"Handstand" is a song by French Montana and Doja Cat featuring Saweetie. It was released on November 23, 2021, as the fourth single from Montana's fourth studio album, They Got Amnesia. The songs chorus is an interpolation of "Project Bitch" by Big Tymers featuring Juvenile and Lil Wayne. The song also samples "En un Rincón de Mi Alma" by Danny Rivera.
Originally, Megan Thee Stallion was going to be on the song alongside Montana and Doja but was replaced by Saweetie for unknown reasons. The music video for the song was released on December 8, 2021.
Background[]
On September 6, 2020, producer Hitmaka teased an image of a song file with Montana, Doja Cat, and Megan listed, also hinting that their collaboration was to release soon. Doja also confirmed the collaboration with the other artists on X/Twitter and liked a comment asking if Megan was on the song too. French Montana reconfirmed the Doja Cat collab (but not confirming whether Megan was on it or not) in an interview and that he had plans to release his Doja collab on his album CB5, but the song didn't make the final tracklisting for unknown reasons.
On October 6, 2021, Hitmaka teased the song once again, but this time said the song included French Montana, Doja Cat, and Saweetie. Coincidentally, a few days later, a snippet of the song with Megan and Doja was leaked.
On November 8, 2021, French Montana posted a track list for his album They Got Amnesia, confirming the title of the collaboration with Doja and Saweetie was titled "Handstand", serving as the tenth track, and indirectly confirming Megan had been replaced. On November 16, 2021, Montana posted a snippet of Doja Cat's on the song to his Instagram account.
On November 9, 2021, French Montana and Doja Cat filmed the Handstand music video, which was officially released on December 8, 2021. In late 2021, a snippet of the song surfaced with vocals from Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion. Megan would later be excluded from the final version of the track.
Commercial performance[]
The album was initially scheduled to be released on November 12, 2021, but was postponed for a week. The "Handstand" music video was not finished at this time.
On November 23, 2021, the song was sent to American rhythmic contemporary radio. It was also sent to Italian radio airplay on December 17, 2021, through Sony Music.[1]
During the debut radio week, "Handstand" became the most added song to urban contemporary panels, and second most added on rhythmic format.[2] It also generated over seven million streams throughout first three weeks of its release. The single peaked at number 33 on the American R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart becoming French Montana's 17th, and Doja Cat's sixth, Top 40 entry on the chart.[3][4] On the Rhythmic ranking, it was placed at number 21, being French Montana's 26th, Doja Cat's 12th, and Saweetie's eighth entry to the chart.[5][6] In New Zealand, it entered the Hot Singles chart at number 40.[7]
Music video[]
The album was initially scheduled to be released on November 12, 2021, but was postponed for a week. The "Handstand" music video was not finished at this time. The music video for "Handstand" was directed by Edgar Esteves and Jon Primo.[8] On November 11, 2021, French Montana posted a video with Doja Cat from the set of the music video. The clip premiered on the rapper's YouTube channel on December 8, 2021.[9] It was sponsored by Russian vodka brand Beluga and mobile shopping app NTWRK.[10]
The video is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where the rappers are fighting armed people on the street. They use baseball bats and laser eyes, and Doja Cat wears a machine-gun bikini. During Saweetie's verse, she twerks over the burning city, and the cyborgs fight back against the protestors.[11] The clip ends with French Montana showing off a non-fungible token (NFT).[12] The visual was compared to films by many critics, including to The Warriors (1979), The Terminator (1984) and Barbarella (1968), by Rolling Stone's Brenna Ehrlich, to Waterworld (1995) by Vulture's Bethy Squires,[13] to Planet Terror (2007) by Okon, and to the Mad Max series by both Okon and Rap-Up.[14] Bethy Squires from Vulture wrote that "other iconic hip-hop videos have placed themselves in a Thunderdome-like future, (...) but none of these videos, stunning though they are, had the boldness of vision to imagine a world where the only connection to the civilization we once knew is sponcon".[15]
Videos[]
Lyrics[]
[Intro: French Montana, Doja Cat]
(Pooh, you a fool for this one)
(Hitmaka) (Go, Grizz)
Montana, yeah
[Chorus: Doja Cat, French Montana, Saweetie]
You need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch (Haan)
One don't give a fuck and say she took that dick
You need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch
Twerkin' up in traffic on some hood rat shit (Alright)
I got your man throwin' bands
Pop that pussy for me, do a handstand (Yeah, alright)
I got your man throwin' bands (Throwin' bands)
Pop that pussy for me, do a handstand (Haan) (Alright)
[Post-Chorus: French Montana, Saweetie, Doja Cat]
I need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch
One don't give a fuck and say she took that dick (Alright)
I need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch
Twerkin' up in traffic on some hood rat shit (Montana)
[Verse 1: French Montana, Saweetie]
Catch me in a wagon, red, one-fifty (Fifty)
Red bottoms, got the floor sticky (Sticky)
You know my trigger, three-quarters just to hide the blicky
Run, Ricky (Woo), now he dippin' through the avenue
French, comment allez-vous ?
Ratchet and the baddest
She want carats, feast (Alright)
Wagons, flicks (Alright)
Bad bitch, freak, ratchet, bеast
Get your hands up, tell 'em, "Gеt your bands up" (Swish)
I be KD, shootin', get your hands up (Alright)
Let me kick it, like Jamaicans, I don't lick it
I just pull up with the ticket
David Copperfield, I trick it (Haan)
She wanna make the whole thing disappear proper
And hold it in her hand like an Oscar
[Chorus: Doja Cat, French Montana, Saweetie]
You need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch (Haan)
One don't give a fuck and say she took that dick
You need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch
Twerkin' up in traffic on some hood rat shit (Alright)
I got your man throwin' bands
Pop that pussy for me, do a handstand (Yeah, alright)
I got your man throwin' bands (Throwin' bands)
Pop that pussy for me, do a handstand (Haan) (Alright)
[Verse 2: Doja Cat]
He need a sex symbol, he need some sexual (Yeah)
I need a ni**a who be fuckin' up my edge control (Yeah)
He need a stripper-type of body, need it flexible
He like it thick like she ignorin' all her vegetables (Yeah)
I just put this pussy all over his face tattoos
Got him pullin' on my wig, like, what this lace can't do?
And if he got a lotta options, he should weigh them too
I give him real fat ass with some fake bamboo (Huh)
[Verse 3: Saweetie]
I want a hundred ni**as on they knees eatin' my pussy (Alright)
I wanna see 'em on my timeline tweetin' they love me (Alright)
Tell baby, "Lift my legs up like I'm wearin' a Huggie"
Kitty always knock him out, ooh, that poor little puppy
Triple sevens on my credit score, a bitch must be lucky (Uh-huh)
Tell daddy, "Order me some oysters with a side of that nuggies" (Okay)
So where them project ni**as with them big ass figures? (Mm)
I'm a high-class bitch, need a big bag spender (Mwah)
[Chorus: Doja Cat, French Montana, Saweetie]
You need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch (Haan)
One don't give a fuck and say she took that dick
You need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch
Twerkin' up in traffic on some hood rat shit (Alright)
I got your man throwin' bands
Pop that pussy for me, do a handstand (Yeah, alright)
I got your man throwin' bands (Throwin' bands)
Pop that pussy for me, do a handstand (Haan) (Alright)
[Post-Chorus: French Montana, Saweetie, Doja Cat]
I need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch
One don't give a fuck and say she took that dick (Alright)
I need a project bitch, a hood rat bitch
Twerkin' up in traffic on some hood rat shit (Montana)
[Snippet: Megan Thee Stallion]
Got your man throwin' bands (Throwin' bands)
Pop that pussy for him, do a handstand (Handstand)
I got your man-
Trivia[]
- This is the second time "Project Bitch" would be interpolated in one of Doja's songs. The first time was her 2018 SoundCloud-exclusive release "RUN".
- Doja's line "I just put this pussy all over his face tattoos" was reused from her freestyle on The Cave in 2019.
References[]
- ↑ "'French Montana & Doja Cat' Search on EarOne | Radio Date, le novità musicali della settimana"
- ↑ "A Recap of Radio Add Recaps"
- ↑ "French Montana Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay)"
- ↑ "Doja Cat Chart History (R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay)"
- ↑ "French Montana Chart History (Rhythmic)"
- ↑ "Doja Cat Chart History (Rhythmic Airplay)"
- ↑ "NZ Hot Singles Chart"
- ↑ "French Montana, Doja Cat, Saweetie Throw Post-Apocalyptic Street Brawl in 'Handstand' Video"
- ↑ "French Montana Drops 'Handstand' Video With Doja Cat and Saweetie"
- ↑ "Watch French Montana, Doja Cat, and Saweetie Do a Handstand"
- ↑ "Doja Cat & Saweetie add flavor to French Montana 'Handstand' video"
- ↑ "French Montana, Doja Cat, And Saweetie Are All For Some Freaky Fun On 'Handstand'"
- ↑ "Watch French Montana, Doja Cat, and Saweetie Do a Handstand"
- ↑ "French Montana Drops 'Handstand' Video with Doja Cat and Saweetie"
- ↑ "Watch French Montana, Doja Cat, and Saweetie Do a Handstand"