Following in the footsteps of The Weeknd, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, Doja Cat is the most recent artist hopping on the ’80s-inspired music trend.
On Friday, the artist released her fifth studio album, “Vie” — the French word for “life.” The project mainly focuses on Doja Cat’s romantic life, with the artist discussing beauty, love and relationship troubles over saxophone-laden instrumentals produced by industry superstar Jack Antonoff and longtime collaborator Y2K, among others.
The album ventures back into the pop-inspired sounds of Doja Cat’s earlier works in “Hot Pink” and “Planet Her” — projects she called “cash grabs” before releasing her previous studio album, “Scarlet.” Although “Vie” sonically shifts away from the trap beats that characterized “Scarlet,” Doja Cat keeps much of the same empowerment and unbothered energy throughout her new project.
The album opener, “Cards,” begins with a saxophone solo that builds to an anti-climactic beat, with Doja Cat repeating “Play your cards, right” during the post-chorus. The track’s first verse is one of the album’s best, featuring the artist cautioning her lover to treat her well. But the song falters during its rapped second verse, devoid of the usual adlibs and layering that make Doja Cat’s songs so aurally intriguing.
The album then transitions into its lead single, “Jealous Type.” Reminiscent of a classic ’80s pop song, the track failed to garner the success of Doja Cat’s previous radio singles — “Paint the Town Red” and “Kiss Me More.”
The track was first teased in April for the Marc Jacobs Summer 2025 campaign, but eager fans awaiting a late spring release were disappointed when months passed without a release date. When the song finally dropped in August, it felt as if much of fans’ interest had fizzled out — the potential success of a summer hit wasted by a botched rollout.
The album’s “Scarlet”-esque third track — “AAAHH MEN!” — features the artist rapping about a subpar partner over the main theme from “Knight Rider,” an ’80s crime-fighting drama starring David Hasselhoff. “And I have too much tolerance / You ugly and fine as shit / And if I had more common sense / Then I would grab my ride and dip,” she repeats in the chorus.
“Gorgeous” — released as the album’s second single — keeps up much of this nonchalant tone. On the track, the artist discusses the harms of unrealistic beauty standards in modern society. Encouraging her listeners to value their natural beauty, she raps, “I mean I only got myself to appeal to / They got they nose up judging me, but ain’t all of ’em real.”
Directed by Bardia Zeinali, the single’s accompanying music video is one of Doja Cat’s best. The video, featuring supermodels Alex Consani and Anok Yai, among others, is redolent of a beauty commercial straight out of the ’80s, complete with its own fictitious makeup line advertised by Doja Cat herself.
On “Stranger,” the artist pivots to protecting her significant other from the societal norms of beauty and relationships, reassuring him of her love despite his appearances, sexuality or unconventional personality. “With each crowd, we proud we don’t fit / And ain’t nobody here gets our schtick / So if we split, it’ll be like two halves / Ain’t nobody in the world got what you have,” she raps on the song’s second verse.
The track also features the artist switching her standard song structure, starting with a verse instead of the chorus. In fact, many tracks on “Vie” are unique in that sense, deviating from the norm in Doja Cat’s music. The artist also begins with verses on “Couples Therapy” and “One More Time,” the latter of which is the only song to feature no expletives or rapping. Meanwhile, on “All Mine,” Doja Cat experiments with her voice, singing in gorgeous falsetto as she commits to a relationship with her lover.
The album’s sole feature appears at its halfway point with “Take Me Dancing” featuring SZA. The appearance — which marks the duo’s third collaboration after “Kiss Me More” and “Kill Bill (Remix)” — was announced just hours before the album’s release on Friday. Although the addition of SZA’s vocals lengthened the song by around one minute, her verse feels rushed, leaving listeners wishing the song was extended just a little more.
In the latter half of the album, Doja Cat leans more heavily into the French origin of the album’s title. On “Lipstain,” the artist starts the first verse with “Tu es ma vie et mon tout / Et tout le monde le sait.” A few songs later, the artist repeats “Brise mon cœur, encore, ce soir” on “Happy.” But these French lines — which add flair to the album’s lyrics and sound — are surprisingly rare for a project with a French title.
“Silly! Fun!” is exactly what it says it is — silly and fun. The track’s chorus features the artist singing “Wouldn’t it be fun if we went to a party? / Wouldn’t it be fun to fall deep for somebody? / I know it could be a blast to just pop out a baby / And we’re so very silly getting married in Vegas” over an upbeat instrumental and rapped verses reminiscent of “Won’t Bite,” one of her more playful-sounding tracks.
“Acts of Service” — one of the first songs teased by the artist on Instagram Live in March — is a mellower song with little sonic interest but an enjoyable listen nonetheless. The production of the subsequent track, “Make it Up,” harkens back to Doja Cat’s early career when she released music on SoundCloud.
The album refines the ’80s sound with “Come Back” — a finale evocative of the background music during end credits scenes. The track ties the whole album together, leaving no sonic loose ends or cliffhangers for listeners — but that could also be one of the album’s drawbacks.
The relative acoustic cohesion of “Vie” compared to Doja Cat’s previous albums leaves little to entice audiences to relisten. That could explain why the album amassed fewer streams than “Scarlet,” despite having a guest appearance from SZA and no simultaneous controversies.
Or maybe success isn’t the goal for Doja Cat. After all, she did say “Fame ain’t somethin’ that I need no more.”
Nevertheless, the artist’s schedule is jam-packed with promotional appearances and events this week — co-hosting “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” appearing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live and a collaboration with Fortnite. All of this comes as she was named the new global brand ambassador for MAC Cosmetics.
Will this be enough for the album to overcome its initial shortcomings — or will it risk becoming another forgotten ’80s call-back record?
Manav is a junior from Indiana, concentrating in International and Public Affairs. In his free time, he likes attempting the daily Connections puzzle or falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes.
