Doja Cat's Career Was Never The Same After Shaving Her Head

Known for her chart-topping hits as well as her off-the-wall style, Doja Cat has made a career out of being over-the-top. She's had fashion moments that have set the internet on fire, and her overall transformation has turned so many heads over the years. But the untold truth behind the "Say So" songstress is more layered and varied, especially when it comes to keeping fans (and herself) on her toes. "There's an art to being a loose cannon," she told Variety. "I still am very self-aware ... I still make a fool of myself. But at least I know what I said."

From changing her musical style to altering her physical appearance, the 2020s have been a time of epic proportions for the Grammy-winning artist, proving that a career can change quicker than a TikTok trend.

In early 2022, Doja Cat revealed in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) that she was planning to quit the music industry. The shocking announcement came on the heels of an appearance in Paraguay, where she reportedly neglected to interact with fans following a festival set. The negative reaction triggered the artist to let her emotions out online. "Everything is dead to me, music is dead, and I'm a f***ing fool for ever thinking I was made for this this is a f***ing nightmare," she wrote in the since-deleted posts (via The Independent).

While appearing at the Grammys a few weeks later, she deflected questions about her online rant but still assured fans that she would continue to perform (and tour with The Weeknd). However, she did double down on wanting to take a break from the spotlight following her performance commitments. "For those who are seeing me at the 'After Hours' tour, I'm not bailing," she posted to X (via Billboard). "But me not bailing doesn't mean my a** isn't gonna disappear right after."

By that summer, Doja Cat had dropped out of The Weeknd's massive summer tour and other festivals, citing tonsil abscess surgery, and fans and critics alike were worried about the star — making her next actions even more watched than ever.

In August 2022, Doja Cat took to Instagram Live to share her next dramatic transformation in real time. She shaved her head for millions of followers to see, followed by shaving her eyebrows off. Her rationale behind the buzzy move was her lack of love for her natural locks, causing her to wear wigs most of the time. "What is the use of having hair if you're not going to f***ing wearing it out?" she explained to her fans on Instagram Live (via People). "There's no point. I've never felt so f***ing happy, like ... it's very funny how much of an effect taking my hair off my head has positively influenced me."

While some fans praised the star for taking charge of her looks in this way, many others criticized the singer, causing her to clap back in classic Doja Cat fashion in a since-deleted post to X. "I won a grammy and traveled the f***ing globe, I've had a No. 1 [single] and I went platinum," she stated in the post (via People). "I make hit after hit after hit and you all want me to look f***ing for you ... Go f*** yourselves." Some fans even compared her change in look to Britney Spears' infamous head-shaving moment, mirroring a mental health episode that fans were wary of also happening to Doja Cat. "It's so incredibly disrespectful for people to be minimizing what Britney went through and make a joke out of something that was very serious and a big deal in her life," Doja Cat shared with Variety. "Every time I see a comment like that, I can't compute what's happening, other than it's just an awful thing."

Following her drastic transformation, Doja Cat began planning for a different type of album, one with a darker sound than her previous records. She spoke with the press about creating a more "masculine" album and experimenting with different genres like punk, diving into territory far from the rap-pop princess vibes she had been giving off since her single "Say So" skyrocketed to the top of the charts in 2020. "I want to explore more of a raw, unfiltered, hardcore punk sort of thing," she told Variety. "It's just something that I'm doing for my own personal fun — getting some drummers and guitarists together."

But even after explaining the real meaning behind her hit "Say So," she looked to expand her musical horizons into different genres and also double down on her original style: rap. She shared that as she was planning her next album, she was returning a lot of her focus to her rap roots. "I've rapped since the beginning, and I really couldn't even sing that well to begin with — I got a lot better," she told Elle in 2022. "I use my voice as a tool to create these worlds." The entertainer reportedly researched the occult while writing the album, and even revealed some potential album names, including "Hellmouth" and "First of All." "I'm good at doing things last minute," she admitted to Business Insider. "So I've been firing off random stuff and reading comments and seeing how people receive it and then, you know, saying 'no' a lot. 'Just kidding.'"

While she was recording her next album, she also reflected on her past work — some of which she wasn't too enamored with after releasing it. "'Planet Her' and 'Hot Pink' were cash-grabs and y'all fell for it," she shared to X in a since-deleted post (via AV Club). "Now I can go disappear somewhere and touch grass with my loved ones on an island while y'all weep for mediocre pop."

While she has criticized the work of others, like when she had something to say about producer Dr. Luke, this isn't the only time she criticized her own work. She has also shared that in the past, she stuck to similar styles and sounds to follow what was popular at the time. After achieving success, she found that she could experiment more with her music, no matter what it sounded like. "I feel like I can take those elements that I have from the music that sticks and put it into this soup of different genres that I really love and enjoy and respect, and make something new with it," she told fellow rapper Jack Harlow in an interview for Present Space.

By September 2023, Doja Cat had settled on a title for her highly anticipated album and released "Scarlet," which boasted monster singles including "Agora Hills" and "Paint the Town Red." The latter marked a turning point in the entertainer's career, as it became her first solo No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 single. At the time, "Paint the Town Red" was also the first rap No. 1 in over a year. Beginning that fall and spanning through 2024, she headed out on a headlining tour supporting the album with fellow buzzed-about rappers Ice Spice and Doechii as her opening acts.

The hitmaker saw this album as an opportunity to not only expand her boundaries as an artist but also tap back into what makes her the artist that she is. "I want to give stories and bops," she shared with Harper's Bazaar. "It's a nice mixture of both. I think this project is a really fun canvas for me to play with my rap skills and talk about what's going on in my life. But I'm not abandoning who I was and what I know about pop and singing and that aspect of music."

It wasn't just her own albums that Doja Cat was writing hits for. She also joined forces with filmmaker Baz Luhrmann to write a signature song for his film "Elvis," starring Austin Butler. Her song "Vegas" became a calling card for the film, serving as the first single from the album. The track drew inspiration from the classic song "Hound Dog," which Elvis Presley famously covered in his heyday. She unveiled the song during her Coachella performance in 2022, where the director was on hand to witness the spectacle. He later wrote about Doja Cat's influence when she was named to Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2023: "She can't be boxed in," he wrote for Time. "She's the canvas on which she expresses a character or an idea. There's no 'brand' to Doja Cat. You never know what she's going to do next, and that's exciting."

Simultaneously, other artists were inspired by Doja Cat's creative energy and wrote hit songs with her in mind — and in title. One of those was U.K. rapper Central Cee's smash song "Doja," which landed at the No. 2 spot on the U.K. singles chart by 2023. The subject herself was initially planning to keep quiet about the track, but later changed her mind upon hearing the lyricism. "I was going to be superior, I was going to be above it," she admitted on an Instagram Live (via The Line of Best Fit). "I was going to rise above, but then I saw that and it's actually great."

By 2025, Doja Cat was not only preparing a new album, but she was also combining her star power with several other high-profile artists to release several hits. In March 2025, she and Jack Harlow released their highly anticipated collaboration "Just Us," and the music video was even more star-studded. Cameos from the likes of John Mayer, Matt Damon, and PinkPantheress were featured as Harlow and Doja Cat paraded through LA hotspot "Horses" with their flirty chemistry on full display. Fans were thrilled to see the two get cute on camera, especially after Harlow admitted to having a crush on the rap songstress in an Instagram Live a few years prior.

Doja Cat also joined forces with powerful female artists Lisa (of Blackpink) and Raye for the single "Born Again" that same year. The song, which features a verse from each of the ladies, even won the MTV Video Music Award for Best K-pop of the year. "Thank you to Doja Cat and RAYE for making 'Born Again' such a special song," Lisa gushed during the trio's acceptance speech.

This turn towards collaborations is a pivot for Doja Cat, who had previously expressed interest in moving away from duets, or at least being choosier about who she released songs with. "I feel like a lot of features are coming out," she once admitted to ExtraTV. "It feels like people are just getting on each other's songs for the sake of having them on each other's songs. I want to be really careful about that."

Even in the middle of preparing a new album in 2025, Doja Cat was able to satisfy her fans' desire for new music when she surprise-dropped the single "Crack." But the drop came with a twist: the song was only available to download for 24 hours. The song, which was clamored for by fans despite being dropped from 2023's "Scarlet," was a way for the artist to give back to her fans. "It's not the lead [single], I'm just giving it to the people who asked for it," she shared on X (via Rap-Up).

While many fans were disappointed that the song was not on "Scarlet," it may stem from the fact that the singer's feelings about the album have shifted over the years. In a 2025 interview with The New York Times, the "Paint the Town Red" rapper claimed that making and releasing the hit-making album was bizarrely similar to a particular bodily function. "Not to diminish [the album], but it was a bit of like, 'I just need to get this out' — it was a massive fart for me," she told The New York Times. "I thought fixing that would entail making music that was more visceral ... but it didn't get me all the way there. So I want to return back to what I know."

As much as she is known for her music-making, Doja Cat's fashion-forward prowess became a calling card for her by 2025. After making an appearance at the 2025 Met Gala, she revealed a partnership with designer Marc Jacobs, marking another instance where we learned what her career was really worth. The duo teamed up for the summer 2025 campaign "Staycation," which featured the songstress showing off the legendary designer's bags and other fashions. "Being on vacation isn't about where you go — it's how you show up," she said in the campaign.

The campaign was also an opportunity for Doja Cat to reveal a snippet of her new single "Jealous Type," which became the lead single on her studio album "vie." The song, she says, was an opportunity to focus on more of her singing ability. "I love to sing and I have just been working on my voice and my instrument and I feel like I can do a lot more things that I could never do," she shared with Zane Lowe. The song eventually made its way to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart, setting the stage for a new era of Doja.

With the release of her album "Vie" in fall 2025, Doja Cat returned to her signature pop sound with an '80s synth twist. "​​It's overtly sexy and it becomes kind of silly, which is likable and fun," she said of the album to The New York Times. "I just always want to keep that sense of fun, but I never want to be too goofy." She also called the album a continuation of previous albums "Planet Her" and "Hot Pink" — albums she previously shunned publicly — allowing her to tap back into what she does best. "I'm doing what I was perfecting in the beginning," she told the outlet. "I'm doing what I know I know how to do."

The album also saw her team up with R&B songstress SZA once again on the track "Take Me Dancing." The two, who had previously won a Grammy Award for their single "Kiss Me More," found magic again on the track, which was a last-minute addition to the album. "Sza is the siren of this century and my favorite voice," Doja Cat gushed via X. Between the pop bops and the hit-making duets, the rapper-turned-singer turned true to form for the next chapter of her career.