“Woman” by Doja Cat

Despite what some other analysts may have said, Doja Cat’s “Woman” is not a female empowerment song. In fact considering that the chorus and thesis sentiment center on the vocalist trying to convince a male to ‘let her be his woman’, some may even argue it’s the exact opposite of feminist. 

But we get where the aforementioned analysts are coming from also. For in trying to land this man, Doja Cat touts herself as possessing the characteristics and abilities to live up to what she perceives as the best women have to offer.

And the first of such abilities she touts is her willingness to start a family with said addressee.  Indeed she boasts of a “delicious taste”, so the implication is that her partner will enjoy making this family in the process. Moreover she is able to perceive that the apple of her eye actually needs a woman in his life. 

All she is really asking for in return is protection. Then, still in the first verse, Doja proceeds to advertise some of her “feminine” physical attributes to him, though not in the type of raunchy way that we’ve grown accustomed to from Cat.

Verse 2

Then, it would seemingly be the latter part of the second verse especially which others have deemed as being empowering lyrics towards women. Near the beginning of the passage though, Doja once again lets her prospective partner know that she intends to give him “some babies”. 

Then she goes on to state other goals she can achieve outside of the realm of reproduction. For instance, she can be a major political or business leader, citing Rihanna as an example in the latter regard. Then comes what is arguably the most feminist part of the song, when the vocalist introduces a conspiracy theory, if you will, stating that certain powers are ‘pitting women against other’. 

Then she goes on to name “Mother Earth” and “Mother Mary” as examples of women who have “rise(n) to the top”. Of course the former is a symbolic construct pointing to the life-giving attributes of the planet we live on, so maybe in referencing it Doja is once again alluding to reproduction. 

Then she proceeds to mention the “divine feminine” which, considering that namedropping of Mary shortly prior, reads like a phrase meant to refer to the spiritual side of being a female, or something like that. Then the rest of the song, more or less, features the vocalist once again entreating the addressee to take her on.

In Conclusion

So at the end of the day, if one wants to interpret this piece as an exercise in feminism instead of a love song, ultimately it’s a matter of perspective, as in which part of the song sticks out the most in the listener’s mind. Yes, it does seem as if Doja Cat uses the opportunity of Woman to big up the potential of females in general. But the idea of women being great isn’t the thesis sentiment.  Instead it would be more along the lines of the vocalist herself being great, as in possessing all of the aforementioned potential. 

But then the implication is that she needs a man, the addressee in particular, in order to bring all of this out. And we would venture to say that most true feminists wouldn’t classify a song whereas a woman is expressing some type of a dependency on a man as empowering towards females per se.

“Planet Her”

Woman is actually the opening song on Doja Cat’s third album, “Planet Her”. It would have been one of the last tracks she recorded for the project, as she laid down the featured vocals just a month before its issuance. And said undertaking was released by RCA Records and Kemosabe Records on 25 June 2021.

Who wrote “Woman”?

Aynzli Jones, Yeti Beats and Linden Jay served as both writers and producers of “Woman”. The other credited producer is Crate Classics, which is actually a duo from London consisting of Aaron Horn and Jamie Rodigan. 

And Horn is also one of the song’s co-writers, as are Lydia Asrat, Doja Cat and Jidenna. The latter is a vocalist who was really poppin’ a few years back.

In contrast by the looks of things, Doja Cat’s time is now. For instance, as of the writing of this post, “Planet Her” has peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 on the UK Albums Chart – the best she has performed on either of those listings to date.

Moreover the last couple of years has witnessed Doja win some of the biggest awards in the industry, such as the following 2020 American Music Awards:

• Favorite Female Soul/R&B Artist 
• New Artist of the Year 

She also won a 2021 Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Female Artist

Concerning Rihanna being referenced as mentioned above, as of the writing of this post she is in fact the “richest female musician in the world”, having held down said spot for at least a year or two now.