In the past, Doja Cat has had a complicated relationship with what kind of artist she is and what type of music she should make. Almost a year to date after releasing her first No. 1 hit “Say So,” she tweeted that she was “tired” of it. Just a few months before she released her last album “Scarlet,” a fiery rebuttal to her more polished pop, she referred to her breakthrough record “Hot Pink” and its successor “Planet Her” as “cash grabs” and “mediocre pop,” taunting her fans by saying they “fell for it.”

On “Vie,” her fifth album, she appears to have found some sort of creative equilibrium. This past weekend, she told CBS Sunday Morning that she’s “a rapper that makes pop music,” a tidy summation that gives her musical guardrails with pivot room. As such, “Vie” is an evolution of Doja’s

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