On Monday morning (August 21), Doja Cat‘s latest single “Paint The Town Red” reached No. 1 on Spotify’s Top 50 – USA chart. This marked the first time a rap song from a solo female artist achieved the top spot in Spotify history, according to Chart Data, as “Paint The Town Red” has racked up 1.29 million streams since its August 4 release.
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Per Spotify, their Top 50 – USA chart is updated daily based on “the most played tracks right now” in the United States on the app. Other songs in the top five Monday included Oliver Anthony’s surging, yet polarizing single “Rich Men North of Richmond,” as well as Gunna’s “fukumean,” Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” and Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer.”
Upon release, “Paint The Town Red” debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, as it is the second pre-released single for the controversial singer-rapper’s upcoming studio album Scarlet. On the album, according to Doja’s recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she looks to focus more on her rapping ability instead of the enchanting pop sound she’s prioritized on prior projects. But, this does not mean she plans to abandon her melodic tendencies entirely.
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“This new album is more introspective, but I’m not leaning so hard into that to where it becomes boring,” she said. “So I want to give stories and bops. It’s a nice mixture of both… I think this project is a really fun canvas for me to play with my rap skills and talk about what’s going on in my life. But I’m not abandoning who I was and what I know about pop and singing and that aspect of music.”
“Paint The Town Red” arrived two months after Scarlet‘s lead single “Attention,” where Doja first proved how serious she was about her hip-hop ambitions. On both of the aforementioned tracks, though, she has been able to blend pop elements into the recordings effortlessly, making sure that the transition from her older music to now is seamless.
Photo by: Rich Polk/NBC
