Meaning of “Demons” by Doja Cat

Circa the release of “Demons” on 1 September 2023, there have been reports of Doja Cat ‘descending deeper into Satanism’. And tracks such as this one, which she had been teasing since March of 2023 via the utilization “a demon-inspired theme”, have been used to buttress that argument. 

However, the actual lyrics to the song aren’t what we would necessarily classify as being spiritual or religious in nature. Rather, it’s the music video in particular has inspired outlets such as The New York Times to define this release as being along the lines of “horror pop”.

The Lyrics of “Demons”

But to reiterate, in the grand scheme of mainstream rap there really isn’t anything unusual about these lyrics. Doja Cat is a musician who first made a name for herself as a rapper. And in the case of this song (“Demons”), she celebrated it as “finally” granting her the opportunity “to rap again”. This thus implies that from a listening perspective it isn’t meant to be anything unorthodox per se.

As for the title/chorus, it does revolve around the vocalist boasting her “demons” within the context of being rich, basically. Or another way of looking at it is as the artist at hand being cool with embracing her “demons” since, as insinuated, she’s attributing such a disposition to being part of her success formula. 

And on one hand, we commonly come across the term “demons” via contemporary music artists, with it usually being meant to point to one’s shortcomings, i.e. negative thoughts, addictions or what have you. But given that this is Doja Cat, who’s arguably the most-forthright propagator of satanic imagery in the game at the moment, she is also likely referring to literal demons in some way, shape or form.

“Yeah, ayy
How my demons look (How your demons)
Now that my pocket’s full? (Ayy, ayy, ayy, yeah, ayy)
How my demons look (Ayy, yeah)
Now that you bi–hes shook? (Bi–h)
Yeah, how my demons look (Ayy, yeah)
Now that my pocket’s full? (Yeah, ayy, yeah, yeah)
How my demons look (Bi–h, ayy)
Yeah, now that you bi–hes shook?”

That said, the actual thesis sentiment of the song, as established by the chorus, is one of braggadocio, the type of which you would expect from pretty much any notable female rapper these days. For instance, there are the raunchy, NSFW references to the vocalist’s sexual adventurism. 

And of course, there are allusions to her wealth. But for the most part, Doja uses the actual verses to tout herself as “a f*-king queen”, i.e. an artist of highly-formidable standing.

So there really isn’t anything extraordinary about the lyrics in and of themselves. Doja may well be a Satanist at heart, but at the same time, it can be argued that adopting such a motif has helped her maintain an A-list level of popularity in the highly-competitive music industry, as actually implied in the chorus. So all things considered, she’ll probably maintain such a modus operandi into the foreseeable future.

Credits

Doja Cat had a hand in directing the music video to this track, getting the job done alongside Christian Breslauer. The clip co-stars Hollywood actress Christina Ricci, who is also one of the cast members on the popular, partially horror-based Netflix show Wednesday.

This track was produced by D.A. Got That Dope, an artist who, like Doja Cat, is based in Los Angeles. He also gets songwriting credit alongside Doja, as does Christina Doman.

The labels behind this track are RCA Records and Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records.

The “Scarlet” Album

The issuance of this track marked the second single from Doja Cat’s studio album “Scarlet”.