Rapper and singer Doja Cat has been backlashed by critics and fans after the release of her Paint The Town Red music video. The song was a huge hit being on the Billboard Hot 100 marking her second-ever No. 1 single and went on to become the first rap track to hit the chart in over a year.
Upon the release of the video, a huge internet backlash and critical dismay over the video followed the singer. Several fans and critics called her a Satanist due to the nature of the video. The rapper finally responded to the criticism.
Doja Cat Explains Her Paint The Town Red Music Video Scene That Drove Her To Criticism
Doja Cat’s Paint The Town Red from her album Scarlet was essentially explicit containing scenes that were too hard to digest for several viewers and critics. Speaking with Ebro Darden for Apple Music, the artist reflected on the scene that drove her to the controversy. “Because I’m wearing red?” Cat asked Darden about the reason for the controversy.
“Because I’m f*cking wearing red. Me wearing red is a crime. crime like it’s crazy, it’s crazy. Me like standing on a, on a thing that not everybody has to know this cuz they not everybody knows this that was a painting that I painted I wanted to paint that my painting isn’t a, uh, a weapon. And not like it’s not offensive, it’s just a Green Goblin monster guy and I thought it was beautiful I love drawing faces first and foremost and so that was like a really big piece for me like literally. And also figuratively like for me like just drawing that big ass face it’s like this big it was it was one of my most proudest moments,” Cat explained.
In the video, the appearance of Cat shows a floor-length, long-sleeve red dress with a hood on her head and gloves on her hands while painting her eyebrows red to match the color of the dress. She also rides a Green Goblin monster which fuelled the criticism further.
Doja Cat Said That She Did These Scenes On Purpose
The music video of Paint The Town Red is gothic and graphic at times and the glace of it may recoil faint hearts. However, that’s not how the criticism lurked on the video, it explicitly reflects Satanist influence as there were pentagrams and several harrowing scenes. However, Cat said that she did it on purpose. “I like the idea of I did it on purpose and it’s it’s this big ruse to like make people react but I also like the idea of you know which what it is is that I love this piece of visual art,” she told Darden.
“I like this visual for this sound so I chose that Visual and I applied it to the sound and people made up what they want which is what you do with art. You yeah, how you want to interpret it. Everybody has the right to interpret it how they want but this whole like very confident Satanism thing is like I’m sorry when did I say that I was a Satanist? When did I ever say any or even go marching outside the Church talking about? when did I say that? Anyway, it’s just it’s really, it’s really tacky and annoying.”
Cat went on to say that such criticism “discredits a lot of the hard work that I’ve put in it discredits a lot of the hard work that a lot of people have put in.” Cat further expressed her frustration saying, “I know from on the inside what I’ve seen is a lot of hardworking artists who are inspired and are doing the work that they need to do to create these beautiful atmospheres.” The rapper insisted that these are not real but people associate it with reality.
