After much demand, Florida rapper and woman of the moment Doechii has resurrected an old fan-favourite track.
Doechii uploaded ‘Anxiety’ to YouTube almost five years ago but after fans rediscovered the song and started sharing it on social media, she uploaded it to streaming services on March 5. In just two weeks, the song has almost 60 million streams on Spotify, while the visualiser has over 22 million views on YouTube.
The song samples the 2011 smash hit song ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ by Gotye and Kimbra. The familiar sample combined with Doechii’s raw lyricism and catchy chorus, has made it an instant success. ‘Anxiety’ entered the Billboard Global 200 at number 6 and is projected to climb even higher.
It’s been a huge year for Doechii. In February she won ‘Best Rap Album’ at the Grammy’s for her project ‘Alligator Bites Never Heal,’ becoming just the third female artist take home the prize after Lauryn Hill and Cardi B. She was also named ‘Woman Of The Year,’ by Billboard, and her streak of success hasn’t stopped there.
On TikTok, ‘Anxiety’ has featured in over 1.5 million videos and is the top trending sound of the week. This is yet another example of how changes in media consumption have directly influenced the music industry. Doechii quickly recognised the song’s traction on TikTok and capitalised on its momentum, jumping on a burgeoning dance trend with Fresh Prince Of Bel Air’s Will Smith and Tatyana Ali.
A clip of Will Smith and ‘Fresh Prince’ co-star Tatyana Ali dancing in the sitcom and ‘Anxiety’ went viral, due to their almost seamless timing. This prompted Smith to say ‘‘I’ve been waiting for that dance to go viral for 35 years.’’
@theshaderoom C’mon link up!🔥 Will Smith, Tatyana Ali and Doechii linked up and recreated this scene from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.🤩 #fyp ✍🏾: #TSRStaffJR ♬ original sound – The Shade Room
One person plays the role of Ali, dancing with headphones on as if no one’s watching. The other mimics Smith, replicating the moves performed by Ali. Stars like Raye, Demi Lovato and former Real Madrid footballer Marcelo, have all participated in the trend, further expanding the reach of the song.
On this single, Doechii also shows an impressive range between her singing and rapping. This effectively breaks up the verses and makes the song incredibly infectious. ‘Anxiety’ has been out less than two weeks, but it looks like it could already be one of the songs of 2025.
With ‘Alligator Bites…‘ technically falling into the mixtape category, fans are hoping for a debut album proper from the star in 2025. In our November Cover Story, Doechii explained her decision: “Choosing the mixtape format instead of dressing her new material up as a debut album was very deliberate. “It has less politics around it than an album. When you make an album, there’s a different type of expectation for it to be more polished or a little bit more – in my opinion – diluted, but I wanted to be raw, and I wanted it to feel imperfect. I wanted it to feel long and free. It kind of inspired me to go about albums differently and make them just as messy.”
