For better or worse, some music fans like to use streaming metrics as a way of measuring an artist’s level of success or failure. You don’t have to look hard to find these: Spotify has easily viewable play counts for every song, and an artist’s number of monthly listeners is shown right below their name.
Doja Cat, though, is of the view that streaming numbers aren’t the be all and end all. What’s more, she’s encouraging those who like to obsess over them to find something more fulfilling in their lives.
“The amount of streams on a song isn't indicative of the quality or effort put into it,” she wrote in a now deleted post on X. “If you disagree with this you could be having an episode and should seek love from the outside.”
If you’re stuck for ideas, Doja Cat also suggests some ways that your time could be better spent.
“Go for a run. Take a look in the mirror and ask yourself in the safety of your mind if you are proud of that person or if you even like what you see.
“Next, do not punish yourself. Do not sabotage. Rather take it as an opportunity to become an even better version of who you once were. Look at it as the beginning of a fulfilling life. You deserve an adventure. You deserve to feel the sun on your skin. Don't trade that for being on this app with the blinds drawn. You deserve more.”
The post comes in the week that Don Toliver released Lose My Mind, a song on which Doja Cat features. Taken from the soundtrack for the forthcoming F1 movie, this has so far racked up 223,131 streams, a number that, while not exactly insignificant, some on social media have suggested is a little underwhelming (though it should be said that the video already has more than a million views on YouTube).
It’s not clear if this stat is what prompted Doja Cat to post on this subject now, but if she did happen to be looking for some reassurance, she could do worse than check out her monthly listener figure of 53,849,474 which - as far as we can gather - places her just inside Spotify’s Top 40.
