Doja Cat’s New Single ‘Masc’ Announced Before Release of Album ‘Scarlet’ Deluxe Edition

Doja Cat posted on Instagram that an upcoming new single, “Masc,” is dropping on April 5. The pop artist, who’s been exploring her rap roots lately, shared a snippet of the song in the post. Back in January, she posted a whiteboard image with a tracklist. That’s where she hinted at “S2,” which eluded to the deluxe edition of “Scarlet,” coming soon. On that trackless was today’s announcement for “Masc” among seven other songs, including “Acknowledge Me,” “Head High,” “Gang,” “Rider,” “Urge,” and “Hungry.”

ICYMI, last month, Doja appeared on “The Therapy Gecko Podcast,” yes that’s a thing in the world of social audio, and it’s popular, so anyway, the conversation revealed that Scarlet 2 is a deluxe edition of its predecessor “Scarlet” and will be entitled “Scarlet 2: Claude Frollo.” If you need a brief literary lesson, that comes from the iconic character of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Here’s what else she said “I feel like it connects to the story of ‘Scarlet’ in some way,” she said, “and if you look up his personality traits and who he is and his story, you’ll understand the whole connection. There’s a control aspect. He just abuses his power and his control and is dogmatic and a total cunt.”

As Variety reported, “Scarlet” was supposed to be Doja Cat’s return to her rap roots. This came about after much criticism that Doja was too much in the pop lane, and some even considered her previous two albums “cash grabs.” Um, so? Get your money, Doja, and that she did with Scarlet. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and came with hit singles that included “Attention,” “Agora Hills,” and “Paint the Town Red,” which all hit the top of the Hot 100. Sheesh. Pop or rap, she wins.

Get this: Doja is booked to headline at Coachella, which will precede her first arena tour, which she is headlining in the United Kingdom and Europe. Doja’s first U.K. concert is slated for June 9 in Manchester, then she has scheduled stops in Paris, Sweden and Norway. Let’s see what “Masc” sounds like and see if her return to rap still holds up. We think it will.