Doja Cat Biography: Early Life, "Mooo!", Hot Pink, Planet Her, Scarlet, Vie and Tour Ma Vie (2026)

Doja Cat: The Internet’s Most Unpredictable Pop Star

Few modern stars have been as hard to categorize as Doja Cat. She is a skilled rapper, a strong pop and R&B singer, a comedian, a provocateur and an unusually visual performer. She first gained attention as an online joke, singing about being a cow, and went on to become one of the defining pop artists of the early 2020s.

Her career has been full of swerves. She has alternated between polished pop hits and aggressive rap, embraced and then publicly pushed back against her own fan base, and changed her image dramatically from era to era. Through it all, she has kept releasing hits, won a Grammy and built one of the most-streamed catalogs of her generation. In 2025 she returned to pop with Vie, and in 2026 she launched her biggest tour yet.

Early Life in California

Doja Cat was born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini on October 21, 1995, in Tarzana, Los Angeles. Her mother, Deborah Sawyer, is an American painter and designer, and her father, Dumisani Dlamini, is a South African actor and composer who performed in the stage and film versions of Sarafina! She was raised mainly by her mother and has said her father was largely absent from her childhood.

For part of her early childhood, she lived with her mother and older brother at an ashram in the Santa Monica Mountains, a spiritual community where she was exposed to Hindu devotional music and practices. The family later moved to Southern California’s Antelope Valley area.

She was drawn to music and dance as a child. She studied piano and dance, loved breakdancing, and grew up listening to a wide mix of artists, including Busta Rhymes, Erykah Badu, Nicki Minaj and Drake, as well as her mother’s jazz records. She left high school in her junior year to focus on music, teaching herself to sing, rap and produce using GarageBand.

SoundCloud Beginnings and a Record Deal

Around 2012, she began uploading songs to SoundCloud, including “So High”, under the name Doja Cat. The name combined a slang term for cannabis with her love of cats. She also performed in the Los Angeles underground scene.

Her early music caught the attention of producers Yeti Beats and Tizhimself, and in 2014 she signed with Kemosabe Records, a joint venture with RCA. She released her debut EP, Purrr!, in 2014. Her debut album, Amala, followed in 2018. Neither made much commercial impact, and at that point her career could easily have stalled.

“Mooo!” Goes Viral

In August 2018, she posted a video for “Mooo!”, a deliberately silly song about being a cow, which she made in a single day. She wore a cow-print outfit in front of a green screen that played cartoon fast-food images. The video went viral almost immediately, and people who dismissed it as a joke also noticed that she could clearly rap and sing.

The success of “Mooo!” gave her a large new online following and helped her label take her more seriously. It also established her identity as an artist who could be both extremely playful and highly skilled.

Hot Pink and “Say So”

Her second album, Hot Pink, was released in November 2019. It was a bright, pop-leaning collection influenced by disco, R&B and hip-hop. At first, it had a modest debut, but in early 2020 the song “Say So” became one of the first huge TikTok dance crazes after a user created a routine for it.

The song climbed the charts, and in May 2020 its remix with Nicki Minaj reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving both artists their first No. 1 as lead artists. “Juicy” and “Streets” also became popular, the latter through another TikTok trend. At the 2020 American Music Awards, she won New Artist of the Year.

That same year, she faced criticism over resurfaced online content and past comments. She publicly apologized for some of them and denied other claims.

Planet Her and “Kiss Me More”

Her third album, Planet Her, was released in June 2021. It was a polished, space-themed pop and R&B album that played to her strengths as both a singer and rapper. It featured guests including Ariana Grande, SZA, The Weeknd and Young Thug.

The lead single, “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA, became a worldwide hit and reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. “Need to Know” and “Woman” were also hits, and Planet Her debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It remained one of the most-streamed albums of the following years.

At the 2022 Grammys, she received eight nominations and won her first Grammy, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Kiss Me More” with SZA. In a much-discussed moment, she almost missed the award after taking a bathroom break, and she arrived on stage in tears.

In 2022, she underwent surgery to remove a tonsil abscess, which forced her to cancel several shows, including as an opener for The Weeknd. She also contributed “Vegas” to Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis, which earned a Grammy nomination.

Scarlet and a Break With Her Image

In 2023, Doja Cat made one of the most radical changes in modern pop. She shaved her head and eyebrows, dropped the pop styling of her earlier eras and embraced a darker, more confrontational image. She publicly criticized some fans for being overly attached to her, telling them she did not want to be defined by their expectations, and she mocked her own fan-base name. Many fans left, but many others followed her into her new phase.

Her fourth album, Scarlet, released in September 2023, was mostly rap. It pushed back against critics who said she was only a pop artist. The lead single, “Paint the Town Red”, which samples Dionne Warwick’s “Walk On By”, spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and became one of the most successful songs of her career. “Agora Hills” and “Attention” were also hits. Scarlet debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200.

She promoted Scarlet with her first arena headlining tour, The Scarlet Tour, in late 2023. The show featured elaborate imagery, including giant animated insects and a spider set piece. In April 2024 she headlined Coachella, and in May 2024 she released a deluxe edition, Scarlet 2 Claude, with new songs.

Collaborations and the Road to Vie

Between albums, she remained a sought-after collaborator. She featured on “Born Again” with Lisa of BLACKPINK and RAYE, on Jack Harlow’s “Just Us”, and on Don Toliver’s “Lose My Mind” for the soundtrack of the film F1.

She also began teasing a new direction. In 2025, she appeared in a Marc Jacobs campaign set to an unreleased song. She shared evolving tracklists on social media and said her next album would be less rap-focused and more pop. She described it as a record about love, romance and desire.

In August 2025, she headlined San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival, where she debuted the unreleased song “Jealous Type”. She released it as a single on August 21, 2025, and at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards she performed it with saxophonist Kenny G.

Vie

Her fifth album, Vie, was released on September 26, 2025, by Kemosabe and RCA. It was recorded over three years, partly at Miraval Studios in the south of France, and it marked her first collaboration with producer Jack Antonoff. SZA is the only featured artist.

Vie leaned heavily into 1980s sounds, combining funk, disco, pop-rap and R&B. Billboard described “Jealous Type” as a return to the Hot Pink style of Doja Cat. Critics largely praised the album’s bold 1980s production and her playful vocals, though some felt it was less adventurous than her earlier work.

The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Its first week was smaller than her previous albums, but “Jealous Type” had a long life on the radio, reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Rhythmic Airplay chart in November 2025. Videos for “Gorgeous” and “Stranger” followed.

The Tour Ma Vie World Tour

On September 29, 2025, she announced the Tour Ma Vie World Tour, her biggest and most international tour so far. It is her first headline tour across multiple continents, including her first headline shows in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Latin America.

The tour began with dates in Australia, New Zealand and Asia in late 2025. In 2026 it moved to Latin America, starting on February 5 in São Paulo, with further shows in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico City. A European and UK leg followed in May and June 2026, including London’s O2 Arena, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and an appearance at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival.

The North American leg is scheduled to open on October 1, 2026, at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, visiting cities including Chicago, Denver, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami and Toronto. It ends at New York’s Madison Square Garden on December 1, 2026.

Other 2026 Activity

In 2026 she continued collaborating. Her feature on Summer Walker’s “Go Girl”, with Latto, was sent to rhythmic radio in March 2026 as a single from Walker’s album Finally Over It. She also appeared with Latto on “Okayyy”. Reviews of her verse on “Go Girl” were mixed, and she responded to criticism by publicly sharing the full lyrics.

Style, Persona and Legacy

Doja Cat’s biggest strength is her versatility. She is a technically skilled rapper and a genuine pop and R&B vocalist who writes much of her own material and is deeply involved in her visuals. She moves easily between comedy, sensuality and aggression, and between rap and pop.

She has also become known for her bold fashion and red-carpet looks. At the 2023 Paris Fashion Week, she appeared covered in 30,000 red Swarovski crystals. She is very active online and often unfiltered, which has made her both beloved and controversial. She has repeatedly said she does not want to be defined by what fans or industry figures expect of her.

Her impact on the music industry is also notable. “Say So” was one of the defining examples of TikTok’s power to make hits, and her success helped show that one artist could succeed as both a rapper and a pop star.

At 30, she has five studio albums, multiple No. 1 hits, a Grammy and one of the most-streamed catalogs in music. Her Tour Ma Vie World Tour is her biggest effort yet to prove that her online popularity can fill arenas around the world.

Quick Facts

Detail	Information
Real name	Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini
Born	October 21, 1995, Tarzana, Los Angeles
Age	30 (as of September 2026)
Parents	Deborah Sawyer and Dumisani Dlamini
Labels	Kemosabe Records / RCA Records
Studio albums	Amala (2018), Hot Pink (2019), Planet Her (2021), Scarlet (2023), Vie (2025)
Hot 100 No. 1s	“Say So” (with Nicki Minaj), “Paint the Town Red”
Grammy Awards	1 (“Kiss Me More” with SZA, 2022)
Breakout moment	“Mooo!” (2018)
Current tour	Tour Ma Vie World Tour (2025–2026)
Latest album	Vie (September 26, 2025)

Doja Cat Biography: Early Life, “Mooo!”, Hot Pink, Planet Her, Scarlet, Vie and Tour Ma Vie (2026)