At the start of Doja Cat’s “You Right” music video we are stupefyingly welcomed into the gates of Doja, an opulent fantasy kingdom afloat in the sky. Dreamy clouds can be seen amongst astrological symbology hinting at the zodiac signs. As the white and gold doors open, the camera moves rapidly inside with a swinging motion, to capture a sort of a suspended acropolis, heavy toned with rose gold hues and glimmering nuances. We could say that the space is rather a diorama furnished with multi-colored temples, ionic columns and statues inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity; quite the softcore and goddesscore experience (internet-based aesthetics that emerged in recent years as a form of subculture or trend). The camera moves further in on the biggest temple which is flanked by two enormous statues, one female, the other male, passing very rapidly between them. Going inside, we swiftly glimpse colonnades and more statues (classical, inter alia), as the scene opens to divulge divine Doja atop a plinth, singing in flowy but minimal drapery, and attempting poses like the typical contrapposto posture of classical statues. She glows and beams with beauty; her posture is impeccable and tableau vivant-worthy. As the pulchra (beautiful) damsel gracefully sings of licentious behavior (lyrics to the song at link), we catch sight of the big adornment decorating her head, a headdress glyph symbolizing Libra, but also evocative in the same way of the iconography of Egyptian goddesses. Is Doja the female personification of Libra? We return to this in a moment. The tableau is made all the more special when we notice that Doja holds her arms open as if supporting a pair of scales, the top of which sits just above her head and the scales per se surround her lux body. One of the scales holds a heart while the other supports a set of chess pawns or weights. We’ll get to this in a heartbeat. But before that, let us contemplate the specific mise en scène.

Fig. 1 – Kingdom of Doja (Screenshot by the author).

The tableau within which she is placed is made up of various balanced styles and themes that ultimately echo painter George De Chirico’s metaphysical sceneries, such as those in paintings L’Énigme d’un Après-Midi d’Automne (1910), The Enigma of the Hour (1911) and the reclined Ariadne series (1912-1913). The video itself is closely linked to typical video games locus amoenus and exhibits an ethereal landscape of celestial antiquity with a pool of water and archetypal classical sculptures. The temples behind the singer are quite revealing, one being a copy of the Parthenon (on the right side of the image) — the iconic (west) pediment makes the inspiration clear. Furthermore, the two statues on each side of the singer appear to be utterances of Aphrodite: on the right the famous Hellenistic Venus de Milo (s. II BC), on the left a not so well-known type, La Baigneuse, also known as Venus au Bain, by Christophe-Gabriel Allegrain (1767). These two femine sculpture types set the tone for the sort of allure Doja Cat is supposed to embrace: she is intended on seducing the amorous addressee of the song, Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd), the water-bearer, who is yet to appear in situ.

Fig. 2 – Contrapposto Doja (Screenshot by the author).

As the heart in the scale noticeably turns heavier, the shot changes to singer Doja drawing some tarot cards to unleash the future of her story: she is lifted to the skies in search of pagan god-head Tesfaye and violently catapulted back to land as soon as she touches the heavenly effigy of this character in the sky. At this point, her downward flight causes her hair to become disheveled, and she falls onto a bed, being transformed into a more human version of herself, perhaps waking up from what was a dream. God Tesfaye, the water bearer, now holds a vase and is set on pursuing Doja all nightlong from the skies, while pouring rain down the place at which she is housed so as to sound and appear at all times present around her. Even though she has a romantic partner beside her, she cannot overcome the omnipresence of the water bearer representing Aquarius. She is bound to become obsessed, if she isn’t already. The lyrics of the song are quite telling in this respect: she has a lover, but her mind is set on someone else and she ponders being disloyal.

Fig. 3 – Doja reaching to the effigy (screenshot by the author).

Fig. 4 – The water-bearer god (Screenshot by the author).

Both this scene and the scales at Doja’s opening act summon two distinct yet ancient mythological leitmotifs: the Egyptian psykhostasia ceremony and the Greek myth of Danae and Zeus. Egyptian goddess Maat represents justice and balance (in a similar way, so does Libra) and the weighing of the heart motif, at which she presides in Egyptian mythology, is generated when the heart of the deceased and a feather (as metaphor for maat) are placed in two separate plates of the same scale, as a form of assessing the probity of the human individual crossing to the realm of the dead. In Doja’s scene, the heart becoming heavier is both a symbol for love and death: she is fated to be consumed with love for the water-bearer god, no longer having the ability to love another. In this sense, her capacity to love outside Tesfaye dies. The assessment of this myth holds contrapposto Doja closer to a metaphor of goddess Maat, but she might also be linked to another mythological character, Greek princess Danae. When Tesfaye, the water-bearer god, sends rain down into Doja’s abode, he is reprising Zeus when the god fecundates the imprisoned Danae via a shower of golden rain. At the house, Doja too bears the look of a captive woman, as she watches the falling rain, perhaps realizing that the god is unattainable, because she can reach him only in the fantasy realm. The ending shot shows Doja embracing her romantic partner, as dawn peeks from behind and a new day approaches.

Author: Sílvia Catarina Pereira Diogo; ARTIS- Art History Institute, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon

Proofreader: Aimee Hinds-Scott (University of Roehampton)

Featured image: Contrapposto Doja (Screenshot by the author).