Songfacts®:

• In this steamy, disco-inspired bop, Doja Cat wants her male friend to stop playing and confess his love to her.
  
  Day to night to morning, keep with me in the moment
  I'd let you had I known it, why don't you say so?
  
  Doja has had enough of her buddy "beating 'round the bush." She encourages him throughout this song to stop being so shy and be honest about his feelings for her.
• The groovy track offers a strong dose of nostalgia by interpolating Chic's 1979 disco classic "Good Times."
• Originally just a Hot Pink album track, "Say So" gained popularity thanks to users on the social media app TikTok uploading videos of themselves dancing to the tune. Once it started climbing charts worldwide, Kemosabe released it on January 28, 2020 as an official single.
• Doja Cat wrote the song with her go-to collaborators Lydia Asra and Yeti Beats.
• Dr Luke produced the track. The American hitmaker has also worked with the likes of Britney Spears ("Hold It Against Me"), Kelly Clarkson ("My Life Would Suck Without You") and Katy Perry ("E.T.").
• The Hannah Lux Davis directed video is set in 1970s Los Angeles. The throwback clip finds Doja rocking various retro mini dresses amidst disco visuals. As she dances around a mansion, Doja and her backup dancers bust out the moves used in the viral "Say So" dance challenge.
• The shimmering video features a cameo appearance from TikTok star Haley Sharpe, who created the viral dance for the song. That's her in bell bottoms and platform shoes at the 3:27 mark.
• Doja Cat told MTV News about the song's flirty origins. "It's about when you go somewhere and you see someone and they don't approach you, but you're looking at each other and you both feel like there's something there," she explained.
• Doja Cat has long talked about how she's been heavily inspired by Nicki Minaj. When she announced a surprise guest on the Hot Pink cut "Like That," many fans were surprised it turned out to be Gucci Mane and not the Queens rapper.
  
  "People thought the surprise feature was going to be Nicki, because I blurred the name out at first - and, well, the album is titled Hot Pink," she told Billboard. "Also, I'm just a huge fan of Nicki. I blurred out the name, but it wasn't necessarily to create a sense of anticipation specifically around the feature."
  
  A few months later, Doja's fans got their wish when Minaj jumped on the remix for "Say So," marking the first collaboration among the two artists.
• Minaj adds a new verse over a fresh beat, during which she emphasizes her heavyweight status within hip-hop.
  
  Pretty like Naomi, Cassie, plus Lauren
  Spittin' like Weezy, Foxy, plus Lauryn
  
  The Queen Barbz also raps a few bars for the outro.
• Following the release of the Nicki Minaj remix, the song climbed to the top of the Hot 100, earning the first #1 for both the Queens MC and Doja Cat.
• This was Minaj's 109th entry on the Hot 100. When it reached the summit, Minaj broke the record previously held by Justin Bieber for the most visits before leading the tally. The Biebs had 46 chart entries before his first #1 with "What Do You Mean?" in 2015.
• Doja Cat went with an extraterrestrial mermaid look when she performed this song and "Like That" at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, where she won for Best New Artist.
• Doja Cat performed a searing heavy metal version of "Say So" at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards. Australian instrumental artist Plini claimed that parts of the arrangement for the new version were taken from his 2016 tune "Handmade Cities." He shared his disappointment about not being contacted prior to the performance, saying:
  
  "The lack of prior communication about it or proper credit upon release is disappointing but not particularly surprising in a sector of the industry that is usually more interested in clout than creativity."
  
  Plini later revealed that Doja Cat put things right. She sent the Australian musician "a string of voice messages" in his DMs, where she apologized for not crediting him properly.
• "Say So" was nominated for Record Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the Grammy Awards in 2021, and Doja Cat was up for Best New Artist. She performed the song at the ceremony, but didn't win any of the awards; Record Of The Year went to "Everything I Wanted" by Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion won Best New Artist, and Harry Styles took Best Pop Solo Performance for "Watermelon Sugar."