Doja Cat Graces The Cover of ELLE’s Women in Music Issue

It is no surprise that Doja Cat is the face of the ELLE’s Women in Music issue. She’s been killing it from hit songs to winning almost every award she’s nominated for.

The superstar sat down with Elle to chat about her authenticity, music, and her social media presence.

When it comes to Doja, she will always be her genuine self; from the very beginning, she has always said what was on her mind. “There is no recipe for winning, but I believe there is a formula to lose,” she said. “People aren’t stupid, and they’ll pick up on it quickly if you don’t believe in what you’re doing. All you have to do now is trust in yourself. It sounds like a scene from The SpongeBob Movie, but it’s true.”

Her social media presence, in particular, was also brought up. She said, “I put many things out there about myself. I’m just constantly on live. Sometimes I look at myself and I’m like, Well, if you could just f**king turn off your phone for, like, five minutes.” But she also said that she thrives on direct contact with all her fans. “When I’m getting creative in any way, I like to see what people think of it.” During the interview, she reminisced on her Periscope days as a teen. “Now I just go online and scream at people, and that’s kind of a fun hobby for me.”

Doja was then asked how she feels about social media controversies since she has been the center of a few. She said, “I just turn off my phone. I delete things and re-open them when I’m ready. That’s kind of how that works for me.”

As for her music, she has been able to shape shift in all genres. Coming out on top in hip-hop, Afro-beats, and bubbly, high-femme pop to heartstring-pulling ballads, she said, “I experiment with genres that I’m unfamiliar with, and I’m inspired by fresh experiences.” That is the entire game… It means a great deal to me because I didn’t have it either. And if no one else can be that girl for me, I’ll be that girl for someone else.”

During her career, she has won and been nominated for multiple awards. After winning the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with SZA for “Kiss Me More,” she said, “That was insane to me. When they told me how many, I was like, ‘No, no way.’ … That was actually the first show that I cried after. I definitely felt the emotions. I was so happy to be doing it… I like to downplay a lot of s**t…but it’s a big deal.”

For her next album, which will be predominantly rap, she said, “I have been getting songs and things sent to me… Oh f**k, I wish I could tell people! There’s some really cool stuff that I got sent from friends. They’re all working on beats, and I’m giving them notes, and they know what I want, so I’m excited.”

Since the start of her career, she has worked with many of the top current female rappers like City Girls, Rico Nasty, and Saweetie.  Being a female rapper herself, she said, “There’s an explosion of amazing female rap talent out there right now. It’s so cool to see that, because we didn’t have that when we were younger.”

Outside of music, Doja has said that she is interested in comedy. She said, “I’d love to act. I’d love to be in movies. That’s a massive want for me.” She said, “My one hidden passion is stand-up, I get nervous just like anyone else, but it feels like it could be a natural, fun thing to do.” Doja also added how she would love to showcase her jokes on the Ziwe Fumudoh show. “Ziwe is so f**king funny, and she’s so smart, and I love her so much,” Doja says. “She usually likes to bait people into shit, and it just would be funny to see her bait me.”

Lastly, Doja discussed how she planned to decompress this summer. Thanks to a recent tonsil surgery and rehabilitation, she stated on Friday that she would be canceling her summer festival appearances and her tour with the Weeknd. “I’m going to finish this next album, and then I’m going to get the f**k out for a second. I want to disappear for a little bit and just do things like wear slides and go to the farmers market. I don’t give a s**t about vegetables, but how fun! And I want a dog, too. It’s f**ked up that I don’t have a dog. It’s not fair. I want to take care of a dog. I want to raise it and run around in the grass and touch it.”