By: Cody Englander, Contributor

[RCA Records, 2023]

Rating: 4/10

Key Tracks: “Agora Hills”, “Paint The Town Red”, “Attention”

Scarlet is inconsistent and wavers often. There’s a lot here that’s unfocused and messy. Entire stretches of the album are fatiguing, and the first five songs come from a completely different album than the other 12 tracks, which is just so distracting. 

Read more: Album Review: Nas – Magic 3

Many tracks on here are indiscernible from those of Doja Cat’s previous works, and those that aren’t are surface level edgy hip-hop songs with RhymeZone rap schemes. A “what are those?” reference is awkward and out of place in any album released past 2016. 

There are no features throughout the 57 minute runtime, which is certainly a creative choice. Few artists are able to ride their own coattails for an entire album, but Doja Cat takes the gamble. It doesn’t exactly pay off. The experience exhausts itself after 10 tracks, which is also where the album peaks. The rest of the album slogs, despite good tracks. 

“Paint The Town Red” is poppy, but it gives a fitting introduction. It makes sense that this single was really the biggest hit. “Agora Hills” is also one of the better tracks. Starstruck love and starstruck desire are concepts that could be explored deeper, but the hook is just catchy enough to not need the depth.

Pace is weird to mention in an album review, because pace is essentially a critique of the story. However, the pace and structure of whatever the plan was here is shockingly poor. As much as Doja Cat has a wonderful voice that can make hits, so much of this album is messy. This is unfortunate because it makes the good songs seem so unimportant. The amount of filler tracks on this album is well over the amount of songs that should realistically be on this album. 

Good tracks on relistens are spaced out from one another and between filler. I have faith in Doja Cat’s ability to create a quality album. This felt like an effort to do so but certainly not one where all the effort is shown in the product. 

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/6DmPNcfpkXBVRJsEIJY9tl?si=qhHSkj4OTAmf14qAR56eMA