In these la-di-da times, it’s increasingly less “kosher” to “come for” “the other woman” in a cheating scenario. Or a scenario in which one is left for another woman before the infidelity occurs (as if). But Doja Cat seems determined to remind women, including SZA, that it takes two to tango, and, regardless of feminism (“or whatever”), the puta involved can very much be held accountable…in addition to being a source of piled-on contempt. While this mode of behavior has been out of fashion for a while as a result of something like “obligatory female solidarity” (i.e., “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women”), Doja Cat bringing it back may very well be a sign of society’s overall regressive attitude toward women at this moment in history. At the same time, who amongst “the women” hasn’t fallen prey to the incensed flames of jealousy that burn eternal whenever thinking of “that bitch” who took “their” man? As though anyone can truly be owned like so much property. But that’s a story (/anti-capitalist rant) for another assessment.
The latest example of such a case of “the catfight” making a comeback was the flare-up between Hailey “Bieber” (but really Baldwin) and Selena Gomez. One that was initiated by Kylie Jenner and Bieber as a result of the former posting a screenshot of her and Bieber’s eyebrows from a FaceTime call three hours after Gomez announced to TikTok that she felt her own eyebrows looked too laminated. In terms of “gauntlets thrown,” it’s utterly innocuous, and also passive-aggressive child’s play compared to the shit that Joan and Bette used to get into. But such is the way of our repressed present, where feigning politeness is firmly billed under the category and as an offshoot of wokeness. But it is not woke at all anymore to exhibit hostile behavior toward “the little bitch” whose pussy redirected your man’s attention away from you. Except in the instance of “Kill Bill,” during which SZA casually mentions by the end, “I just killed my ex/Not the best idea/Killed his girlfriend next, how’d I get here?”
Doja Cat, re-teaming with SZA after 2021’s runaway hit, “Kiss Me More,” chooses to elaborate in more detail on the murder of that new girlfriend via the remix. Which explores the idea of killing said woman in front of her ex for optimal sadism cachet (even though Doja claims it was unintentional to do it in such a manner). Markedly different from the start for wielding Doja Cat’s new verses instead of doling them out in the middle, as is usually the norm for remixes, what truly sets the song apart is Doja’s chipper rehashing of how she ended up killing her ex’s new girl prior to the ex himself. Told over the course of about fifty-five seconds before SZA enters the song to sing her usual chorus, Doja begins, “I know it’s not a really good occasion to be bargin’ in/I couldn’t help but watch you kiss her by the kitchen sink/I swung the door farther open, tippy-toed farther in…” From there, things escalate rather quickly as, per Doja, the other woman turns out to be an uppity bitch about the whole thing, instantly freaking out instead of trying to talk to Doja rationally. And, evidently, the ex stepped out of the room for a moment to add to the other woman’s fear quotient. So it is that Doja continues to describe, “She saw me standin’ by the TV and she wouldn’t stop screamin’/So I tried to be discreet and told her, ‘Calm your tits.’”
Of course, that’s the last thing the emotionally dainty other woman feels like doing, with Doja elaborating, “She grabbed the kitchen knife so I pulled out the blick/Ain’t got it all the time, so thank god I did for this/‘Cause she was seein’ red, and all I saw was you/It happened in a flash when she charged at me/Y’all crisscrossed, saw her fall to the floor/Then you paused there in horror/But that shot wasn’t for her (was it?).” That parenthetical “was it?” arrives as SZA starts to sing, “I might…” This “subtle” question serving to intimate that yes, maybe all along, the shot was as much meant for the new bia as it was her ex. Because, in her mind, it is this other woman who drove the wedge between them. She’s the one who is really keeping them apart. After all, by naively believing this, a girl like Doja or SZA can go on insisting that there’s still hope for her and her ex to be together again.
By blame-shifting most of the responsibility onto the other woman, the Doja or SZA of the equation can therefore conserve some semblance of their “loving feeling” for the philandering cad in question. Even if those feelings of murderous rage tend to linger when an “armistice” is reached after he “acts up” (a.k.a. egregiously betrays her). And yes, we all know Beyoncé still has them despite “forgiving” Jay-Z. Unfortunately for her freedom of expression, such a “beacon of feminism” can’t take it out too overtly on “the other woman,” save for thinly-veiled digs like, “He better call Becky with the good hair.”
Even when fellow “feminist light” Taylor Swift was ultimately denigrating the other woman in 2008’s “You Belong With Me,” it was cloaked behind self-deprecation—talking shit about herself by seeing an apparent lack in what she had (physically) compared to the other girl. Hence, lyrics like, “She wears high heels I wear sneakers/She’s cheer captain, and I’m on the bleachers.” So it was that Taylor played up the vacuous mean girl trope (*cough cough* Hailey Bieber) for her own benefit as well, but through an obfuscated lens.
On “Kill Bill,” both the original and remix editions, SZA and Doja Cat refuse to play that game. Openly maligning the other woman and unleashing a torrent of rage upon her (“casually delivered” though it may be). Some might call that regressive, while others might be relieved that the floodgate has been reopened to hate on the proverbial other woman. Even if both Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber were too chicken shit to fully capitalize on that “sanction” when the opportunity presented itself.
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