Amala (album)

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Amala
Dojacatamala.png
Studio album by
Doja Cat
ReleasedMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
Recorded2016–2018
StudioThe Himalayas
(Los Angeles, California)
GenreIndie pop[1]
Length45:13
Label
Producer
Doja Cat chronology
Purrr!
(2014) 		Amala
(2018) 		Hot Pink
(2019)
Singles from Amala
  1. "Go to Town"
    Released: March 9, 2018
  2. "Candy"
    Released: March 23, 2018

Amala is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer Doja Cat. It was released on March 30, 2018 via Kemosabe and RCA Records. The album's deluxe version was released on March 1, 2019 and featured her breakthrough singles "Juicy", "Tia Tamera", and "Mooo!".[2] Doja Cat herself has expressed strong disdain toward the record, claiming that it doesn't entirely represent her as an artist.[3] She has also stated that she believes it isn't a "finished album", partially due to her constantly partying and being high on marijuana during its recording.[4][5]

Upon its release, Amala was initially a commercial failure and was largely ignored by critics.[1][6][7][8] Only later in August 2018 would the album and Doja Cat as a whole gain attention as her novelty song "Mooo!" became an internet meme.[2][9] As a result, "Candy" and "Juicy" became sleeper hits, and the album finally debuted on the Billboard 200 chart in August 2019. Amala would eventually peak at number 138 on the chart in November 2019, coinciding with the release of her second studio album, Hot Pink.

Background and release[]

On March 27, 2018, Doja Cat's label announced the album via Twitter. In addition to announcing the release date of the album, they also revealed the title of the project and its cover.[10] When "Roll With Us" was released in February 2018 as the first promotional single, the album was originally titled Baby.

The album isn’t so much of a conceptual piece. It’s more of a compilation and I think it shows more of my versatility as an artist. The thing about the album is that I’ve written so many songs on that album that are from years and years ago. And there are some songs on it that were totally new, so the album consists of three phases in my life.

— Doja Cat on the background of Amala[11]

Singles[]

"Roll With Us" was released as the album's sole promotional single on February 1, 2018,[12] and entered the Spotify's Global Viral 50 chart upon release.[13] The album's lead single, titled "Go To Town", was released on March 9, 2018 along with a music video.[13][14] Doja Cat further went on to promote the single by appearing on Genius' show "Verified".[15]

A week before the album's release, "Candy", was released as the album's second single on March 23, 2018.[16] Only a year later would the track become a sleeper hit after a dance challenge on the app TikTok went viral in late 2019.[17] Consequently, the single charted in countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, the latter having the song peak at 86 on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming her first solo entry on the chart.[18]

The song "Mooo!" was originally released on August 10, 2018 exclusively to YouTube as a music video. The track would be the first of Doja's to become a viral phenomenon,[19][20] and would eventually surpass over eighty million views on YouTube as of October 2020. The track was subsequently released commercially on streaming services,[21] and would later serve as the first single off the deluxe edition of the album.[22] The second single from the deluxe edition (fourth overall), titled "Tia Tamera", was released on January 31, 2019 as a collaboration with American rapper Rico Nasty.[23] A music video was released on February 21, 2019.[24]

Track listing[]

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Amala standard edition track listing[25]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Go to Town"
  • Tizhimself
  • Yeti Beats[a]
3:37
2."Cookie Jar"
  • Dlamini
  • Chahayed
  • Sprecher
  • Jon Millis
  • Kurtis McKenzie
  • Chahayed
  • Yeti Beats
  • The Arcade
3:19
3."Roll With Us"
  • Dlamini
  • Chahayed
  • Sprecher
  • Powell
  • Yeti Beats
  • Tizhimself
  • Chahayed
3:00
4."Wine Pon You" (featuring Konshens)
Yeti Beats3:39
5."Fancy"
  • Dlamini
  • Sprecher
  • Yeti Beats
  • Doja Cat
2:59
6."Wild Beach"
  • Dlamini
  • Collins
  • Sprecher
  • Elizabeth Paige Getz
  • Terence Coles
  • Troy Nöka
  • Yeti Beats
3:24
7."Morning Light"
  • Dlamini
  • Sprecher
  • Cameron Bartolini
  • Aaron Miller
  • Aaron Harmon
  • Jordan Reyes
  • Yeti Beats
  • Cambo
3:59
8."Candy"
  • Yeti Beats
  • Budo
  • Cambo[b]
3:10
9."Game"
  • Dlamini
  • Adrian Eccleston
  • Sprecher
  • Bartolini
  • Yeti Beats
  • Adrian X
3:15
10."Casual"
  • Dlamini
  • Getz
  • Carlos "Los Hendrix" Munoz
  • Collins
  • Sprecher
  • Troy Nöka
  • Yeti Beats
4:00
11."Down Low"
  • Dlamini
  • Christian Quirante
  • Bartolini
  • Cambo
  • Alizzz
3:31
12."Body Language"
  • Dlamini
  • Bartolini
  • Rytchi Pronzola
  • Richie Beats
  • Cambo[a]
4:05
13."All Nighter"
  • Dlamini
  • Sprecher
  • Doja Cat
  • Yeti Beats[a]
3:13
Total length:45:13
Amala — Deluxe version (bonus tracks)[26]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
14."Juicy"
  • Yeti Beats
  • Tyson Trax
3:20
15."Tia Tamera" (featuring Rico Nasty)
  • Doja Cat
  • Kurtis McKenzie
3:32
16."Mooo!"
  • Doja Cat
  • Troy Nöka[a]
  • Yeti Beats[a]
4:45
Total length:56:10

Notes

  • ^[a] signifies a co-producer
  • ^[b] signifies an additional producer

Charts[]

Chart (2019) Peak
position
Australia Hitseekers (ARIA)[27] 10
US Billboard 200[28] 138

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Voynovskaya, Nastia (June 26, 2018). "NPR Music's 40 Favorite Albums Of 2018 (So Far)". NPR. Retrieved August 13, 2020. Amala [...] didn't get much attention from critics at the time of its March release
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Mench, Chris (August 29, 2019). "Chart Climber: Doja Cat Moves Past The Meme With "Juicy"". Genius. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  3. ^ B Swift (October 15, 2019). "Doja Cat Is Not A Fan Of Her First Album". Hot 96.3. United States. Retrieved October 30, 2020. Event occurs at 3:31CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  4. ^ Cho, Regina (November 22, 2019). "Doja Cat Feels Liberated and More Focused Than Ever: 'I'm So Pumped For My Life Right Now'". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2020. A lot of people liked Amala, and that’s great. However, I don’t think it was a finished album. I was smoking hella weed. I was high all the f--king time and it wasn’t even helping me perceive what was going on musically. I was just really out there partying and it was a crazy time for me.
  5. ^ Penrose, Nerisha (November 11, 2020). "Doja Cat Just Wants to Make Rap Colorful". Elle. Retrieved November 6, 2020. she chalks it up to being high as a kite while recording her first album, Amala. "I had no idea what was going on 90 percent of the time," she admits. "I was young and partying every day and I was enjoying myself a little too much. I was also doing nothing a lot, so that whole era was really a blur for me."
  6. ^ Zhang, Cat (October 30, 2020). "The Mystery of Doja Cat's Unimpeachable TikTok Reign". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 30, 2020. the uneventful release of her debut album, Amala
  7. ^ Janes, DeAnna (February 27, 2020). "Doja Cat Is the Artist Behind This Catchy Song You've Heard on TikTok". Oprah Magazine. Retrieved October 30, 2020. the release dropped with barely a whisper
  8. ^ Bassett, Jordan (August 29, 2018). "Doja Cat, you've been cancelled: how the novelty rapper became 2018's 'Milkshake Duck'". NME. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020. the moderate success of her album ‘Amala’
  9. ^ Tan, Brandon (October 14, 2019). "Doja Cat: There's No Going Backward On Killer Frequencies". Flaunt. Retrieved December 4, 2020. Before 'Mooo!,' we hadn’t really gotten any viral hits, or had any hits, period. We were doing okay, but things weren’t at their fullest potential. That was the most significant part about 'Mooo!' going where it did—it allowed all my other work to have a foundation and have a pull.
  10. ^ RCA Records [verified account] [@RCARecords] (March 27, 2018). "THE WAIT IS OVER! @DojaCat's #Amala album arrives on 3/30" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Meyer-Horn, Maxim (March 10, 2019). "Interview: Meet Doja Cat, the Artist Behind the Legendary Song 'Mooo!'". Enfnts Terribles. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  12. ^ "Roll With Us - Single by Doja Cat". Apple Music. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Friedman, Michael H (March 9, 2018). "Doja Cat releases 'Go to Town'". Skope. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  14. ^ Doja Cat (March 9, 2018). "Doja Cat - Go To Town (Official Video)". YouTube. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  15. ^ "Doja Cat "Go To Town" Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified". YouTube. Genius. June 22, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  16. ^ "Doja Cat Releases New Track "Candy" From Her Forthcoming Debut Album 'Amala' Due Out March 30th Via RCA Records". RCA Records. March 23, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  17. ^ Juarez, Sierra (November 25, 2019). "Teens on TikTok are obsessed with Doja Cat's 'Candy'". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  18. ^ "Doja Cat Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. United States. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  19. ^ Pache, Juliana (August 14, 2018). "Doja Cat explains how she made her viral hit "Mooo!"". The Fader. Archived from the original on April 4, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  20. ^ Skelton, Eric (August 14, 2018). "Doja Cat Explains How Her Viral Banger "Mooo!" Came Together". Complex. Archived from the original on November 3, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  21. ^ Hussein, Wandera (August 27, 2018). "Doja Cat will release an updated version of "Moo" on Spotify and iTunes". The Fader. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  22. ^ Rouse, Isaac (March 2, 2019). "Doja Cat Shares a Deluxe Version of 'Amala'". Hypebeast. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  23. ^ Wass, Mike (21 February 2019). "Doja Cat & Rico Nasty Team Up For The Hilarious "Tia Tamera"". Idolator. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  24. ^ Saponara, Michael (February 21, 2019). "Doja Cat & Rico Nasty 'Tia Tamera' Video: Watch". Billboard. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  25. ^ "Doja Cat / Amala". Tidal. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  26. ^ "Doja Cat / Amala (Deluxe Version)". Tidal. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  27. ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing - 30 September 2019 - Issue #1538" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. September 30, 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 9, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  28. ^ "Doja Cat Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
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