Doja Cat is a few months into the release of her anticipated album Planet Her, which landed at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Throughout the album rollout, Doja Cat has remained true to her left-of-center brand, asking her fans to roast her for falling on stage and joking that she’s been canceled “maybe 350 times.” Now, Doja Cat gets the chance to speak to another musician who is known for staying true to herself: Missy Elliott.
Elliott and Doja Cat sat down for a conversation with Interview Magazine. Throughout their chat, Doja Cat gushed about how much Elliott has influenced her as an artist. Elliott also gave Doja Cat advice on how to stay weird and authentic with her music, saying that she should stay away from second-guessing herself:
“For my first album, I didn’t listen to the radio. I didn’t watch videos. I didn’t do any of those things, and I didn’t realize how much that helped me at the time. But it helped, because me and Timb, we didn’t mimic. So if we did something far-left, we weren’t afraid, because we didn’t know what was hot anyway. But now, when I got my phone and I’m seeing things, I can think of something really far-left and then I’ll be like, ‘They’re going to think I’m crazy. Let me reel it back.’ […] It gets tricky sometimes, so here’s some advice. Whatever you’re doing, if you feel like you’re in this place, and it seems to be working, stay there. Don’t allow other things to make you second-guess yourself, as long as it feels good to you.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Doja Cat opened up to Elliott about what she hopes to hone in her music. Along with wanting to fine-tuning her flow, Doja Cat says she hopes to open up about her personal life a little bit more in the future. “When it comes to rap I could be better,” Doja Cat said. “I think everybody feels that way with their own art, in all kinds of ways. But I see all these incredibly talented rappers around me, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m doing pop, but I should focus on my pen now more than ever.’ I’m good, and I can be funny and charming, and I can do little punchlines here and there, but I need to talk about my life more, and about what’s going on.”
Read Elliott and Doja Cat’s full conversation with Interview Magazine here.
Missy Elliott is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.