Doja Cat Commands Genre-Blending OVO Hydro Show
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- Doja Cat opened the OVO Hydro show hovering above the stage in Klaus Nomi-esque shoulder pads with a 20-metre long train, in what the review frames as a possible troll aimed at fans who had complained about a lack of outfit changes earlier on the tour.
- Fronting a 10-person band in pasties, a high-waisted bodysuit, and an acid green wig, Doja was compared to a "scene-kid Prince," with the set's synergy likened to Purple Rain and a "glam-rock Stop Making Sense."
- The show ran through 80s-influenced tracks from last year's Vie and 2021's Planet Her, with the reviewer noting that slow jam Make It Up landed as "more muscular live than on record."
- A darker, rockier section was built around Scarlet material, including acrobatic performances of WYM Freestyle, Wet Vagina, a metal version of Tia Tamera, and Demons, during which Doja ground against the mic stand and ripped her tights.
- The reviewer tied Doja's rock credibility to her recent cover of Hole's Celebrity Skin, which was co-signed by Courtney Love, while noting that she whipped the mic cord around her neck during Demons without missing a note.
- By set's end, Doja had merged two opposing modes — "unhinged iconoclast and slick bandleader" — a tension the reviewer traces back to her renegotiating the pop persona she once denounced as a "cash grab" on Vie.
Why it matters: The review frames Doja Cat as a rare pop performer who can sustain a full concert on artistic range alone, moving between slick pop-rap and raw rock without gimmicks. For an artist who has spent two albums publicly wrestling with whether her pop career is a "cash grab," a critic reading her as a commanding bandleader who merges her contradictions on stage is a meaningful reputational win on the Vie tour.
