Doja Cat

Doja Cat is the stage name of Amala Zandile Dlamini, born in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her mother, Deborah Sawyer, is a graphic designer, and her father, Dumisani Dlamini, is a South African performer who starred in the original Broadway production of Sarafina!; the two separated soon after her birth, and Dlamini has described herself as estranged from him.

As a child she moved with her mother to Rye, New York, before returning to California at age eight to live at the Sai Anantam Ashram in Agoura Hills, a commune where the family practiced Hinduism for several years under the spiritual guidance of jazz musician Alice Coltrane.

She first drew attention through music posted online, uploading the song 'So High' to SoundCloud in 2012 and releasing an independent EP, Purrr!, in 2014, before signing with Kemosabe and RCA Records. The 2018 novelty song 'Mooo!', recorded and filmed at home, brought her a large internet following, and a wider commercial breakthrough followed with 'Say So', a disco-inflected single that became her first number-one hit and was later remixed with Nicki Minaj.

Her work moves between rapping and singing, and across pop, R&B and hip-hop. The 2021 album Planet Her produced hits including 'Kiss Me More', 'Need to Know' and 'Woman' and won her a Grammy Award, while 2023's Scarlet pushed toward a harsher, hip-hop-oriented sound behind the single 'Paint the Town Red', her second number-one. A fifth album, Vie, released in 2025, returned to pop.

She is also known for an unusually direct, often combative relationship with her online audience, and for elaborate visual presentation in her videos and live performances, both traits that have shaped her public image as much as her music.