American rapper and singer Doja Cat received online criticism after explaining the reason behind naming her newest single after a popular Pinoy street food.
Doja recently surprised her fans with the release of her new song titled “Balut”, a few days after the full release of her upcoming studio album Scarlet.
Balut is the 15th and last song on the album’s tracklist which will stream globally this September 22.
A day after its release on streaming platforms, Doja took to Instagram to explain the reason behind referencing the song to a widely popular street food in the Philippines, saying it signifies “a bird being eaten alive” which was a metaphor for “Twitter stans” and its “toxicity”.
“[I] named the song ‘balut’ because it signifies a bird that’s being eaten alive,” the artist wrote in her caption over a photo seemingly taken inside a bathroom.
“It’s a metaphor for Twitter stans and the death of Twitter toxicity. The beginning of “X'” and the end of ‘tweets’,” she added.
Despite appearing as somewhat of a representation of the country’s delicacy, the supposed meaning behind the song’s title didn’t seem to resonate with some netizens, especially Filipinos, who corrected her understanding of Balut.
Mind you a balut is a fertalized duck egg ? https://t.co/YhrhF2LoaG
— Ichigo Niggasake (@SomaKazima) September 16, 2023
“Mind you a balut is a [fertilized] duck egg ?,” an X (formerly Twitter) user reacted to the title which has garnered over 90,000 likes on the platform.
Likewise, X’s platform also generated a community note that appears to “add context to potentially misleading Tweets” which included a post about the rapper’s usage of balut.
Balut is a commonly known Southeast Asian delicacy, especially in the Philippines. It is a fertilized bird egg (usually ducks) that is boiled and incubated for a specific duration, allowing the embryo inside to partially develop.
It is eaten while still in the eggshell and offers a savory broth and a mixture of soft and slightly chewy parts from the bird’s embryo. It poses a cultural significance as a street food enjoyed by locals and tourists alike.
Doja had also recently revealed on her Instagram Live that she had already tried eating balut for the first time.
Doja Cat reveals on Instagram Live that she tried balut for the first time. pic.twitter.com/JkvsCQ7Muo
— Buzzing Pop (@BuzzingPop) September 18, 2023
“Balut was good, it reminded me of liver… I can taste the vitamins in it,” she said.
“It’s a fertilized duck egg. I didn’t see the duck inside, necessarily. It looked a little bit like it… moved around a little bit, I don’t know. It wasn’t as whimsical as I thought it would be, like, the full… there’s feathers and it’s like, you know, you’re eating it straight up. It wasn’t like that at all,” Doja shared her experience.
The Paint The Town Red singer claimed that she “ate all of it,” noting that she even seasoned it with vinegar. She also shared that her “favorite part” was the “juice”, or the broth inside balut.
Doja Cat is best known for her hits Say So, Need to Know, Streets, Boss Bitch, and Woman.
She recently performed three of her songs at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) where the music video for Attention won Best Art Direction.
