By Anna Trevathan
Doja Cat has built a career out of thin air, being the first artist to have a song go viral on TikTok (“Say So,” for those that need a refresh) and the only artist I know of to have a music video with fries sticking out of her nose. “Mooo!”, a funny little song about being a cow, gave her the first step towards stardom and, since then, Doja Cat has been in the spotlight for several controversial moments; I’d like to assume that she wears the crown for the nation’s problematic favorite. Her earlier albums established her energy as playful, funny, and unpredictable, as she walks a fine line between satire and sincerity. With her latest single, “Jealous Type,” Doja once again pivots and steps into a new sound: 80s Pop.
The Sound
“Jealous Type” marks a serious artistic swing for Doja, moving away from the previous rap sound that she had embraced. This swing towards pop is not unprecedented for her (she’s explored the pop genre before with tracks like “Say So”, “Kiss Me More” and “Woman”, but this new 80s pop sound is. With the inclusion of some older drum machines in the back track, the new single is reminiscent of “Rhythm Nation” by Janet Jackson. For those that have been missing their Madonna beats, Doja encapsulates her energy perfectly on this track.
Along with a more nostalgic backbeat, the song also included some new stylistic choices vocally. The usual blending of singing and rap music has taken the back seat for a new emphasis on her vocal strength: even including a belt on the bridge. The industry is currently over-saturated with artists that have airy, understated, simple pop tracks (think: Tate McRae); “Jealous Type” feels like a new beast next to them. Having the retro sound in the production, there’s going to be a certain nostalgic layer already, but the true strength here lies in Doja’s blending of today’s musical developments and yesterday’s instrumentals. It’s the perfect track for those looking for something familiar and new all the same.
The Music Video
The song itself serves as an homage to all things feminine, sexy and 80’s, and the music video takes that a step further. Aesthetically, the video brings colorful, wet, flashy, glamorous energy in the best way possible. Though, of course, the set reflected some of this, I think the styling in the music video really created a universe viewers could fall into with red leather, loud animal print, sequins and oversized shoulder pads. There is so much aesthetically and cosmetically to unpack here, but the concepts being hinted at in “Jealous Type” are what I feel the most drawn to.
For a little background, Doja Cat has very publicly struggled with identifying as a “pop artist” and the implications that a label like that comes with. Getting her start in the female rap world, Doja has undergone a complete musical transformation at this point. In this video, there are two versions of her battling out for dominance: one clearly catered to a male audience with a very classic blonde Madonna look, and another draped in loud animal prints and jewelry. Both dance and interact with the camera differently, portraying both the old and new versions of Doja Cat as a performer.
Then, there is a lyric that makes everything come full circle for me: “I could be torn between two roads that I just can’t decide/ Which one is leading me to hell or paradise?” An intricate idea is being laid out in these lines that Doja is at a crossroads professionally, as she is “jealous” of freedom that she artistically had at the beginning of her music career. With artists like Chappell Roan being more vocal about the personal struggles of performers in the music industry, songs that explore this conceptually are bound to be released more. Doja is echoing the tension she has experienced throughout her career as she has been figuring out which version of Doja sells the most and which version feels the most authentic to her true self as an artist.
Jealousy, especially intrinsic jealousy, is also an extremely hot topic at the moment. With films like The Substance that focus entirely on what we’re willing to sell and lose in a current moment to relive and experience the body/beauty that is already gone recently breaking the box office, this music video reads in a completely different light. It poses a question that Doja is grappling with here: can success create jealousy of your own past? Especially having previously critiqued her own pop music before, Doja might be the “Jealous Type” for a version of herself that no longer exists.
In the Words of Doja
In an interview with Zane Lowe at Apple Music, Doja Cat discussed her new track and the influence that her life has had on its new sound. Doja frames this as a personal evolution far beyond her playful beginnings,admitting that she still “remembers when [she] couldn’t sing, [she] really recently started.” She goes on to discuss being afraid, especially with the success of songs like “Say So” earlier in her career requiring much more singing than she was used to. Doja speaks to a newfound maturity within her music, as she feels more intentional about artistic choices she’s making.
Speaking solely on the 80s influence for this track, she discusses the curiosity she set out to explore, saying that “the 80s… I know nothing about it. I was born in ‘95, but… you think about the past and what you never could have been and you want to understand that more.” This desire to fully reconstruct a world within her nostalgic lens was fulfilled with “Jealous Type” as Doja treats the decade like a creative playground.
Her understanding of the 80s centers around visual cues that she enjoys from relics of the time; rather than doing a full recreation and catering to realism, Doja caters to the fantasy of the 80s for the modern woman. She explained, “I’m just taking things I like from the imagery at that time. I don’t even like Back to the Future, but I really love the Delorian… I just take things that I think are sexy from that time and I apply it to the imagery, and I loved the red ferrari…red bottoms, reminds me of the elegance and sophistication of that time.” This works to her strength creatively: instead of recreating a decade in a sort of timecapsule of sound, she’s creating her own fantasy for the audience to experience.
“Jealous Type,” as glamorous as it is, isn’t just a single created out of 80s nostalgia. Doja Cat is learning to thrive in the tension between her past and present selves, and is creating a new and curious landscape. With her new album Vie set to release on September 26th 2025, Doja is sure to continue to surprise her audience. In the meantime, I’ll be living in red and cheetah print.
