“I Don’t Do Drugs” by Doja Cat (ft. Ariana Grande)

“I Don’t Do Drugs” may read like a public service announcement title-wise. But in reality, this is a love song that we’re dealing with here. In other words, this is yet another one of those tunes that uses drug addiction as a metaphor for falling in love. And by all indications the vocalists are in fact in love with their respective addressees.

But there appears to be sort of a mixed message being relayed here. As far as the verses go, the ladies are fully embracing the reality of being addicted, if you will, to their significant others. But then in the chorus, Doja is saying something like despite how much she ‘wants’ this dude, she “don’t do drugs”. 

So the implication in that regard is that she’s in love alright. But being alarmed by the emotional vulnerability such entails, she’s not privy to giving her heart away just like that.

But then it’s actually the post-chorus that brings it all home. For here Ariana asserts that the desire for the addressee is even stronger than her reservations about giving in to romance.

Doja Cat

This track is from Doja Cat’s album “Planet Her”, which is her third full-length. Doja’s first, Amala (2018), didn’t really make any noise. 

Her second, Hot Pink (2019), performed a lot more impressively by making it onto the top 10 of the Billboard 200. But in-between then and now, with “I Don’t Do Drugs” being released on 25 June 2021, she has really blown up and established herself as an A list artist. 

That is to say that in-between 2020 and mid-2021, Doja Cat has won a couple of American Music Awards, a Billboard Music Award, two MTV Music Awards, etc. And to note, most of these accolades are in recognition of her being the hottest “new” artist on the scene.

Throughout it all Doja Cat has been releasing records under the same two labels, RCA and Kemosabe. And those are also the business entities behind the issuance of this song.

Ariana Grande

Meanwhile Ariana Grande is someone you’re likely more familiar with, considering that she’s been an A lister for about a decade now. Prior to catching on as a musician she was more of an actress and established herself earlier in the 2010s in that regard as the Nickelodeon character Cat Valentine. 

But it is afterwards in the world of music that she really caught on, being one of the most influential and successful musicians of said decade. And this is actually the third time she has teamed up with Doja, as Cat participated on a couple of songs from Ari-Chan’s most recent album, Positions (2020). 

And those would be Motive (2020) and then the remix to 34+35 (2021). The latter also featured Megan Thee Stallion and was a notable hit, reaching 2^nd place on the Billboard Hot 100.

But the biggest Ariana Grande news as of late hasn’t been the success of Positions, which was her third-consecutive Billboard 200 chart topper. Rather it is the fact she got married, to a non-celebrity named Dalton Gomez, just a little over a month before this track was released.

“I Don’t Do Drugs”

Both Doja Cat and Ariana Grande are credited as writers of “I Don’t Do Drugs” as are the track’s producers, Y2K and Sully.

The first teasing of “I Don’t Do Drugs” is said to date back to a tweet Doja Cat posted on 5 January 2021.