With the excitement that briefly built up toward the release of Doja Cat’s so-called remix of “Say So,” the fourth single from 2019’s Hot Pink, the expectation for it was perhaps especially high because it came on the heels of Beyoncé jumping on a legitimate remix of Megan Thee Stallion’s hit, “Savage.” In the latter’s case, the song actually sounded different, ergo making it worth both women’s time to put out something that was truly new. However, in this instance, it feels both entirely lazy and unnecessary (not to mention resuscitates the reminder that Dr. “I violated Kesha” Luke is the producer, with Hot Pink also being released on his Kemosabe record label). Considering how much time everyone has on their hands at the moment, musicians especially (what with touring options being ripped from their potential bank account accrual), the “unveiling” of this song felt like a missed opportunity on both women’s part to at least slightly re-work the track without merely hastily inserting a few verses from Nicki Minaj.
And, let us not forget that Minaj famously declared she was retiring from music to start a family only to come back almost instantaneously afterward with a barrage of new singles (she just can’t surrender the spotlight fully to Cardi “Coronavirus!” B, after all). But maybe a bit more time “away” would have reinvigorated her creatively, because what’s being offered here is nothing short of banal. Like Bey on “Savage (Remix),” Nicki is deliberate in her references to 2020 that will forever immortalize this track as of the Year of the Quarantine. As such, she raps, “Ain’t talkin’ medicine, but I made him more a fiend/Ever since I put the cookie on quarantine” and “Social distance, I’ma need my space.” You probably would too if you were married to a sex offender. But any who, not one for shying away from inserting controversial lyrics merely for the sake of stoking controversy (particularly when people are quite bored right now and thirsty for gossip and meme potential), Minaj also speaks on her so-called flirtation with bisexuality in her younger days with, “Used to be bi/But now I’m just hetero.” In the present climate of easy offense, many in Minaj’s LGBTQ+ fanbase didn’t take kindly to Minaj’s writing off of her sexuality as a “phase.” At least Minaj’s occasional nemesis and fellow courter of controversy, Miley Cyrus, can commit to being pansexual.
As for Doja Cat, she does nothing to refurbish the 70s sound of the track that carries into her video for the original, directed by Hannah Lux Davis (who elevated Ariana Grande’s appropriation vibes to new levels in the video for “7 Rings”). Sticking with her languid chorus, “Day to night to morning, keep with me in the moment/I’d let you had I known it, why don’t you say so?/Didn’t even notice, no punches left to roll with/You got to keep me focused/You want it?/Say so,” the only way any listener would know the difference is if they happened to stick around long enough to hear Minaj spit her pop culture-laden verse, “Every time I take a break [uh, when did you do that?] the game be so boring/Pretty like Naomi, Cassie, plus Lauren/Spittin’ like Weezy/Foxy plus Lauryn/Ball like the Rams/See now that’s Gordon/They don’t understand the bag talk/I’m foreign/When they think they top the queen, they start fallin’/Word to my ass/Shots/I’m so cheeky/Got ‘em tryna palm my ass like young Keke/Yes I am ghetto, word to Geppetto.” Megan Thee Stallion, too, lays claim to ghettoness–billed as being “ratchet” (in addition to bougie)–but somehow it comes across as more believable from her, as she’s still early enough in her career to have far less of a net worth than Minaj (plus, Minaj actually existed in an era when major arena tours were allowed).
Elsewhere, Minaj tries to spice up “Say So” with more lockdown in the time of COVID-19 innuendos in the form of: “I got dressed just to sit in the house/People with the least always doing the most.” That, to be sure, feels entirely true considering that grocery store and health care workers have been at the frontlines of all this, the latter especially not having enough personal protective equipment to fight it all (hence, having “the least”). Of course, her message of braggery posing as “gratitude” is quickly negated by throwing shade at women with plastic surgery (even though elective options in the medical realm have been few and far between of late) who can’t even keep their man home…despite the fact that there’s nowhere else for him to go (except Demon Time).
So yes, the remix 1) is not even really that and 2) completely pales in comparison to the majesty of what Bey and Megan put out together the very same week. From a marketing standpoint, Doja and Minaj might have done better to release their so-called offering either sooner or waited a little longer for “Savage (Remix)” to fade out (not that such a thing ever could happen). And maybe waiting a little longer would have also yielded a better product–then again, maybe they just don’t have the same synergy as a result of not being from the same hometown like the aforementioned duo. Instead, from the diametrically opposed coasts of New York and California.
