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Dooo It!
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"Dooo It!"
Song by Miley Cyrus
from the album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz
StudioPink Floor Studios (Oklahoma City, OK)[1]
Genre
Length3:35
Label
Songwriters
  • Miley Cyrus
  • Wayne Coyne
  • Steven Drozd
  • Dennis Coyne
Producers
Music video
"Dooo It!" on YouTube

"Dooo It!" is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus from her fifth studio album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015). It was premiered on August 30, 2015, with a live performance during the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, which Cyrus hosted, and was made available free online without prior announcement alongside the parent album. It serves to promote the project.[3][4]

Composition

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Lyrically, "Dooo It!" is "primarily about [Cyrus'] love of marijuana and peace".[5] NY Daily News said the song "hits some new sweet spot between loopy R&B and the more drug-friendly forms of Southern hip hop".[2]

Live performances

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Cyrus first performed the song as a collaborative effort with The Flaming Lips and dozens of RuPaul's Drag Race contestants in haute couture designs for the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, which she hosted.[6] RuPaul's Drag Race contestants, including Courtney Act, Willam Belli, Pandora Boxx, Tammie Brown, Carmen Carrera, Violet Chachki, Alyssa Edwards, Monica Beverly Hillz, Laganja Estranja, Alexis Mateo, Gia Gunn, Miss Fame, Pearl, Shangela Laquifa Wadley, and Jessica Wild, were featured in the performance.[7][8] The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne came to the front of the stage to launch confetti cannons between Cyrus' legs at the end of the song.[9]

Music video

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The music video for "Dooo It!" features a close-up shot of Cyrus smoking marijuana, licking and regurgitating glitter and pouring home-made facial masks on her face.[3] It was shot in July 2015. Billboard's Erin Strecker said of the video: "It's gross, intriguing, performance art-y and may make you want to take up crafting, stat."[6] Jezebel described it as "glitter bukkake"[10], and The Harvard Crimson suggests that "[i]f you look closely enough, given that you have the stomach to do so, you can probably see the seven deadly sins represented. Perhaps in 'Dooo It!,' Cyrus, like John Doe in that one Fincher flick, merely holds a mirror to her morally empty society. If we recoil in horror, it is hardly the mirror's fault."[11]

Charts

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Chart (2015) Peak
position
Canada Hot 100 (Billboard)[12] 60

References

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
"Dooo It!" is a song by American , released on August 30, 2015, as the and opening track from her experimental fifth studio album . The track, co-written by Cyrus and featuring production collaboration with frontman , debuted via a live performance at the , where Cyrus appeared onstage with scantily clad backup dancers amid colorful, weed-themed visuals. Its lyrics openly celebrate marijuana use—"Yeah, I smoke pot, yeah, I love peace / But I don't give a fuck, I ain't no "—reflecting Cyrus's shift toward unfiltered personal expression following her earlier Disney-era image. The accompanying , directed by Cyrus and , amplified the song's trippy aesthetic with glitter, fog machines, and Cyrus in minimal attire, released immediately after the VMAs performance. Despite limited commercial radio play due to its niche style and explicit content, "Dooo It!" entered the + Top Tracks chart at No. 23, marking an early indicator of the album's free strategy, which Cyrus announced onstage at the awards show to bypass traditional industry gatekeepers. The song's reception highlighted Cyrus's artistic evolution, praised by some for its raw authenticity and critiqued by others for prioritizing shock value over melodic structure, encapsulating her transitional phase toward more auteur-driven work.

Background

Album Context

"Dooo It!" opens Miley Cyrus's fifth studio album, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, a 23-track experimental project surprise-released independently on August 30, 2015, for free streaming and download via SoundCloud. The release occurred immediately after Cyrus's performance at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, where she debuted material from the album, bypassing traditional promotional cycles and her then-label RCA Records to prioritize artistic immediacy. The album emerged from Cyrus's collaboration with , particularly frontman , who contributed to production alongside figures like Mike WiLL Made-It, fostering a sound rooted in her evolving personal narrative post-Bangerz (2013). This partnership, building on prior joint work such as a 2014 Flaming Lips covers project, enabled Cyrus to eschew mainstream pop constraints for raw, unpolished expression influenced by her experiences with fame, identity, and loss—the titular "dead petz" referencing her late dog Floyd. Physical distribution followed in 2017 under RCA, but the initial digital drop underscored Cyrus's push for creative sovereignty amid industry expectations. In the broader context of Cyrus's discography, represented a deliberate pivot from the party-anthem-driven , which sold over 3 million copies worldwide, toward introspective, genre-blending territory that prioritized vulnerability over chart optimization. The album's unorthodox strategy yielded mixed commercial results initially, with no Billboard Hot 100 entry for "Dooo It!" despite its premiere as the lead track, yet it garnered cult appreciation for embodying Cyrus's post-Hannah Montana reinvention.

Development and Inspiration

"Dooo It!" was co-written by alongside , , and Dennis Coyne of , with production primarily handled by . The track emerged from Cyrus's collaboration with , which originated during her guest appearance on their cover of ' "With a Little Help from My Friends" in 2014. Recording occurred as part of the experimental, self-produced sessions for the album , which Cyrus funded independently at a cost of approximately $50,000 without major label involvement from . The song incorporates samples from Kraftwerk's "Radioland" (1975) for its electronic elements and "Do It!" by , , and the (2011), reflecting influences from psychedelic and rock traditions. These samples contribute to the track's trippy, synth-driven sound, aligning with the album's overall DIY aesthetic developed in Cyrus's home studio. Cyrus described the inspiration for "Dooo It!" as a call to action amid discussions of global change, emphasizing practical effort over mere rhetoric. In an interview, she stated, "I think a lot of times we love to talk about things we wanna see and change in the world, but it takes the energy and effort to actually go out and do it." The lyrics promote themes of personal freedom, marijuana use, and , with lines like "Sing about / Love is what you need / Loving what you sing / And loving smoking " underscoring a hedonistic yet activist . This mindset ties into the album's broader genesis from personal loss, including the deaths of Cyrus's pets, though the song specifically channels a raucous, unfiltered plea for immediate, embodied positivity rather than .

Production

Composition

"Dooo It!" was co-written by Miley Cyrus alongside Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips, with additional contributions from Dennis Coyne. The song's composition emerged from collaborative sessions between Cyrus and The Flaming Lips, building on their prior work together after Cyrus provided vocals for the band's 2014 Beatles covers album With a Little Help from My Fwends. These sessions emphasized experimental, psychedelic influences, aligning with the track's role as the opening song on the self-financed album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, which cost approximately $50,000 to produce without major label support. Musically, "Dooo It!" spans 3 minutes and 38 seconds, structured around repetitive, chant-like choruses over a driving rhythm. It is composed in the key of at a of 172 beats per minute, contributing to its energetic, club-oriented feel within the album's broader experimental framework. The arrangement incorporates layered synths and unconventional vocal deliveries, reflecting the DIY of the recording process conducted primarily at Cyrus's home studio.

Recording Process

The recording sessions for "Dooo It!", the lead track from Miley Cyrus's 2015 album , occurred primarily at Cyrus's home studio in Studio City, , a modest one-room setup she named "Love Yer Brain." These sessions were conducted independently, without initial oversight from her record label RCA, allowing for an experimental approach unencumbered by commercial constraints. Cyrus collaborated closely with , frontman of , who served as the primary producer and co-writer on the track alongside other band members, including contributions to songwriting and arrangement. The process emphasized raw, psychedelic production techniques, resulting in a sound characterized by circular structures, layered synths, and unpolished edges that reflected the album's overall aesthetic of introspective freedom. Cyrus handled much of the writing and vocal recording herself in this intimate environment, fostering a direct, personal creative flow that extended to the full 23-track album, with "Dooo It!" emerging as its energetic opener. Coyne's involvement brought in The Flaming Lips' signature eccentricity, including improvisational elements, though specific engineering details like microphone choices or overdub methods remain undocumented in primary accounts. The track's completion aligned with the album's surprise release on August 30, 2015, following Cyrus's performance of it at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Musical Elements and Lyrics

Genre and Instrumentation

"Dooo It!" is primarily classified as an incorporating trap and R&B elements, reflecting the shift in Miley Cyrus's sound during her collaboration with . This fusion draws from southern hip hop rhythms and neo-psychedelic textures, evident in its high-energy of 172 beats per minute and key, which contribute to a chaotic, surreal atmosphere. Music platforms and user-curated databases further describe it as experimental hip hop with influences from and , emphasizing its departure from conventional pop structures toward abstract, psychedelic experimentation. The track's production, credited to , (including and ), and engineer , emphasizes electronic and synthesized elements typical of , such as booming bass lines and rapid patterns, layered with atmospheric effects. While specific live instrumentation for "Dooo It!" remains sparsely documented, the album's recording at ' Pink Floor Studios in incorporated organic rock elements like guitars and keyboards from the band's setup, blended with digital processing to achieve the song's hazy, weed-infused vibe. This approach results in a sound that prioritizes mood and texture over traditional melodic hooks, aligning with the project's self-described experimental ethos.

Lyrical Content and Themes

"Dooo It!" features that explicitly celebrate marijuana use alongside a professed affinity for peace, while rejecting association with conventional stereotypes. opens with lines such as "Yeah, I smoke pot / Yeah, I love peace / But / I ain't no hippy," positioning the narrator as unapologetically indulgent yet dismissive of performative ideologies. This establishes a core theme of authentic self-expression, prioritizing personal desires over societal expectations or labels. The song's repetitive structure reinforces defiance, with verses emphasizing ", I'mma do what I want / Even if it's dumb," underscoring and indifference to consequences or criticism. Beyond surface-level references to consumption, the explore spiritual and existential unity, as in "Feel like I am one with the / And all I need is right here," evoking a psychedelic of interconnectedness often linked to induced by marijuana. poses rhetorical questions about natural phenomena—"Why there is a sun / And how do birds fly"—to convey wonder and simplicity, aligning with broader themes of through rather than . According to analyses, this layer promotes action-oriented change over passive , with interpreting the track as a call to "dooo it" in pursuit of personal amid global . The chorus's insistent "Dooo it!" serves as an anthemic for immediacy and , encouraging listeners to embrace impulses without restraint. Co-written with members of , the content reflects influences from , blending advocacy with sentiment, though Cyrus distances it from counterculture by emphasizing over collectivism. Overall, the themes prioritize experiential freedom and , using marijuana as both literal and metaphorical for transcending judgment and fostering inner harmony.

Release and Promotion

Single Release

"Dooo It!" served as the lead single from Miley Cyrus's fifth studio album, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, and was first performed live on August 30, 2015, during the finale of the MTV Video Music Awards, where Cyrus hosted the event. The performance featured Cyrus joined onstage by drag queens from RuPaul's Drag Race and Flaming Lips collaborator Wayne Coyne, emphasizing the track's psychedelic and experimental style amid colorful, chaotic visuals. The single was made available for free streaming immediately after the VMA broadcast via , as part of Cyrus's surprise release of the entire 16-track album without prior commercial distribution or traditional marketing buildup. This unorthodox rollout bypassed standard radio promotion and physical formats, relying instead on the event's live exposure and Cyrus's announcement to drive initial listens, with the track accumulating streams through the album's digital exclusivity on the platform. No official digital purchase or radio was initiated at launch, reflecting Cyrus's intent to distribute the project independently from her deal at the time, though it later became available on commercial streaming services like following the album's 2017 retail reissue. The release strategy capitalized on the VMA's global audience of over 25 million viewers to generate buzz, positioning "Dooo It!" as an to the album's themes of and .

Live Performances

"Dooo It!" premiered live during on August 30, 2015, where she performed the track as the show's finale. The performance featured Cyrus joined onstage by members of and queens from , amid a spectacle of glitter and psychedelic elements aligning with the song's experimental aesthetic. This appearance marked the song's public debut and immediately preceded the surprise free release of her album . Following the album's drop, Cyrus incorporated "Dooo It!" into her , a limited-run series of intimate theater shows in October 2015 across U.S. venues like the and Kings Theatre in , designed to promote the Dead Petz project. The tour emphasized stripped-down, collaborative renditions with frequent guest appearances from album contributors such as , reflecting the song's roots in informal recording sessions. The track saw occasional revivals in Cyrus's later festival and residency sets, including performances during her 2021 Sell Out to Sell Out tour across events like and . In , it appeared in her ATTENTION: Miley Live residency in Argentina and at , as well as a one-off at the Music Fest in on February 12. These later outings often highlighted high-energy, crowd-engaging deliveries contrasting the original's hazy vibe.

Marketing Strategies

The marketing approach for "Dooo It!" emphasized a surprise launch tied to high-visibility live exposure rather than conventional pre-release buildup or advertising campaigns. On August 30, 2015, during her hosting stint at the MTV Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus debuted the song as the event's closing performance, featuring collaborations with the Flaming Lips on production elements and a ensemble of drag queens from RuPaul's Drag Race for visual spectacle. This staging, which included on-stage marijuana smoking and provocative imagery aligned with the song's lyrical endorsements of cannabis use, leveraged the VMAs' massive audience—reaching over 25 million viewers—to generate immediate buzz through shock value and media coverage. Immediately following the performance, Cyrus released "Dooo It!" alongside the full album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz for free streaming on SoundCloud, bypassing label-driven promotional timelines and physical retail tie-ins initially. This direct-to-fan strategy, self-funded by Cyrus at an estimated cost exceeding $1 million for production with the Flaming Lips, prioritized artistic autonomy over commercial predictability, resulting in over 120,000 streams within the first day despite lacking paid ads or radio pushes. The tactic drew from Cyrus's prior controversies, such as her 2013 VMAs twerking incident, to sustain her image as a boundary-pushing artist, though critics noted it risked alienating mainstream audiences in favor of niche cult appeal. Subsequent efforts included a low-budget for "Dooo It!", directed by herself and released in 2015, depicting surreal, weed-infused visuals with recurring motifs of dead pets and psychedelic elements to reinforce the album's themes. later handled physical distribution and limited digital sales after the free rollout, but the core strategy remained event-driven virality over sustained touring or endorsements, contributing to the song's peak at number 73 on the without traditional single packaging. This unorthodox method highlighted a shift from 's Bangerz-era hype machine, funded by , toward independent disruption, though it yielded modest chart impact amid backlash over the performance's perceived excess.

Music Video

[Music Video - no content]

Reception

Critical Response

Critics offered mixed assessments of "Dooo It!", praising its bold experimentation while critiquing its chaotic execution and lack of cohesion. Pitchfork's review of the parent album highlighted the track's energetic opener status but noted its cluttered delivery, encompassing themes of marijuana use, extraterrestrial imagery, and lunar origins in a manner too dense to resonate effectively. Similarly, panelists at The Singles Jukebox appreciated the song's unpolished audacity from a high-profile artist but faulted its grating vocals and disjointed structure, with scores averaging around 5 out of 10 across contributors who described it as "ugly" yet sporadically intriguing. Mainstream outlets like covered the song's debut performance at the as a glitter-soaked spectacle but emphasized its role in Cyrus's shift toward psychedelic excess, without assigning standalone praise amid broader ambivalence rated at 3 out of 5 stars. portrayed "Dooo It!" as a raucous, profanity-laden introduction to the free-association style of , reflecting Cyrus's collaboration with , though it underscored the performance's shock value over musical refinement. Retrospective compilations, such as Australia's 2023 ranking of Cyrus's top 50 songs, included "Dooo It!" for its raw defiance, indicating a niche appreciation for its boundary-pushing ethos despite initial reservations. User-generated aggregators showed more favorable leanings, with Album of the Year reporting a 72/100 user score based on 15 ratings, contrasting the absence of formal critic entries and highlighting a divide between professional skepticism and fan enthusiasm for the track's unfiltered rebellion. Overall, the song's reception underscored tensions in Cyrus's artistic evolution, where its free-form was lauded for authenticity by some but dismissed as indulgent noise by others, aligning with the album's polarizing 60-70 average across 20-plus reviews.

Commercial Performance

"Dooo It!" experienced limited commercial success as a single, failing to chart on the despite its high-profile debut performance at the . The track debuted at number 23 on the Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks chart dated September 19, 2015, buoyed by social media buzz from the event. It achieved modest placement on niche digital charts, peaking at number 60 on the US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2015. No significant radio airplay or sales figures were reported for the single, reflecting its experimental style and the album's unconventional free-streaming release model on prior to wider distribution. The accompanying music video, released shortly after the VMAs, has accumulated over 27 million views on .

Controversies and Criticisms

Public Backlash to Performance and Imagery

The performance of "Dooo It!" at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards on August 30 featured Miley Cyrus in a revealing latex ensemble, accompanied by 31 drag queens and surreal stage elements including floating orbs and psychedelic visuals, while lyrics explicitly referenced marijuana use such as "Loving what you sing, and loving smoking weed." The imagery drew immediate criticism from the Parents Television and Families Council (PTC), which condemned the broadcast for glorifying illegal drug use through repeated marijuana references, including Cyrus consuming what appeared to be pot brownies during hosting segments and hallucinating interactions, arguing it normalized substance abuse for a young audience. Conservative advocacy groups, such as One Million Moms, amplified the backlash by decrying the event's "blatant sexualisation" via 's skimpy attire and provocative movements, alongside the promotion of as a endorsement, with complaints filed urging advertisers to distance themselves from future programming. An accidental nip slip during the show further fueled parental outrage, with the PTC labeling a "bad mentor" for exposing viewers, estimated at over 9 million including many minors, to explicit content without adequate safeguards. These reactions echoed broader concerns over the performance's departure from 's family-friendly origins, positioning the imagery as a deliberate provocation that prioritized shock over substance. The accompanying , released on September 3, 2015, intensified scrutiny with its viscous, body-paint-heavy aesthetics depicting in gooey showers of glitter and milk amid abstract, nausea-inducing , which some viewers and critics interpreted as an extension of drug-inspired excess rather than artistic expression. Public discourse on platforms like highlighted discomfort with the video's overt sensuality and thematic ties to the VMA staging, though quantitative backlash metrics, such as PTC complaint volumes, primarily targeted the live broadcast's immediacy and reach over the video's niche distribution. While some defended the elements as queer-inclusive , detractors from family-oriented organizations maintained that the combined and visuals irresponsibly between and advocacy for and hyper-sexualized presentation.

Debates on Drug References and Cultural Messaging

The lyrics of "Dooo It!", which include repeated lines such as "Yeah, I smoke pot" and endorsements of marijuana alongside themes of and personal defiance, prompted significant over whether the song and its promotion glamorized illegal use at the time of release. Performed as the closing act at the on August 30, viewed by nearly 10 million people including a substantial audience, the track featured Cyrus consuming apparent marijuana brownies onstage with and explicit references to "loving smoking weed," actions that organizations like the Parents Television Council labeled a "disgrace" for openly glorifying marijuana on broadcast television. Critics, including the Parents Television Council and Smart Approaches to Marijuana, argued that such cultural messaging normalized drug use for impressionable young viewers, potentially contributing to rising consumption rates; for instance, a study cited in contemporaneous reports noted increasing marijuana use among college students amid shifting attitudes. The highlighted the inconsistency of airing anti-cigarette ads while permitting Cyrus's performance, which included her smoking backstage and offering a to photographers, as sending a mixed and harmful signal to adolescents despite marijuana's federally illegal status in 2015. of Smart Approaches to Marijuana emphasized the risks, pointing to modern marijuana strains being 5 to 10 times more potent than those in prior decades, which could amplify health concerns like impaired in exposed to pro-use messaging from celebrities. Proponents of 's approach, including the artist herself, framed the references as authentic expressions of personal rather than promotion, with stating in a 2013 that alcohol poses greater dangers than marijuana and that users of the latter tend to be more relaxed. This perspective aligned with broader cultural trends toward destigmatization, as a 2015 Pew Research Center poll indicated 53% national support for legalization, rising to 68% among those born between 1981 and 1997, suggesting the song reflected rather than solely drove evolving societal views on . Debates extended to 's transition from a Disney-affiliated child star, with some viewing the drug-centric imagery as a deliberate rejection of sanitized in favor of unfiltered adult themes, though empirical data on direct causal links between celebrity endorsements and youth initiation remains correlational and contested across studies.

Legacy

Cultural Impact

"Dooo It!"'s premiere performance at the on August 30, featuring accompanied by approximately 30 drag performers—including RuPaul's alumni such as Willam, , Pearl, and —provided mainstream television exposure to during an era of rising visibility for . The spectacle, which included vibrant costumes and synchronized choreography, aligned with Cyrus's hosting role and served as a platform for trans activists and performers, underscoring a deliberate fusion of pop spectacle with subcultural elements. The song's explicit endorsement of marijuana consumption—"Yeah I smoke pot, yeah I love peace"—amid its psychedelic production and anti-conformist lyrics, mirrored 's evolving public advocacy for at a time when U.S. was shifting toward , with four states having enacted recreational laws by 2015. This unfiltered messaging contributed to broader cultural conversations on normalization in music, positioning as a figure rejecting sanitized pop norms in favor of raw, hedonistic expression influenced by her collaboration with . The accompanying , released the following day on August 31, amplified these themes through surreal visuals of glitter explosions, milk sprays, sprinkles, and smoke, embedding chaotic, bodily excess into pop iconography and reinforcing Cyrus's image as a provocateur unbound by commercial constraints. While some observers praised this as an authentic break from her Disney-era persona, others critiqued it for superficiality or alleged cultural borrowing, such as costume designs resembling those of independent creators. The performance's legacy persisted, as evidenced by Taylor Swift's 2019 VMA opening reunion with several of the same drag performers, highlighting its role in sustaining drag's crossover appeal in awards show formats.

Subsequent Uses and Covers

"Dooo It!" was performed as the opening song during Miley Cyrus's , a co-headlining outing with that commenced in late 2015 and continued through July 2016 across . The track's inclusion in setlists highlighted its role in promoting the experimental sound of , with Cyrus delivering high-energy renditions amid psychedelic stage elements. In September 2015, rapper R.A. the Rugged Man released "Dooo It! (Miley Cyrus Remix)", a hip-hop reworking that sampled the original instrumental while overlaying explicit, satirical lyrics critiquing Cyrus's VMA performance and perceived cultural provocations. The remix, arranged by Will Tell and distributed independently, positioned itself as a counterpoint to the song's hedonistic themes, emphasizing raw lyrical confrontation over Cyrus's chant-like structure. A live recording of "Dooo It!" from Cyrus's 2022 performances appears on her live album ATTENTION: MILEY LIVE, released on April 1, , by , capturing a shortened rendition amid her broader catalog retrospective. This inclusion reflects the song's enduring place in her catalog despite limited mainstream covers or interpolations by other artists. No prominent covers by external performers have been documented, with fan renditions remaining confined to platforms like .

References

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