Does Doja's New Single Have Your 'Attention'?

After deleting all her Instagram posts and dropping various hints on her account via posts, Doja Cat has finally released her new single, “Attention.” With more than 3 million streams on the single’s first day debut, Doja utilized this song creating a powerful statement for the world to hear.

“Attention” video out now 🩸 pic.twitter.com/pbSj4pCPcG
— DOJA CAT (@DojaCat) June 17, 2023

As soon as I pressed the play button, I just knew this track was gonna be bliss for my ears. “Attention” carries a very flowy but rooted feel, with its harp noises complimenting the cool beat creating a strong backbone for the song. Unlike most of Doja’s music, it is much more tame, but still holds that ethereal tone as her voice smooths out the tones of the music. Along with that, we can all agree that her verses always blow everyone away with their versatility and quick wit. But this single was more than just any regular old song. Before we debrief, let’s quickly discuss the background to this song’s release.

In August of 2022, Doja took a major turn with rebranding herself after shaving her head and eyebrows on Instagram live. With this coming as a shock to most of her fans, it led to a whole new era for the young singer. Her fanbase inferred this was due to all the stress the young star had been facing from being in the spotlight.

From previous lives, Doja has expressed how her relationship with music had been fading away. Captured in a live, she fully describes how she feels. “I just mean, make music like, willy nilly, have fun and just jam and make some shit. I haven’t done that in maybe five years it feels like. I’m doing all this s*** that I don’t f****** wanna do.” She expressed. “Planning a photoshoot is very fun. Capturing a concept, capturing a visual idea, like something like that… I love fashion. I really do. Do I want to do that s*** because I have to? No! No, I don’t! But I feel pressured to do s*** like that.”

After receiving backlash during her break for her new style and lack of music being produced, Doja started to become more active on the internet, responding to trolls commenting on her body and lifestyle. This song along with the music video perfectly captures all her opinions and feelings on what people have to say about her. She has loads of meticulously smart lines like “You’re lucky ’cause I just paid your bill with a reply,” targeted at trolls, and “Talk your shit about me, I can easily disprove it, it’s stupid. You follow me, but you don’t really care about the music,” directed towards fake fans, undeniably highlighting the media’s hypocrisy when it comes to criticizing and attacking big artists in a mob-mentality type fashion.

As always, the visuals ALWAYS do exactly what they need to do. By playing with lighting and backdrops, the video perfectly captures the claustrophobic environment Doja was aiming to portray, showing an artist who has finally mastered that “IDGAF” attitude amidst everyone’s attention constantly turning towards her every move. With some scenes showing Doja appearing nude, it states her comfortability about herself and her body despite what others may say. Towards the end of the MV, the background characters can be seen having no faces, symbolizing their opinions insignificance to Doja and her well being.

If you haven’t already, go check the song out. Let me know if you all want a more in depth analysis on the video and song, and you can always check out my Twitter to see my opinions on the latest pop culture. Thanks for reading!