Doechii Reflects on Crafting ‘Denial Is a River’: Navigating Heartbreak Without Giving Her Ex the Spotlight
Doechii needed time to heal before crafting one of her hit songs.
In a cover story with a prominent magazine published on April 21, the Grammy-winning rapper—whose real name is Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon—discussed her decision to “process” a breakup before writing her 2024 track “Denial Is a River.”
“Sometimes I have to process things before I can talk about them, because if I try to do it immediately, I’m gonna say the wrong thing,” said Doechii, 26. “But that song took me a year to process.”
The “Anxiety” hitmaker emphasized that she “didn’t want to give my ex any promo in my music.”
The “What It Is” artist also recounted her experience of feeling creatively “stifled” by an ex.
“I only felt that way once,” she recalled. “I was 18, and I was dating a guy who just wasn’t very supportive of my music, and it really stifled me. I stopped writing because he was just like, ‘That’s not cool.’
She admitted that she “took his opinion way too seriously when really he just didn’t get it.”
“I remember listening to SZA’s Ctrl for the first time, and it literally gave me the courage to break up with him,” Doechii said. “I only bring that up because she inspired me to be vulnerable through my music in a way that I didn’t think I could be.”
In February, Doechii celebrated winning her first Grammy in the best rap album category for her 2024 mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal.
During her acceptance speech, she highlighted the significance of being the third woman to achieve this honor, following Lauryn Hill and Cardi B.
In an interview with reporters in the press room after the awards ceremony, where she performed “Catfish” and “Denial Is a River,” Doechii shared what winning best rap album for Alligator Bites Never Heal meant to her.
“It feels incredible,” she said. “It feels like this is bigger than me. It’s just like a little bit of art and authenticity wins, vulnerability wins.”
