She is beauty. She is grace. She is the Swamp Princess—and she’s owning every bit of it.
After years of standing on the cusp of mainstream stardom, Doechii has officially arrived. The 26-year-old Tampa-born powerhouse has had a meteoric rise over the past nine months, from making history with her Grammy win for ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL to receiving high praise from icons like Lauryn Hill, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, and Lady Gaga.
She’s not just redefining what it means to perform—she’s reimagining what artistry looks like in every sense, from sound to style. But if you ask her? This moment was always written for her.
In her cover story for COSMOPOLITAN’s Romance Issue, Doechii gets candid about embracing her queerness, discovering her unique artistic voice, and why staying a student of hip-hop is non-negotiable. She also teases what’s next—and trust, she’s just getting started.
In a new episode of COSMOPOLITAN’s video series THE BREAKDOWN, Doechii takes us even deeper—reminiscing on her earliest lyrics, sharing the story behind her now-iconic “I got fired thank god” video, her collaboration with Issa Rae, and channeling her inner theater kid during that unforgettable Grammys performance. See more inside…
Wearing Bottega Veneta blouse
On what Doechii would’ve done for her as a kid: “I was desperately seeking artists that looked like me and that thought like me. There weren’t many. I needed it so badly that I was like, ‘If I can’t find this, I’m going to become this.’”
On her mother: “She would always make me show up for myself even when I didn’t feel like it. Even when I lost interest in commitments, she still made me honor them. She also wouldn’t judge me when I wanted to try something else. She was very supportive of me pivoting, and now today, I can pivot. I owe that to her.”
On what experiences working in retail and restaurant jobs taught her about the type of boss she wanted to be: “The only thing I realized was that I didn’t like working for people. That’s it. I don’t like it. Because you’re the manager of Chipotle and I’m trying to lead a whole generation of people—I can’t take advice from you!”
On whether she would ever scrub her digital footprint: “No, I’m going to leave it. Like, some of the videos are super cringe, but I think it’s all important. I went through a period at 18 where, looking back now, I was running from doing music, but I was just trying to be creative in every other way that I possibly could. All along I knew it was music—I was just really scared. Some kid out there can watch those videos now to know, ‘When she was this age, she went through that, and it’s normal to feel that way.’ That vulnerability can be super validating.”
On being involved with a partner who’s creatively limited her and the album that inspired her to part ways: “I was 18, and I was dating a guy who just wasn’t very supportive of my music, and it really stifled me. I stopped writing because he was just like, ‘That’s not cool.’ I took his opinion way too seriously when really he just didn’t get it. I remember listening to SZA’s Ctrl for the first time and it literally gave me the courage to break up with him. I only bring that up because she inspired me to be vulnerable through my music in a way that I didn’t think I could be.”
On whether any people she’s written about ever reach out: “If I’m writing about you in the negative, you can’t reach out—you’re blocked.”
On how her relationships inspire her creatively: “All of my relationships inspire my music because they make up my life experience. This is such a Leo thing to say, but my literal existence as a queer Black woman is a major contribution to the hip-hop genre. I’m speaking truthfully from a queer Black woman’s perspective, and being honest about my life through my lens is amazing. That perspective is being highlighted, and we need queer perspectives.”
On being a student of hip-hop: “I still feel like a student, but I think people can learn from how I honor the genre’s traditions. If people are nerdy enough, they’ll observe a lot of double entendres, punch lines, clever wordplay, and poetic pictures on Alligator Bites Never Heal, especially on songs like ‘BOILED PEANUTS.’ We have to honor that as rappers—without that part of the genre, we literally would not have anything that we have now.”
On how she feels about being positioned as the “intellectual” alternative to other female rappers: “I wouldn’t agree with that perspective. I’ve seen people describe me as ‘the female that,’ ‘she’s intellectual,’ ‘she’s hard,’ and ‘she’s scarin’ hos.’ I think what’s happening is people are trying to understand who I am as an artist, but they’re doing it in comparison to other artists, which I don’t think is necessary to interpret art at all…Critiquing art and interpreting art is an art form as well. It’s a skill. People have jobs interpreting art, so it’s not something that is commonly practiced the right way. So I understand why people are doing it, but I don’t like to get too caught up in all of that, you know?”
Wearing Giovanna Flores top, Kiki de Montparnasse briefs
[Photo Credit: Eric Johnson for Cosmopolitan Magazine]
