"Bottom Bitch" is a song by American rapper and singer

Doja Cat Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as Doja Cat (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began making and releasing music on SoundCl ...

. It was released through

Kemosabe Ke-mo sah-bee (; often spelled kemo sabe, kemosabe or kimosabe) is the term used by the fictional Native American sidekick Tonto as the " Native American" name for the Lone Ranger in the American ''Lone Ranger'' radio program and television show. ...

and

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

on October 3, 2019, as the second single from her second studio album '' Hot Pink'' (2019). The song was written and produced by Doja Cat and Yeti Beats with additional writing credits going to the members of

Blink-182 Blink-182 is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California, in 1992. Its current and best-known line-up consists of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though its so ...

for the sampling of their 1999 single "

What's My Age Again? "What's My Age Again?" is a song by American Punk rock, rock band Blink-182. It was released in April 1999 as the lead single from the group's third studio album, ''Enema of the State'' (1999), released through MCA Records. "What's My Age Again?" ...

". Musically, the song incorporates

alternative hip hop Alternative hip-hop (also known as alternative rap and experimental hip-hop) is a subgenre of hip-hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising "hip-hop group ...

and

pop-punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

with elements of

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

. A music video was released on the same day, directed by Jack Begert. It shows Doja skateboarding around the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

while

vandalizing Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The te ...

and causing trouble, ending with a performance of the song at a skate park, with a cameo appearance by American rapper

Rico Nasty Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly (born May 7, 1997), known professionally as Rico Nasty, is an American rapper from Prince George's County, Maryland. She began Self-publishing, self-releasing while in high school, and had released five solo mixtapes by ...

Background and release

Doja Cat first alluded to the song in an interview with

Total Request Live ''Total Request Live'' (commonly abbreviated as ''TRL'') is an American television program that premiered on MTV on September 14, 1998. The early version of ''TRL'' featured popular music videos played during its countdown and was also used as ...

through

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

by stating that she sampled

on one of the songs on her then-upcoming second studio album '' Hot Pink'' (2019). The song was officially announced on her

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

on October 2, 2019, posting the single cover and the release date of 10:00 a.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

(UTC−05:00) on October 3, 2019.

Composition and lyrics

"Bottom Bitch" has been described as an

alternative hip-hop Alternative hip-hop (also known as alternative rap and experimental hip-hop) is a subgenre of hip-hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising "hip-hop group ...

and

track. The song also has elements of

, and features a trap beat. A

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

is used on Doja Cat's vocals. It samples American rock band

's 1999 single " What's My Age Again" from the album ''

Enema of the State ''Enema of the State'' is the third studio album by American rock band Blink-182, released on June 1, 1999, by MCA Records. After a long series of performances at various clubs and festivals along with several indie recordings throughout the ...

'' (1999), with the original guitar riff slowed and transposed down. The term bottom bitch usually refers to a prostitute who has status or power over other prostitutes working for a pimp. Doja Cat refers to her best friend as her bottom bitch, calling her a ride or die and not causing any problems. "Bottom Bitch"

name-check Name-dropping (or name-checking) is the practice of naming or alluding to important people or institutions in order to indicate one's association with them. The term often connotes an attempt to impress others; it is usually regarded negatively, ...

s American rapper

Lil Xan Nicholas Diego Leanos (born September 6, 1996), better known as Lil Xan ( ) or simply Diego, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Redlands, California. He is best known for his song " Betrayed", which peaked at number 64 on the ...

and American singer

Noah Cyrus Noah Lindsey Cyrus (born January 8, 2000) is an American singer and actress. As a child actress, she voiced the titular character in the English dub of the film ''Ponyo'' (2008), and appeared in minor roles on shows including ''Hannah Montana'' ...

, referencing their past relationship. The song is inspired by the punk rock and skating scene of Southern California, which is reflected in the accompanying music video.

Critical reception

"Bottom Bitch" was met with positive reviews. The Musical Hype rated the song four out of five stars and described it as "a blast to listen to", noting that "it’s raunchy mind you but endearing at the same time". Maxamillion Polo from

Ones to Watch Ones to Watch is an American music blog primarily aimed at showcasing new talent. The website was created independently by House of Blues Entertainment (a division of Live Nation Entertainment) in October 2013, before becoming a collaborative ...

praised its "late

'90s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

and early

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty on the left during the September 11 attacks, terrorist attacks on Sep ...

-evoking production, immediately hurdling us back to a time where all we wanted to be was a little more like

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. List of awa ...

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...

". Jarred Howard of

Lyrical Lemonade Cole Bennett (born May 14, 1996) is an American music video director and record executive. He is the founder of Lyrical Lemonade. He has most notably collaborated with Juice Wrld on music videos such as " All Girls Are the Same", " Lucid Dreams" ...

said "Bottom Bitch" was "athematic" and "the kind of song I was looking for whenever I first heard Doja Cat's single ' So High' back in 2014".

Music video

A music video was released the same day as the single on October 3, 2019. It was directed by Jack Begert and produced by the production company Psycho Films. It shows Doja Cat skateboarding around the

, with shots of her and her friends throwing milkshakes at a police officer and eggs a vehicle of passengers. The video ends with Doja Cat performing the song at a skate park with an audience watching. American rapper

makes a cameo appearance during this scene. Doja's stylist Brett Alan Nelson recalled in a ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' interview about being inspired by female angst punk-pop music for the outfits Doja would wear in the video. In the same interview, Nelson also recalls getting logo clearance from the clothing company

Dickies Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co. is an American apparel manufacturing company primarily known for its largest brand, Dickies. Williamson-Dickie Europe, originally called Clares, was founded in 1900 in Wells, Somerset, U.K. to provide the agricultural ...

to have Doja wear them in the video. Dickies then redacted the logo clearance from Nelson, claiming Doja was "too sexy for their brand". Nelson the night before the video shoot colored out the "ies" of Dickies and the horseshoe to just reveal "Dick", hoping to get back at the brand.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Hot Pink''. *

– vocals, writer, producer *

Yeti Beats David Alexander Sprecher (born July 2, 1981), known professionally as Yeti Beats, is an American record producer and songwriter. He is best known for his work with American singer and rapper Doja Cat, having produced her breakout singles "Candy", ...

– writer, producer, engineer *

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...

– writer *

Mark Hoppus Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician and record producer. He is the co-lead vocalist, co-founder, and bassist for the rock band Blink-182 and the only member to appear on every album. Hoppus became interested in ska ...

– writer * Tom DeLonge – writer *

Mike Bozzi Mike Bozzi is an American mastering engineer at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood, California. He won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year for mastering Childish Gambino's " This Is America", and is a six-time nominee for the Grammy Award fo ...

– mastering engineer * David Nakaji – mixing engineer * John Bruington – assistant engineer

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Doja Cat 2019 songs 2019 singles Doja Cat songs RCA Records singles Kemosabe Records singles Songs written by Doja Cat Songs written by Yeti Beats Songs written by Travis Barker Songs written by Tom DeLonge Songs written by Mark Hoppus Song recordings produced by Yeti Beats American pop punk songs Alternative hip-hop songs Rap rock songs LGBTQ-related songs Songs about prostitutes