Doja Cat is signaling the beginning of a new era — or, more definitively, the second era of her fourth album “Scarlet” that released in September.
The singer and rapper took to Instagram to announce that a new song “Masc” will release on April 5, sharing a brief snippet of the song. In January, she posted an image of a whiteboard with a tracklist, hinting that “S2,” a deluxe edition of “Scarlet,” was in the works. “Masc” was included among the seven songs alongside “Acknowledge Me,” “Head High,” “Gang,” “Rider,” “Urrrge” and “Hungry.”
Last month, she appeared on “The Therapy Gecko Podcast” and revealed that the deluxe edition of “Scarlet” is titled “Scarlet 2: Claude Frollo,” named after the character from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” “I feel like it connects to the story of ‘Scarlet’ in some way,” she said, “and if you look up his personality traits and who he is and his story, you’ll understand the whole connection. There’s a control aspect. He just abuses his power and his control and is dogmatic and a total cunt.”
“Scarlet” was intended as a return to Doja’s rap roots following criticism that she’d veered too into pop, as she dismissed her prior two albums as “cash grabs.” The project debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and spawned hit singles including “Attention,” “Agora Hills” and “Paint the Town Red,” which hit the top of the Hot 100.
Doja is currently slated to headline at Coachella, followed by her first headlining arena tour in the United Kingdom and Europe. This past autumn, she brought the “Scarlet” tour across North America, kicking it off on Halloween in San Francisco before wrapping it up in Chicago. Her first U.K. show is scheduled for June 9 in Manchester, with scheduled stops in Paris, Sweden and Norway.