![\"Doja](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_9255-scaled.jpeg\")
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MONDAY 9:09 PM SEPTEMBER 29, 2025 DOWNTOWN<\/p>\n
The Dragon Room at Mercer Labs<\/a> was a peculiar place to find myself for this week\u2019s installment of Smoke Break. Instead of puffing away in a dark alley against the noisy backdrop of honking yellow taxis, Doja Cat<\/a> joined me on Monday evening in an intimate hall of mirrors at her album release party. As you may already know, last week the pop star dropped her fifth studio album Vie, a powerhouse pop and R&B confection dedicated to the joys of sex, love, and dancing \u2018til you drop. Surrounded by 500,000 reflective twinkling lights inside in one of many installations created on site by the contemporary artist Roy Nachum<\/a>, Doja was channeling the 1980s in a strong-shouldered zebra-print ensemble. As the 29-year-old Grammy winner took intermittent puffs of her vape, she snuck away with me to gush over bisexual men and burlesque queen Dita Von Teese before playing a round of \u201cFuck, Marry, Kill\u201d\u2014with her own albums.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n ARY RUSSELL: I\u2019m here with Ms. Doja Cat.\u00a0<\/p>\n DOJA CAT: Hello!<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Where are we right now?\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: We\u2019re inside of art at Mercer Labs.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Can you talk me through your outfit right now?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0CAT: \u2029I am wearing a shoulder-padded, highly structured corset and shrug from The Blonds. It is in the print of a zebra with some sort of faux pony hair and stitching going down the front and creating a sort of peplum at the hip, and it\u2019s doing a V down to the middle of the legs, and there\u2019s a blue tight. It\u2019s very soft, and then I have a silver heel, and I don\u2019t know who it\u2019s by but it\u2019s very nice. And then I\u2019ve got a whole yellow bag and a necklace and earrings and a hat that matches the outfit.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL: It\u2019s full \u201980s. Would you say this is your most cohesive era, where everything is in sync with the look and the sound?\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: This would be, like, the second time. I\u2019ve always been pretty cohesive except for my first album. But this is very cohesive in the sense that it\u2019s the \u201980s and I just want to keep exploring that. Planet Her was a lot of futuristic and kind of strange silhouettes\u2014like, weird stuff, bright colors, things that feel alien.\u2029And then Scarlet was sort of darker and more grungy and very strange.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Scarlet is\u00a0your alter ego, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n DOJA CAT: [Laughs] Yeah, sure. \u2029<\/p>\n RUSSELL: How does it feel to finally have the album out and see everyone literally downstairs listening to it? Is it kind of trippy to watch people reacting?<\/p>\n CAT: It\u2019s fabulous to just be able to enjoy it with other people. Because I can be in my house on the couch listening to it, but it\u2019s nothing like hearing other people be like, \u201cOh my god, I love that part.\u201d Or them knowing the lyrics even is so invigorating. I love when people know already. It\u2019s amazing to hear people rap it back to me or sing it back to me.<\/p>\n RUSSELL: It\u2019s only been like a few days and they\u2019ve already memorized the lyrics. \u2029They were in front of their computer like, \u201cBitch, I\u2019m memorizing this. Where\u2019s Genius?\u201d<\/p>\n CAT: It takes a long time for me to even remember these lyrics, so kudos. It feels great. \u2029<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Since this is a \u201cSmoke Break,\u201d I have to ask: who\u2019s your dream person to share a cig with?<\/p>\n CAT: My dream person to share a cig with would be Dita Von Teese.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL: She\u2019s so juicy.<\/p>\n CAT: She\u2019s just so that.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL: What feeling beats the feeling of a drunk cigarette?<\/p>\n CAT: What beats a drunk cig? It\u2019s Interview Magazine. Can I say anything?<\/p>\n RUSSELL: You can say whatever you want. \u2029<\/p>\n \u00a0CAT: Oh, god. [Pauses] Getting rubbed. And you can define that for yourself. \u2029<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Okay, we\u2019ll let our imaginations run wild. So your song \u201cStranger\u201d is my favorite off the album and it kind of talks about this idea of loving someone no matter what. So to segue, do you think that unconditional love is real or, deep down, do we all have breaking points?\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: I think that we are programmed to feel a certain way from childhood, and there\u2019s things that get in the way of unconditional love. And if we don\u2019t find or pinpoint those things that help us get past those issues or those roadblocks, then we can\u2019t give unconditional love. You have to unconditionally love yourself in order to do that for someone else. \u2029<\/p>\n RUSSELL: What are some red flags that you have ignored or currently ignore in a man?\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: Red flags that I ignore are sounding a little bit gay or acting a little bit gay.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL: No, like, I love a bisexual man.<\/p>\n CAT: Yeah, I love a bisexual man! If my man is a little femme, I have no problem with that.\u2029I just think there needs to be a balance and I need to connect with them in a certain spiritual whatever way.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL: \u2029So your album is called Vie, which translates from French to English as \u201clife.\u201d What\u2019s been giving you life lately? \u2029<\/p>\n CAT: Korean candy.<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Do you have a specific one? \u2029<\/p>\n CAT: There\u2019s one called Peelers. \u2029<\/p>\n RUSSELL: What does it taste like?\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: They do peach, they do kiwi, they do mango\u2014and the mango is the best. It\u2019s a gummy inside of a gummy. So you take the gummy, rip it open, eat the gummy on the inside and then eat the peel. \u2029<\/p>\n RUSSELL: If you died, what\u2019s something that would bring you back to life?\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: A medium-ugly man with charm. \u2029<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Mm-hmm, yeah. The medium-ugly ones, that\u2019s how they get you. I need you to have some sort of flaw or imperfection so I know that you\u2019re human.\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: Exactly.<\/p>\n RUSSELL: In the past, you haven\u2019t been afraid to talk about how you feel about your past albums. Are you down for a round of Fuck, Marry, Kill with them? \u2029<\/p>\n CAT: Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Fuck, Marry, Kill: Vie, Scarlet, and Planet Her.\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: That\u2019s not fair. \u2029You should have put Amala in there instead of Scarlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Alright. Fuck, Mary, Kill: Vie, Amala, Planet Her.\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: Kill Amala. Fuck Vie. Marry Planet Her.\u00a0<\/p>\n RUSSELL:\u2029 I love how you wanted to switch in Amala just so you could kill it. So, this album has an \u201880s vibe. Let\u2019s play a little bit of \u201980s rapid-fire questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n RUSSELL: Who\u2019s your \u201980s icon?\u00a0<\/p>\n CAT: My \u201980s icon is Gary Numan.<\/p>\n RUSSELL:\u00a0 What \u201980s fashion trend we should bring back?<\/p>\n CAT: What \u201980s fashion trend should we bring back that\u2019s not already back? The \u201980s are 100% back. Mullet? Nope, that\u2019s back.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t![\"Doja](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_9258.jpeg\")
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