Doja Cat Featuring SZA Slay With First Performance of ‘Kiss Me More’ for Billboard Music Awards

After announcing the collab on Twitter, pop artist Doja Cat, and R&B singer SZA performed together at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, Sunday, May 23. The pair performed their hit single ‘Kiss Me More’ for the first time together since its initial release in April.

It will be the worldwide premiere of the popular song, and more excitingly was performed live during the award show. Doja’s cat’s look featured two waist-length braids in her hair, alongside cute acrylics and gems on her face to match her color-blocked outfit. Later on, SZA emerged in a bright yellow wig, with a beaded chain around her shorts, and super cute covers over her boots. Both women gave amazing vocals, killing their stage with choreography and background dancers.

The pair had an electric stage set, filled with vibrant colors to back them up, and ended their performance with a dramatic pose.

‘Kiss Me More’ has been doing exceptionally well, as it is currently still holding the title for the No.5 song, according to the Billboard Hot 100. According to Billboard, the song has been a contender on the Hot 100 list for about 5 weeks now.

Aside from performing Doja Cat and SZA were nominated for multiple Billboard Music Awards, one of which being Top R&B Female Artist where both women are nominated, and Doja won. SZA also took this award home 3 years ago. Doja Cat had 5 nominations this year, one for her most recent album Hot Pink, in the Top R&B Album category, alongside her hit single ‘Say So’ in the list of nominations as well.

Doja Cat is also no stranger to award show performances as she lit up the stage at last year’s Billboard awards, with a Broadway-themed version of the popular Tik-Tok song ‘Say So’, along with ‘Juicy’ and ‘Like That’. This was SZA’s first performance at the Billboard Awards, and seeing the pair perform together was quite an addition to an exciting night of star-studded performances.

Aside from the exciting performance, both women looked amazing on the Billboard Red Carpet. Doja’s striped off-the-shoulder top and pants are a Balmain piece, by Olivier Rousteing, and featured beautiful jewelry pieces from Kristen Alpaugh, JacobandCo, and D’Heygere. Doja was styled by Brett Alan Nelson, her makeup look done by Emmy award-winning makeup artist Ernesto Casillas, and nails by artist Saccia.

SZA stepped onto the red carpet with a completely different look before going on stage with a blonde streak in her hair, and a simple black dress with cutouts. The dress features a slit on the side and has cut-outs in the front, shaping her very well, while still giving that red carpet look. SZA was styled by two people, Dianne, who has worked with SZA and Doja before, as well as Alejandra Hernandez, who helped with styling for the official music video. Her beautiful hair was done by celebrity hairstylists Tevin Washington and Randy Stodghill. Her look is finished by her nails done by California nail artist Karen Jimenez, and makeup by Deanna Paley.

The award show aired at 8 p.m. ET/5 P.M. PT on NBC. The night was full of surprises and great performances, and if you missed it, here’s the debut performance linked below.