7 reasons to claw into it

When 2021’s “Planet Her” rocketed Doja Cat to next-level stardom — earning her a Grammy Album of the Year nomination and a win for the SZA-assisted “Kiss Me More” — it almost set her up for the sophomore slump, even though it was her third LP.

But the 27-year-old rapper and singer — born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini — had already avoided that before her fourth album, “Scarlet,” dropped on Friday. She hit No. 1 for the second time — following her 2020’s “Say So” — with the LP’s first single, “Paint the Town Red,” earlier this month.

And there are plenty of reasons to think she’ll keep her red-hot streak going with her latest. Here are seven new Doja cuts to sink your claws into on “Scarlet.”

1. “Paint the Town Red”

The hit first single samples Dionne Warwick’s ’60s classic “Walk on By” — one of the very best of her many Burt Bacharach-Hal David compositions. It’s an ingenious twist, because the two generation-spanning divas are queens of the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter. But don’t let this jazzy, horn-kissed bop fool you — it’s more cutting than chill.

2. “Wet Vagina”

If Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion could do “WAP” in 2020, then a song titled “Wet Vagina” doesn’t seem as shocking three years later. Over the booming bounce of this trap attack, she raps about the joys of having “really, really, really rough sex.”

3. “F—k the Girls (FTG)”

This anti-hater anthem is sure to be divisive — something Doja’s not afraid to be — as she waves her middle finger in the face of all the females who troll her either in the comments or on the low. “You need a cookie ’cause you hatin’/I could stuff you hoes,” she spits.

4. “Ouchies”

At her best as a rapper and a hip-hop auteur, Doja possesses an eccentricity that falls somewhere between Missy and Nicki. And over a spacey, stuttering groove, she’s at her super-freakiest as she comes out swinging: “A hundred Billies, I’m the G.O.A.T, no Eilish.” 

5. “Go Off”

Despite its battle-ready title, this is a smoothed-out switch-up, with Doja adopting a more mellow flow to deliver an empowering message to every “lil mama”: “Get yo bag, don’t stop, ’cause they won’t shut up.”

6. “Angora Hills”

Doja’s new single — for which she also dropped a video on Friday — is one of the sexy, Janet-esque slow jams on “Scarlet” that finds her alternating between purring with a kittenish delivery in the chorus and letting that tiger out in the rapped verses.

7. “Love Life”

While much of “Scarlet” finds Doja lashing out like an uncaged cat, this jazzy joint is a feel-good flex complete with Mary J. Blige “My Life” vibes.