By Gabriel Levi

The “Planet H.E.R” invasion has officially begun! On Friday April 9, rapper Doja Cat released her song “Kiss Me More” featuring popular R&B artist Sza. The release of this single indicates the rollout for Doja Cat’s junior album “Planet H.E.R” has officially begun.

Although this single leads us to believe that Doja Cat is ready to start her new era, she has not indicated whether or not this song will serve as the lead single for the album. Nonetheless, there is a LOT to discuss.

“Kiss Me More” is a light and airy pop song with elements from ‘80s pop music. The song follows a structure similar to Doja Cat’s hit song “Say So” in that the song has two singing verses, one from Doja and one from Sza, along with a playful rap verse in the middle. The song is very cute and fun, and definitely sets the tone for Doja’s upcoming project.

Based on this song alone, it’s fair to assume that the upcoming album will have similar sounds to this song, meaning that the album may lean more into Doja’s pop side rather than her R&B side. To some fans, this may be disappointing because after Doja Cat’s recent success with her R&B song “Streets,” many fans have come to expect that kind of music from her.

In my opinion, however, I like the pop side of Doja just as much as I like the R&B side. With summer fast approaching, pop music is a perfect side dish to compliment the summer heat, and R&B just isn’t on the menu.

R&B music is defined by sultry beats and deeper lyrics, but to be quite honest, I don’t want none of that this summer. The past year and a half has been miserable for most of us (to say the least) and this summer we all deserve to have fun. So, what’s wrong with a little bubblegum pop music?

Another thing I admire about this release is its marketing. I’m no business major but I can always appreciate some good marketing. And honestly, Doja Cat is one of the best, if not the best, at it in the rap game right now.

This song was marketed and pushed perfectly. It came as a surprise release with promotion only two days before the song’s release, which only built anticipation. On top of that, as I mentioned earlier, summer is coming soon and this song could be a strong contender for the summer songs of ‘21.

Even the song itself is great marketing. I refuse to believe that Doja Cat doesn’t know her audience, and a huge portion of her audience is TikTok. In the past year, at least four of her songs have blown up on the app and stayed around for more than a couple weeks. So if nobody else will say it I will: Doja Cat is the queen of TikTok.

With that being said, the song is simple enough so that a fairly easy dance can be made to it, but it’s also complex enough to market it to a wider audience. In short, don’t be surprised when you hear “Kiss Me More” all over your for you page.

Along with the release of the single, Doja Cat also released a video with the song, and I only have one word to describe it: iconic. It’s been a few months since I’ve seen a video with actual replay value, and this video has all of it for me.

The music video to “Kiss Me More” is fun, it’s campy, it’s eccentric and once again it reminds everyone that this is officially the new era. The video starts with an astronaut, played by Alex Landi from “Grey’s Anatomy”, exploring the uncharted Planet H.E.R.

The song begins and the astronaut, along with the audience, are thrown face-first into the world of Planet H.E.R. The video involves strange alien fruits, statues in the likeness of Doja Cat and even cryogenic chambers— and I loved every second of it.

The video has a fun energy that I find refreshing in a time so plagued with darkness and pain. So much so that I found myself forgetting about the world surrounding me. For just five minutes, I was thrown into the world of Planet H.E.R, and that is what a good music video should do.

The music video features Doja Cat and Sza, but I would be remiss if I did not mention her love interest in the video: the astronaut. The astronaut, Landi, is just a man caught up in the strange world of Planet H.E.R, but boy, is he easy on the eyes. One user on Twitter (@enctrl) even said “one thing about Doja Cat, her love interest will always be fine as hell.” And I think that’s enough said on that matter, if you know what I’m saying.

Although I would say “Kiss Me More” is a very solid song with an amazing video, some fans have already taken issue with the fact that the song sounds like a close relative of Doja’s hit song “Say So.” And to this I remind everyone of the proverb, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Personally, I loved “Say So” and although the songs share some similarities, “Kiss Me More” is a more vocally dense track than “Say So.” So I say if she wants to keep cranking out good pop music, go for it. Because a wise man once said “if thou not broketh, do not fixeth.”

If I have not made it clear already, I am a huge fan of Doja Cat and her work ever since the “Mooo!” era. I think “Kiss Me More” is very cute and fun, but it is, of course, nothing legendary. For making me excited about her upcoming album and delivering a sickening video, I give Ms. “Kiss Me More” a solid 7/10. The Planet H.E.R invasion is here and personally, I cannot wait for Doja Cat to take over.

Ciao,
Gabe

_Edited by Chloe Konrad | ckonrad@themaneater.com_