Doja Cat Says She Won’t Work With Dr. Luke Anymore
Doja Cat has become one of the biggest stars in music in recent years, partially through her collaborations with songwriter and producer Dr. Luke — a controversial figure ever since Kesha accused him of rape and other abuses in 2014, allegations Luke has routinely denied and battled in court. In a new Rolling Stone cover story, Doja — real name Amala Dlamini — says she will no longer work with Luke.
Doja Cat signed to Dr. Luke’s record label Kemosabe Records, a subsidiary of RCA, in 2014 — just before Kesha sued Luke and he became, at least temporarily, an industry pariah. He has been inching back toward the spotlight in recent years, largely thanks to his work with artists such as Saweetie, Kim Petras, and Doja Cat. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2020 for Doja’s #1 hit “Say So.” In the new article, Doja says her collaborations with Dr. Luke were part of her bundle deal with Kemosabe and she has no plans to work with him in the future.
In the interview Doja also asserts that Luke was credited on songs for which he did little to no work. “I haven’t worked with him in a very long time,” she says, adding, “There’s shit that he’s credited for, where I’m like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t know if you did anything on that.'” There’s also this remark, delivered with a chuckle: “I think it was definitely nice of me to work with him.”
Doja later sent Rolling Stone a follow-up statement backtracking on those claims: “I wanted to clarify something that I had been thinking about since the interview. When asked about Luke I may have said something that someone could interpret as me saying that he had taken credit on things he didn’t deserve to. I just want to be clear that I have no firsthand knowledge of that being the case and I don’t want to participate in the rumor mill. The credits on my music are accurate, and I don’t want to imply anything else.”