After weeks of speculation, Doja Cat finally spilled the tea on Wednesday (April 29) that a remix of her breakout hit “Say So” is on the way — featuring none other than Nicki Minaj.
The moment could prove to be be major for both rappers: thus far, “Say So” has peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100, giving Doja her first bonafide hit. If the remix pushes the song all the way to No. 1, it would be both Doja and Minaj’s first trip to the top of the chart, with the latter last peaking at No. 2 with “Anaconda” back in 2014.
However, the road to the much-anticipated collaboration has been anything but smooth, with Doja navigating press interviews and backlash from Minaj’s army of the Barbz in just the last few weeks alone.
Below, Billboard laid out the timeline for how the “Say So” remix came to be ahead of its release tonight at midnight (May 1).
November 2019 — Doja Cat declares herself a “huge fan” of Minaj
In her sit-down with Billboard late last year, the rising star expressed her admiration for the trailblazing Minaj, explaining that many of her fans expected the two to join forces on “Like That,” the Hot Pink album cut that was eventually revealed to be a collaboration with Gucci Mane.
“People thought the surprise feature was going to be Nicki, because I blurred the name out at first — and, well, the album is titled Hot Pink,” she said at the time. “Also, I’m just a huge fan of Nicki. I blurred out the name, but it wasn’t necessarily to create a sense of anticipation specifically around the feature.”
January 2020 — Doja Cat speaks out about Minaj comparisons
In a January XXL profile, the rapper again addressed the Gucci Mane collaboration, stating, “People thought it was Nicki feature; they thought wrong,” before admitting, “I wish there was a Nicki feature.”
Doja also took time during the interview to address comparisons between herself and the “Super Bass” rapper. “I used to make music videos to Nicki’s music,” she said. “I try to be careful so that I can give people the most original content because I know how much I sound like other people sometimes.”
April 13, 2020 — #DojaCatisOverParty trends on Twitter following backlash from Barbz
Doja Cat found herself in hot water earlier this month when the hashtag #DojaCatisOverParty started trending on Twitter following a dust-up between the rapper and Minaj’s famously dedicated fan base.
The drama began when one Twitter user shared an illustrated mock-up of a Rolling Stone cover featuring Minaj flanked by Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion with the headline “The Female Rappers.” When another fan tweeted that Doja Cat should occupy the center spot, a back-and-forth ensued between offended Barbz and the fan.
Eventually, the rapper jumping into the fray to offer some strongly-worded advice to the fan, calling Barbz “twitter gangsters” and writing, “they have nothing kind to say about you or anyone. they live and breathe being f–kin immature.” She followed that assessment up by tweeting, “theyre literally scum they mean nothing. dont explain yourself.”
Backlash was swift as Barbz went on the attack, flooding Doja Cat’s mentions with #DojaCatisOverParty.
April 21, 2020 — Doja Cat puts the beef to bed
Silly rap beefs may give Minaj more checks, as she so famously spit in Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish,” but Doja was quick to lay the Twitter feud to rest during an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “I’m standing up for this guy and then I’m just getting upset with everybody,” she said of defending the fan on social media. “And then I said, ‘These people are idiots. They’re children, they’re scum.’ Because they were, those five people are scum. They suck. They literally suck. They don’t even know who they are. And basically, so then people started spinning it, of course, because that’s the internet.”
“They start spinning it that I’m talking about every single person who likes Nicki Minaj when they don’t even know I’m the biggest Nicki Minaj fan,” Doja continued. “So they’re stupid. They don’t even know me. So they’re saying things that they have no idea what they’re talking about. But that’s basically how that panned out.”
April 29 — Doja teases the “Say So” remix
On Wednesday (April 29), Doja officially announced the collab was coming down the pipeline, teasing the release on Twitter with a first look at the retro-inspired visualizer. “YOU ASKED FOR IT tweet #SaySoRemix to get a sneak peek of the remix ft. @NICKIMINAJ,” she wrote.
May 1 — “Say So” remix drops
Check back at midnight for the big event!
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