Fresh and unique, Doechii has come back with her new album Alligator Bites Never Heal, and it has solidified her position as one of hip hop’s most daring voices. Throughout the nineteen-track album, she seamlessly blends rap, R&B, punk, and experimental sounds into a piece about pain, power, and transformation.
From the very beginning of the album, Doechii introduces a fighting spirit. The title itself, Alligator Bites Never Heal, is both a general and metaphorical statement about how the “bites” of betrayal, pain, or survival don’t fade quickly. This album isn’t about moving on but about revealing scars and refusing to apologize for them.
On songs like “Swamp Princess” and “Teeth Marks,” Doechii captures a sense of beautiful upheaval. Her voice is a weapon, and she manipulates it to sound guttural and raw or smooth and eerie. Through each piece, she talks about identity, celebrity, and femininity. Doechii is a shape-shifter, moving effortlessly between rapper, singer, and performance artist.
Other pieces like “Denial Is A River” showcase a heavy influence from 90s hip hop. Feeling both nostalgic and new at the same time, this song celebrates the revival of older sounds and spins them into a unique and fresh one. Because of the older sounds, songs like these cater to a different audience and help Doechii become more well-known across different age groups of listeners.
Lyrically, the album is unsparing and often brutally truthful. In the song “Dead Weight,” she speaks about past relationships with both the insight of a poet and the ferocity of a fighter, while “Gator Tears” takes a quieter tone without compromising her fierceness. Her pen is sharp, her metaphors visceral, and her storytelling shot through with a feeling of pride and defiance of containment.
Production-wise, the album is fearless. There are appearances of avant-garde producers and plenty of beat switches, which makes it sound like you’re hearing three songs in one, but somehow still stays sharp and together without getting too messy. Doechii’s chaos is deliberate, and it showcases her skills as an artist.
Alligator Bites Never Heal is not just something to listen to easily; it’s something to provoke, to confront, to seize the story before anyone else gets a chance. It is a call to arms and a festivity of being too wild to tame. It celebrates the beauty of chaos in a person’s life. Doechii’s album is not full of tracks that make the listener wonder if they have been listening to the same song for an hour, because it has so many different sounds that make each song unique.
All of the high-energy sounds and fierceness of the album make me feel like I’m getting ready for a party. Throughout the album, I am continuously gaining a renewed interest in all of the songs, as there are so many unique sounds that keep me on the edge of my seat. Specifically, I find the 90s-inspired tracks to be my favorite because they give me a feeling of nostalgia
