire and femininity. It’s yet another horny-as-hell joint between the tease-loving trio, with Doja rapping slickly about how she “want[s] that six-nine without Tekashi” and whipping out some impressive wordplay on her stage name (“Come make the cat purr, come make my back hurt”).

BANGIEST BAR: “Wake up the neighbors, we got an audience / They hear the clappin’, but we not applaudin’ ’em.”

Shimmy (Lil Wayne ft. Doja Cat)

Lil Wayne and Doja both have truly unique vocal styles, but it turns out they gel stunningly together. It’s a quintessential Wayne cut, with punchy bass and snappy 808s, but Doja’s verse brings some of her swag-laced shimmer, beautifully bolstering its sensual theme. Also notable is how Doja’s choruses interpolate the classic hook from Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s 1995 hit Shimmy Shimmy Ya. Weirdly, though, Shimmy didn’t make the cut for Wayne’s 13th album, Funeral (released in 2020), instead appearing as one eight bonus tracks on its deluxe reissue.

BANGIEST BAR: “Ooh, close your eyes ‘cause they rollin’ back / I’ma close my eyes and imagine you is Doja Cat.”

Scoop (Lil Nas X ft. Doja Cat)

One of the standout cuts from Lil Nas X’s phenomenal debut album, 2021’s Montero, this club-primed banger (an empowering ode to loving your body) made perfect sense: not only did Nas and Doja both rise to stardom around the same time – both catching their first tastes of fame with songs that took of as memes, no less – but their musical chemistry is undeniably strong. Even outside the sonics, though, Nas and Doja seem like they’d be instant besties: they’re both chronically online, goddamn hilarious and even have similar tastes in music (smashing razor-sharp rap up with saccharine pop).

BANGIEST BAR: “And now my body look like somеthing you'd eat cake off / I just got my veneers, now bitches wanna rip they face up.”

I Like You (A Happier Song) [Post Malone ft. Doja Cat]

It’s almost hilarious how Doja completely flips the vibe of this otherwise cruisy jam. Flowing over a wickedly catchy beat of 808s and pad synth, Post Malone balances his flexing skills with earnestness; he raps about “need[ing] a good girl” and “someone to share this heart with”, but still makes it clear he’s no sap by slipping in the A-1 quip that he’s “‘bout to pull [Doja] like a hammy”. Doja’s verse doesn’t even try to beat around the bush, though, even calling Posty out for “actin’ all sweet” when she knows what he really wants. But she’s got no qualms about it, starting her scene-stealing verse with the declaration she’s “been tryna hit it all week”.

BANGIEST BAR: “I get a little OD, but ain't shit new to a freak / Let me drop bands, put a jewel in ya teeth / He love the way I drip, turn that pool to the beach.”

Kill Bill (Remix) [SZA ft. Doja Cat]

Doja’s first collab with SZA, Kiss Me More (the lead single from Planet Her) remains her all-time biggest hit with 21 Platinum certs (including seven from ARIA) among its achievements. It is indeed a modern classic, but if we had to pick between it and this silky redux of SZA’s commanding SOS cut Kill Bill, there wouldn’t be a second of thought before we swung for the latter. And while SZA cooked on the original track, Doja doesn’t hesitate to take the spotlight here. She takes on the role of a halcyon paramour, infatuated with her beau in spite of his defection, but unafraid to get murderous if necessary.

BANGIEST BAR: “She grabbed the kitchen knife, so I pulled out the blick / Ain’t got it all the time, thank God I did for this.”