Doechii is undeniably 2025’s early breakout star. Kicking her year off with a bang by soaring to the top of the charts and taking out major international awards, hip-hop’s resident “Swamp princess” stays booked and busy, and we’ve got the goss on what this songstress has been up to!
Billboard honoured Doechii as Woman of the Year
Two years after taking out Billboard’s Rising Star award, 2025 has already seen Doechii recognised as their Woman of the Year. The “full-circle moment” celebrated her meteoric rise with multiple charting singles and iconic pop culture memories, from her incredible performance on The Late Show alongside dancers connected by their braids, to several viral hits and a beloved appearance as a RuPaul’s Drag Race guest judge, where her song ‘Alter Ego’ became an instant lip sync classic. Notably, Doechii has also received recent awards from GLAAD, Variety and Femme It Forward, proving she’s cleaning up every category she can!
During her Billboard acceptance speech, Doechii described making art as her life’s “necessity”, noting the struggles she’s faced in her near decade-long career as stepping stones to her success today. She also called out pervasive sexism in the music industry. “We are the creators, we are the executives, we are the innovators who are just as central to this industry as the men,” she declared. “Clock it!”
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TikTok virality helped her release her independent remix ‘Anxiety’
The story of Doechii’s biggest hit to date, ‘Anxiety’, is highly unusual and interesting. Back in 2019 before her major label signing, Doechii self-released many demo style tracks on her social media. ‘Anxiety’ was the result of her freestyling over the instrumental of Gotye’s iconic song ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’.
Four years later, American rapper Sleepy Hallow sampled Doechii’s rendition in his own song, which recently blew up on TikTok. Alongside Doechii’s newfound mainstream support, this allowed her 2019 freestyle version to receive an official release, quickly soaring to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
To support fans dealing with their own mental health battles, Doechii also launched the ‘Anxiety is Watching Me’ resource hub that offers ways to look after yourself, and trustworthy contacts around the world to reach out to for help.
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Paris Fashion Week celebrated Doechii’s unique style
A major part of Doechii’s brand is her forward-thinking fashion. Always sporting muted colors with a sharp edge and unique blend of masculinity and femininity, Doechii is the perfect fit for Paris Fashion Week, where she collaborated with major designers to push the boundaries of current trends. With her out-of-the-box hairstyles, Y2K-esque make-up and fresh takes on memorable pop culture references, Doechii’s looks are quickly becoming instantly recognisable.
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She collaborated with musical stars like Katy Perry, Tyler the Creator and Jennie
Whilst mainstream listeners might only be recently discovering Doechii, she’s been hustling in the industry for long enough to hold strong relationships with powerful peers. After tracks like ‘What It Is (Block Boy)’ and ‘Yucky Blucky Fruitcake’ took off online in the earlier 2020s, Doechii turned stars like Katy Perry and Tyler the Creator into her biggest fans.
Jennie’s recent track ‘ExtraL’ featuring Doechii has taken off on streaming, whilst Tyler the Creator’s ‘Balloon’ is another fan favourite. Doechii also gave her live debut at the MTV VMAs with Katy Perry in 2024, in their scandalous performance of their Crystal Waters rework ‘I’m His, He’s Mine’.
She made history winning the Best Rap Album Grammy
Alligator Bites Never Heal is Doechii’s bombastic 2024 mixtape, which offered up some of her most experimental and powerful tracks to date such as ‘Denial is a River’ and ‘Nissan Altima’. The collection’s eclectic nature and intense vulnerability saw her nominated for four Grammys. She took out the award for Best Rap Album, an honour only previously bestowed upon two women before her, Cardi B and Lauryn Hill.
Doechii dedicated her win to God and her commitment to sobriety, a battle referenced in ‘Denial is a River’. She also made a point to remind her fellow black women that “Anything is possible”, saying, “Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you, to tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic, or you’re too loud. You are exactly who you need to be to be right where you are, and I am a testimony right now”.
She followed up her classy speech with an epic performance mashing up ‘Catfish’ and ‘Denial is a River’, rocking a classy business suit with impressively theatrical choreography. At midnight, Doechii took a victory lap by dropping ‘Nosebleeds’, a one-off single reminding us she “stepped out the swamp” to take Hollywood for everything it’s got.
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She parodied classic sitcoms with her ‘Denial is a River’ music video
‘Denial is a River’ is an unexpected hit, imitating a wild therapy session in its lyrical back-and-forth, but it’s laden with so many quirky one-liners that it’s bound to get stuck in your head. Even its title is a fun inside joke, connecting Doechii’s experience where her boyfriend cheated with another man to a beloved Wendy Williams meme.
In January, Doechii depicted how the song’s narrative explores her life literally blowing up with a music video that’s equally comical and chaotic. Satirising 90s sitcoms in the ‘Denial is a River Show’, the video’s light-hearted laugh tracks quickly grow into extravagant explosive set pieces, all elevated by Doechii’s charismatic delivery which will leave you lingering on every line.
