LOS ANGELES   -   A top 10 single, Grammy award and a breathing exercise that’s gone viral. The last few weeks for American rapper Doechii have been quite something. Or, in her words: “It’s like now my dreams aren’t dreams anymore. They’re reality. “I just feel like I’m walking on the ceiling right now,” she tells Radio 1’s New Music Show. The 26-year-old won this year’s best rap album Grammy for Alligator Bites Never Heal - only the third female artist to do so. And the infectious “breathin’ exercise” outro from her hit single Denial is a River has got millions of people trying to emulate the “Uh-uh-ooh, uh-uh-ah, uh, uh, uh, ah…” lyric. After all that, you could forgive her for wanting to take a step back and reflect, but she insists that’s not her style. She says her first thought when she woke up, post-Grammy win, was that she “wants to work and get in the studio”.

Doechii considers making music like “working a muscle” in the gym. “Some days you have days where you hit the gym and you’re sore and then you have those days where you’re really on fire. “That’s what art is and that’s what pushing the pin is for me,” she says.

The Florida-born artist rose to prominence with the viral 2021 hit Yucky Blucky Fruitcake, after which she toured with SZA and Doja Cat.

And she says “at the front of everything” is thinking “a song a day”.

“It doesn’t need to be a good song, it just needs to be a song. “And eventually, things will come out and I can make a project out of that.”

She adds taking “small risks” is important. “And you try things little by little, and then eventually those risks get bigger and bigger and bigger.

“And you trust yourself, you build a confidence and that’s kind of how you establish who you are,” Doechii says.

When Doechii does have a block in making music, she says it’s because “I’m criticising myself”. “I’m critiquing the work. And it’s like, don’t critique the work. Just get the work done and move on.”  Dealing with criticism, whether it’s from herself or outside, is something she’s aware of. Her speech after winning her Grammy was recognised for its message to black women.  “Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you,” she told the audience. “To tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic, or you’re too loud. You are exactly who you need to be, to be right where you are, and I am a testimony right now.”

Speaking to 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz, she adds the intention was to tell people to trust “your inner voice”.

“And not allowing what other people say… to stunt your growth.”