Planet Her by Doja Cat: A Review
On June 25th, Doja Cat dropped Planet Her, her third studio album. We’re here to give you our honest review on the album. Follow along to learn more about the album along with a breakdown of some of its most notable tracks!
The Production
As far as production goes, the beats in this album insert it into the genres of R&B, pop, and rap. However, these terms should not confine one’s perception of it, because the production is very diverse. Tracks such as “You Right” and “Options” play on more heavy R&B beats. On the other hand, tracks like “Alone” and “Kiss Me More” feel more groovy, with smooth guitar melodies. The diversity in the beats allows the album to give listeners a new experience with each single, while still being somewhat uniform.
The Lyrics
The uniformity comes into play when looking at the lyrical composition of the album. The lyrics in many tracks allude to sexual themes and the idea of desire and longing for someone. The most direct examples of this can be seen in tracks such as “Need To Know” and “Naked”, which include lyrics such as “I just can’t help but be sexual” and “I don’t think ‘bout anybody, but bein’ beside your body, baby”.
However, other tracks play on opposite themes, such as the idea of wanting to be alone and not wanting someone due to unpleasant experiences. Some examples of this include tracks such as “Alone” and “Ain’t Sh*t” which include lyrics such as “do what you do best and be alone, gotta tell him rest in peace” and “you kept secrets and your cousin told me that”. Although these songs have opposite themes from the other tracks they still receive the same amount of support and praise. In fact, Doja Cat had teased a snippet of “Ain’t Sh*t” on her Instagram livestream a few months ago and it ended up becoming a trending audio on Tik Tok because fans loved it so much! This was one of the most highly anticipated tracks, and is currently the fourth most streamed on the album.
Overall, the lyrical composition in this album is 10/10. It allows listeners to feel a variety of emotions and provides a very interesting experience. What makes it the most interesting is trying to catch all of the references! Doja Cat makes many references in her lyrics, referencing other artists such as Ed Sheeran and popular titles such as Mean Girls.
The Features
There are a total of five other artists on this album, all of which really enhance Doja’s music, but here are some of the features that stood out the most to us.
First off, we have “I Don’t Do Drugs” which features Ariana Grande. Fans were not aware of this collaboration until it was released, but it was received very well. Doja Cat and Ariana Grande had also recently collaborated on Grande’s album “Positions”, and this collaboration became very popular, spreading across Tik Tok and other social media platforms. It’s not hard to see why their collaborations are received so well! Their voices are quite different, but they compliment each other very well. On this new track, Grande was able to give it a more pop twist with the addition of her verse, and she also added some very soothing background vocals.
Next up, we have “You Right” which features The Weeknd. Even though Doja Cat and The Weeknd haven’t had much collaboration history in the past, when listening to this track it just feels like it makes sense. Both of them explore very similar themes in their music, such as those of desire and relationships. Their voices blend smoothly creating three minutes of very easy listening, and I think listeners would agree with this, as it is the third most streamed track on the album!
Lastly, we have “Kiss Me More” which features SZA. We definitely couldn’t forget to include this one. This single was released back in April as the lead single for this album and since then has received over 400 million streams on Spotify! This song brings the funk and groove to this album for sure. When you listen to it you want to get up and dance. The coolest thing about it is that Doja and SZA’s parts sound very different from each other so it feels like SZA is taking you to a whole different place when her verse comes. It’s as if someone took two different funky songs and merged them together, and somehow it works!
Planet Her or Hot Pink?
The final question is: is Planet Her as good as the last album release by Doja Cat? We would say so! Doja’s sophomore album Hot Pink included many songs that charted for a very long time such as “Say So” and “Streets”. So the pressure was definitely on for her to create a successful third album. However, Planet Her definitely does not disappoint. This album is a great follow up and you can definitely see her artistic growth as she explores new themes. It feels less manufactured and more real in the sense that she is speaking her truth without filtering anything.
This album was a pleasure to listen to and we would recommend it to everybody out there looking for some new music! Planet Her is officially available on the Doja Cat web store, as well as Apple Music and Spotify. If you enjoyed this review make sure to check out the other albums we’ve reviewed on our page!
