Paint the Town Red

The harmony is deliberately sparse and loop-driven. The track's emotional weight comes not from harmonic complexity but from the radical recontextualization of the Bacharach/David source material — a warm 1964 soul melody stripped to its skeletal essence and dropped into a cold, minimalist trap framework. The contrast between the sample's romantic origins and Doja Cat's aggressive delivery is the central harmonic and emotional tension of the song.

Written by Doja Cat alongside producers DJ Replay, Earl on the Beat, Jean Baptiste, and Karl Rubin, the track was constructed around a manipulated sample of 'Walk on By,' the 1964 soul classic composed by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Hal David — hence their co-writing credits. The song was conceived as a statement of artistic intent ahead of the Scarlet album, signalling a move away from Doja Cat's pop-crossover image toward a harder, rap-first identity.

Released as the lead single from Scarlet in August 2023, 'Paint the Town Red' marked a dramatic artistic pivot for Doja Cat — trading her pop-friendly persona for aggressive, self-assured rap over a dark flip of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's 'Walk on By.' The track debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, proving her commercial dominance while signalling a harder, less compromising creative direction. It stands as one of the defining rap moments of 2023.