FEATURE:
Showing Her Claws
PHOTO CREDIT: Paola Kudacki for TIME
Why Artists Like Doja Cat Need to Treat Their Fans with Greater Respect
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THE music industry….
PHOTO CREDIT: Erika Goldring/Getty Images
can be a very demanding and tiring beast. it is hard to endure gruelling tours, keep this façade going and remain happy and strong. The love that artists get from fans is mostly positive, though I guess it can be overwhelming at times. That said, if you are getting approval and positivity, then that is uplifting and nourishing. I have not heard too many cases of artists hitting back at fans’ adoration. A rare case has unfolded regarding Doja Cat (Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini). A hugely successful Rap artist from California, she has caused upset among her fanbase for a number of reasons. Earlier this week, Rolling Stone reported a troubling and slightly unusual fall-out and war between Doja Cat and her admiring and loyal fanbase:
“DOJA CAT’S FANDOM is in shambles, and she couldn’t care less. Throughout her career, the rapper has maintained a bizarre relationship with her fans online — one that embraced their support but harshly rejected anything beyond that, including their inquiries into her life outside of music. She’ll go into the booth and record the songs, but her loyalties seemingly end there. When a fan on Threads (on which Doja Cat has since deactivated her account) asked the musician to declare her love for her fanbase, she wrote back: “I don’t even know y’all.” Now, they feel like they don’t know her, either — but she’s shown them her cards before.
Doja Cat’s attitude toward her fans can, at times, be off-putting, especially prior to the release of her latest single, “Attention.” Earlier this year, she ranted on Twitter about her pop-leaning projects Planet Her and Hot Pink being “cash grabs,” then she hammered her point by insulting fans for falling for it. And when she clashed with fans last year after being criticized for not stopping to say hello to them outside of her hotel in Paraguay, she tweeted: “I don’t give a fuck anymore I fuckin’ quit I can’t wait to fucking disappear and I don’t need you to believe in [me] anymore.” It’s nothing fans aren’t used to at this point.
From the fandom’s point of view, their own loyalties encapsulate purchasing concert tickets, defending her online, and streaming her songs millions of times. Meanwhile, Doja Cat doesn’t think she owes them shit because she never asked them to do any of that in the first place. During the most recent clash, she criticized her fans for adopting the collective fandom name “Kittenz.” When a fan asked for a replacement name since she had vetoed that one, the rapper wrote back: “Just delete the entire account and rethink everything it’s never too late.” (Representatives for Doja Cat did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.)
Some of her fans have come to see her apparent disrespect as a violation of an unspoken social contract (read: entitlement) through which they provided her with the platform and fame she has since weaponized against them. Now, they’re doing what she asked. Over the weekend, multiple Doja Cat fan accounts with tens of thousands of followers each, like Doja Cat News and The Kittens Room, have deactivated their accounts on Twitter. Other pages on Instagram have shared that their own departure is imminent.
“It is with great sadness that the DCBR team announces an indefinite break from the page for the first time in 3 years! We thought a lot about how to say this to you and there’s no other way: Doja’s latest pronouncements on social media left us kittenz very disappointed…. if we can call ourselves that, since even Doja doesn’t seem to like the name of the fandom she herself created,” the Instagram account for Doja Cat Brazil wrote. “Every day, we put our sweat on this page to keep it active and it is with great pain that we see the end approaching. What we hope is that Doja rethinks her actions as an artist and has the least amount of consideration for the fans who have been with her since the beginning, supporting and motivating her… because without us, she wouldn’t be where she is.”
But it goes far beyond lack of fan appreciation. The rapper has recently come under fire for her rumored relationship with J Cyrus, a popular online streamer who has been accused of alleged grooming and sexual misconduct by multiple women. (Cyrus did not immediately reply to a request for comment.) Before disabling her comment section on Instagram, Doja Cat replied to a fan stating that people were beginning to “unstan” her in light of her comments and controversies, writing: “I don’t give a fuck what you think about my personal life I never have and never will goodbye and good riddance miserable hoes.”
Some stans are committed to supporting Doja Cat through yet another controversy — having weathered the previous drama surrounding her involvement in a leaked video from a Tinychat room rumored to be associated with white supremacists. In it, the rapper could be seen saying the n-word while rolling around on a bed. They’ve done it before and are willing to do it again. But for others, once is more than enough. “Imma say this shit right now and idgaf. If any of y’all so called kittens agree wit the shit Doja been doing lately y’all need to get a fucking mind of your own and stop trying to please her all the time to get a fucking notice,” the user Dojasson wrote in an Instagram Story. Other fans have reported that the rapper has blocked them across social platforms, including Threads, Instagram, and Twitter”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Corbis Entertainment/Getty Images
I am not sure what the next step is when it comes to Doja Cat and her fans. The exchanges she has had with some lately have not cast her in the best light. Rather than being unappreciative, perhaps there is something else going on. I don’t know. What I do know is that artists such as Doja Cat cannot exist and remain viable and relevant if they shun or insult their fans. If tribes want to give themselves nicknames and honour her, that should be flattering and welcomed! Instead, it seems that there is this confusing chilliness and harshness coming from Doja Cat. I am a big fan of her music. There is an album out this year that follows from 2021’s excellent-if-underrated Planet Her. Artists cannot exist and flourish without their fans. The ones who ensure they can tour and their albums sell, it seems counter-intuitive at best, insulting at worst, that Doja Cat had such a reaction. In a wider sense, I guess it does raise questions as to whether fans can be too close or obsessive. If the artist is giving too much away. I wrote a feature recently, reacting to news that Ethel Cain has come off of social media, as fans wanted too much from her. I don’t think that is the case with Doja Cat. As magnificent as her music is, I don’t think she has the luxury of alienating a large number of her fans. The claws were sharp and out for those who just wanted to show their love of Doja Cat. Perhaps fandom can get a bit wild and feel quite suffocating. Going forward, I guess the new album (as-yet-untitled) will arrive. There will need to be some repair work between her and the fandom. One of the most exciting artists around, I hope things get back on track with regards Doja Cat and her fans. It is clear that she needs to…
BUILD a few bridges.