Three months ago, Lil Tracy shared "Like A Farmer," a song whose superficial silliness – SoundCloud rap mixed with agricultural signifiers – quickly melted away when you realized that the songs was actually really good. A remix from Lil Uzi Vert later, it seemed as though "Like A Farmer" would occupy a unique space in 2018 hip-hop.
On Sunday, however, L.A.-based musician Doja Cat shared "Mooo!" Like "Farmer," "Mooo!" has melodies that stay in your head long after YouTube autoplay has moved on. Cat's song, however, is cheerful with its jazzy production, less impulsive, and displays a wider range. Cat is the titular cow in her lyrics, and truly milks (sorry) the role for all its worth – even the fresh interpolation of Kelis's "Milkshake" doesn't feel obvious or tacked on, somehow.
Then there's the song's charming video, in which Cat loses her long-standing kitten ears in favor of cow prints and daisy dukes while Mac's Photo Booth greenscreens her into cow-themed GIFs, like 8-bit farms and galloping burgers. "Mooo!" is leading to ostensible comparisons to Clairo, presumably because of the "Pretty Girl" video, but the two clips don't share much beyond the program used to create the video. Truth is, "Mooo!" is a fantastical cosplay anthem perfect for a point in history when looking up to other humans is frequently so disappointing. Perhaps we should be looking to the pastures for our heroes.
