Is Doja Cat Quitting Music?

There’s an ugly side to stardom, and Doja Cat is all too familiar with it. The 26-year-old rapper announced in a series of tweets on March 24 and 25 that she’s reached a point where she’s “done” with music. In one particularly candid message, she wrote that she doesn’t “give a f*ck anymore” and let fans know it has become a “nightmare” for her. But now, it seems like she’s not sure herself if she wants to retire.

At the 2022 Grammys, Doja was asked about her apparent decision to quit music on the red carpet, which she answered with a resounding “Uhhhhhh.” Instead, the singer skirted the question and expressed how excited she was for the show. “We’re here at the Grammys, it’s a great night and I’m so happy to be here, and thank you guys so much,” she told Entertainment Tonight.

Doja seemed to retract her initial sentiment in a string of tweets on March 28 that expressed her gratitude to fans. “I can travel, I can eat good food, I can see new people, I can smile, I can make memories that I dreamed of having, I can laugh, I can support my family and my friends, I can learn about the world, and I can give back to everyone because of you," she wrote. But on March 31, Doja took to Twitter once again to re-affirm that she plans to quit music, but not without fulfilling her professional obligations, like opening for The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour.

“For those who are seeing me at the after hours tour, i’m not bailing,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet . . “But me not bailing doesn’t mean my ass isn’t gonna disappear right after. i still got sh*t i gotta do. and a lot of y’all think cuz i post a f*ckin picture it means i’m not out. Pic doesn’t = music GOOFY.” In a follow-up tweet, she confirmed that there’s still more videos and content coming before she goes apparently goes away. “So yes that still means i got videos to film i got performances to do and I got content to drop so i’m pooping it out and dippin,” she wrote. “I ain’t gone yet.” These tweets have since been deleted.

The artist’s tipping point seems to have been criticism from fans about how she handled a canceled performance in Paraguay on March 24. Doja Cat, whose real name is Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, had been scheduled to perform at the music festival Asuncionico 2022, but the show couldn’t go on due to dangerous storms. Despite the situation being out of her control, some fans seemed to feel she should have done more to acknowledge those who’d planned to see her, including greeting the ones who waited outside her hotel, per BuzzFeed.

Their disgruntlement seemed to grow when she shouted out Brazil in multiple tweets, including one saying her show that night wasn’t “good enough.” “Not a single photo being in Paraguay, not a single tweet, not a single instagram story!!!!” wrote one fan who took issue with how the rapper handled the situation. “You made us empty!!” In response to the backlash, Doja let it be known that she’s “not sorry,” had moved on, and would “let everybody be mad.” The artist also announced that she wouldn’t be “taking pictures again with anybody else after this tour.” It was after those tweets that she described the situation as a “f*cking nightmare.”

“it’s gone and i don’t give a f*ck anymore i f*ckin quit i can’t wait to f*cking disappear and i don’t need you to believe in me anymore,” Doja Cat responded to a fan asking about her “humility.” “Everything is dead to me, music is dead, and i’m a f*cking fool for ever thinking i was made for this this is a f*cking nightmare unfollow me.”

Separately, she tweeted, “This sh*t ain’t for me so I’m out. Y’all take care.” And just in case her message wasn’t clear enough, Doja Cat also changed her Twitter username to “i quit” on March 24, per Buzzfeed. As of March 26, there’s been a slight change: It reads, “i quit still.”

Doja Cat has been open in the past about the challenges of working in the music industry and the pressure artists face. In an Instagram Live in November, she shared how she has to do “all this sh*t” she doesn’t “f*ckin’ want to do,” like “take f*ckin’ pictures,” according to Hypebae. She spoke of having to “do sh*t like that” while just wanting to make music. On top of that, on another occasion in January 2021, Doja Cat quit TikTok because she felt fans were “unintentionally gas-lighting,” she tweeted.

Amid her recent dustup with critics, there were fans who were understanding of the challenges and focused on the star’s well-being. “I ain’t never seen anything like what just happened with Doja Cat,” one wrote. “Wow. Some of y’all need to hop off Twitter and eat something nice and take a day off. Seriously. This ain’t good for anyone’s mental health.”