From underground talent to industry disruptor, Doechii is redefining hip-hop with every release
If you’ve spent time on the Internet lately, chances are you’ve seen clips of Doechii performing “Denial is a River” from her NPR tiny desk performance, or Genius performance with Issa Rae.
Little did Doechii know that those performances would catapult her into mainstream success. She started as an indie artist, working at Chipotle while saving money to fund her own music and releasing her records independently.
Now, Kendrick Lamar has called her his favourite artist on Instagram, even dubbing her the ‘hardest out’ in an October 17 post that featured the cover art of her critically acclaimed Alligator Bites Never Heal mixtape. In addition to this, she’s collaborated with SZA and landed the opportunity to open for Doja Cat’s Scarlet Tour.
She’s also performed at Coachella and released her Grammy-nominated mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal.
“Denial is a River” was a song she had reservations about. In her Rolling Stone interview, she recalls thinking, “Oh, this is too much, I can’t put this out,” until her producer Jayda convinced her to do otherwise.
This brash, alternative hip-hop track with R&B influences samples MF Doom Type Beat’s song “Golden.” Not only is it genre-bending, but it pulls you into a whirlpool of Doechii’s confessions.
The vulnerability of the lyrics feels voyeuristic until you’re met with her witty, perfectly-timed silly voice, which adds much-needed humor to an otherwise dark recounting of troubled times in her life.
While creating “Denial is a River,” Doechii deliberately abandoned any preconceived formulas for writing a “hit” song.
This approach allowed her to focus on expressing her raw thoughts, making the song sound exactly as she felt at the time.
Ironically, in her effort to defy the conventional formulas for a “TikTok hit” or a “critically acclaimed hit,” as her record label expected, she resorted to one of the oldest tricks in the book: digging through her journal entries and translating those evocative details into a catchy melodic cadence.
Doechii poured every ounce of denial she felt as her life spiraled, blending shreds of reality into a genre often stereotyped as emotionally shallow.
The result is a song that listeners have turned to for connection and comfort. Who doesn’t love a song that validates the moments when life feels like the “this is fine” meme?
In many ways, “Denial is a River” defies the traditional song structure. It moves away from introspection and instead offers a real-time narration of Doechii’s frame of mind.
Stay tuned to Doechii’s Instagram as she continues to break boundaries and shape the future of hip-hop.
Words by Sanjana Rao