Maps of Music

Amala (2018)

Where the lyrics of Amala take you, and where it was really made.

The album flopped on release, and its biggest hit came from a track that was not on the original version: "Mooo!"

Key places

Recorded at The Himalayas, Los Angeles (2018)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The studio listed for this album is The Himalayas in Los Angeles. The map point is the city center, not the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Amala is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer Doja Cat
• Released March 30, 2018, by Kemosabe Records and RCA Records
• Deluxe version released March 1, 2019, adding three songs: "Juicy", "Tia Tamera", and "Mooo!"
• Doja Cat has since expressed strong disdain for the record

Background

• March 27, 2018: the label announced the album on Twitter, revealing its title and cover
• The album was originally titled Baby when "Roll With Us" was released in February 2018 as the first promotional single
• Doja Cat describes it as more of a compilation than a conceptual piece, with songs written over many years plus new songs
• She says it was rushed to meet deadlines and made during a "difficult time"
• It was her first commercial release in four years
• She says it is not a "finished album", partly because of constant partying and marijuana use during recording

Recording

• Recorded at The Himalayas studio in Los Angeles (location shown on the map)
• Doja Cat provided lead vocals on all tracks
• Neal H Pogue mixed most tracks; Yeti Beats and Rian Lewis handled much of the engineering

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Artist

Early life

• Born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini on October 21, 1995, in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California.
• Her mother is an American graphic designer; her father is a South African performer of Zulu descent known for Sarafina!.
• Raised partly at the Sai Anantam Ashram in Agoura Hills, then in Oak Park, California.
• Dropped out of high school at 16 and began making music on her own, uploading to SoundCloud.

Career

• Signed to Kemosabe Records (RCA) at 17; debut EP Purrr! released in 2014.
• Debut album Amala (2018) was ignored by critics; the viral single "Mooo!" later brought her wider attention.
• Hot Pink (2019) broke through with "Say So", her first Billboard Hot 100 number one with Nicki Minaj.
• Planet Her (2021) produced several top-ten hits including "Kiss Me More" with SZA, which won a Grammy.
• Scarlet (2023) shifted toward hip-hop, led by the US number-one "Paint the Town Red".
• Vie (2025) marked a return to her pop roots.
• Named one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Initially a commercial failure and largely ignored by critics
• NPR ranked it among its favorite albums of the first half of 2018
• NPR described it as a "13-track collection of bubbly, hip-hop-influenced indie pop"
• NPR called it a manifesto of a young woman taking ownership of her craft, image, and sexuality, mixing dancehall, trap, house, and R&B

Reappraisal

• In August 2018, "Mooo!" became an internet meme that drew attention to the album and Doja Cat
• "Candy" and "Juicy" became sleeper hits; "Candy" grew after a TikTok dance challenge in late 2019
• "Mooo!" passed eighty million YouTube views by October 2020
• In a 2022 Elle interview, Doja Cat said she regretted releasing "Go To Town"

Records

• Debuted on the Billboard 200 in August 2019
• Peaked at number 138 in November 2019, coinciding with the release of Hot Pink
• "Candy" peaked at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100, her first solo entry on the chart
• Spanish Wikipedia cites the Rolling Stone Top 200: over 74,800 combined units sold in the US during launch, number 95 on the list

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• "Mooo!" contains portions of "Milkshake" by Kelis and "Move Bitch" by Ludacris
• "Mooo!" was released exclusively to YouTube as a music video on August 10, 2018, before it was released commercially
• "Candy" became a sleeper hit about a year after its release
• Doja Cat has said the album does not entirely represent her as an artist
• "Tia Tamera" features Rico Nasty, and its music video was released the day after the single

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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