Doechii is very, very good at her job. Her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal is one of our favorite albums of the year. I’ve seen rumors that she’ll headline next year’s giant Kendrick Lamar/SZA stadium tour, which would make a lot of sense. (Doechii and SZA did just perform together at Tyler, The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, after all.) Take Doechii’s performance on last night’s episode of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show as proof that she’s magnetic enough to command a stage like this.
A regular performance would’ve been cool, but that’s not what Doechii did. Instead, she put on a display of magnificent creativity and coordination. She went up there with two backup dancers, both of whom were dressed and styled exactly like her and both of whom look a lot like her. All of them had their braids interlinked, so I can’t imagine the kind of choreography that must’ve been necessary to prevent them from getting all tangled up with one another. But they made it all look easy and natural, running through an intricate routine as if there was nothing to it.
Doechii performed the Alligator Bites Never Heal tracks “Boiled Peanuts” and “Denial Is A River,” and I’m pretty sure she lip-synced both of them, but it would be ridiculous to quibble with the spectacle of what they pulled off. “Denial Is A River” is basically a skit rendered in song form anyway, and the performance have her and her dancers a chance to act it out. The whole thing made for an awesome visual, and we’ll remember this one. Watch it below.
Alligator Bites Never Heal is out now on TDE/UMG.