Ahead of her debut as Musical Guest on the Season 51 October 4 premiere with Host Bad Bunny, the multi-talented singer and rapper released her fifth album, Vie, on September 26. Vie features 15 80s-inspired tunes and a retro aesthetic that may have you googling where to buy shoulder pads. 

If you're wondering what vibe to expect on Saturday, let's look to the album itself, its title, and the visuals Doja has put forth so far. She performed the album's first single, "Jealous Type," at the 2025 VMAs, and it was giving everything from Madonna to Michael Jackson to Janet Jackson to a bit of Britney Spears. She even brought out Kenny G to play the saxophone while she sang, rapped, and danced her heart out on stage. 

She also released two new music videos for album tracks "Gorgeous" and "Stranger" that offer more luscious '80s imagery. In "Gorgeous," Doja Cat (born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini) recreates the look of classic makeup commercials with glossy, filtered shots of glamorous women and lipsticks. 

"Stranger" sends Doja on the run in various bridal looks, apparently escaping her own wedding via skydiving and the back of some guy's motorcycle. She even pays homage to the most famous scene from the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest, in which Cary Grant is chased through a dusty field by a biplane. 

Doja Cat attends the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena on September 07, 2025 in Elmont, New York. 
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for MTV

As part of her whirlwind press tour, Doja Cat co-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, October 1, sharing more insight into what viewers might expect when they see her on SNL this weekend. 

Here's everything to know about Doja Cat's newest album. 
What does "Vie" mean? 

In French, the word means "life," and Doja Cat told Zane Lowe in an Apple Music interview that the "point" of the album is "What is life without love?" 

She further explained to Fallon that the title came from "a series of different wordplay things happening." It's her fifth album, for starters, and V is the Roman numeral for 5. She took it a step further and spelled out "Vie" to incorporate the French meaning. 

"I feel like romance has been a part of my life in such a big way," she added. "I'm very romantic." 
How the 1980s inspired Doja Cat's album, Vie

Born in 1995, Doja Cat never actually experienced the '80s, but she explained to Fallon that there's a sense of nostalgia she feels for the decade. 

"Like, the buildings were the same in the '90s as they were in the '80s, and being in school and all the old toys in preschool...just something about that stuck into my head," she explained. "It's like a nostalgia thing." 

"There's this thing called liminal space," she continued, referring to the concept of a transitional place, or an abandoned, eerie place, like daydreams of childhood. For her, that concept is "piggybacking off of the '80s," resulting in Vie's shoulder padded aesthetic. 

"Does it make you happy?" Fallon asked. 

"It makes you almost feel sad," she said. "But it also makes you feel happiness, like you're escaping. There's an escapism to it." 

She referenced Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Prince, Gary Numan, and Nina Hagen as her '80s inspirations. 

She worked with producer and artist Jack Antonoff, and told Lowe that the process was so creative that she was able to "play through the whole thing." There's even a song called "Silly Fun," and a track called "Amen" that she describes as "very goofy." 

Doja Cat sings during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Episode 1306.

Singer Doja Cat and host Jimmy Fallon appear on "Song Scramble" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Season 13 Episode 6 on Wednesday, October 1, 2025.
  Photo: Todd Owyoung/NBC

"I think what I wanted to do was play with my voice in ways that are a little...unconventional, so I'm kind of shrieking a little bit on this album, and that's been a lot of fun," she said. "It's a theater kid energy." 
Doja Cat is heading out on Tour Ma Vie and said her performances will feel "very different"

When Fallon asked what fans can expect at her upcoming shows, she said they would look "different than everything else," with some old school flair. 

"I want to push my voice in a different way, so a lot of vocalizing in a way that you haven't maybe heard before," she said. "And sort of pushing my body in certain ways. I'm working with a mic cord...I love a mic cord." 

"I love a good mic cord," Fallon agreed, holding up the cord of his own mic. "Shout out to mic cords." 

Doja even gave a little preview of some of her dance moves when she taught Fallon how to isolate. Watch the interview above to see how that went, and be sure to catch her performing as the first Season 51 Musical Guest when SNL returns on October 4.