Baz Luhrmann praises multi-talented musician Doja Cat as he recalls his time working with her on “Elvis”.
“I’ve worked with all kinds of artists, but with a certain few you connect on a deeper level. For me, Doja Cat is one of those artists,” Luhrmann penned for the “Say So” singer’s write-up in Time magazine, in honour of her being named one of the publication’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.
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“She’s at the top because she works to bring everything she does to the highest possible level,” the Oscar-nominated filmmaker continued. “When she started to work on ‘Vegas’ for ‘Elvis’, Elvis was relegated to a Halloween costume—he wasn’t influential to the younger generation. But Doja and her producer Yeti Beats understood the importance of translating ‘Hound Dog’ for a new audience. For them, it was an act of translating the roots of Black music.”
Luhrmann then dubbed Doja “a true child of the internet” who is “creatively plugged into the social connection” that it offers.
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“She is personally connected with her fans, and that allows her to understand and feed back to them,” he explained. “She can’t be boxed in. She’s a rapper, a singer, a performance artist—she’s the canvas on which she expresses a character or an idea.
“There’s no ‘brand’ to Doja Cat. You never know what she’s going to do next, and that’s exciting.”