Who is Doechii, the rapper announced as Billboard Woman of the Year for 2025?

Rapper Doechii seems to be having the best time of her life as she has now been announced as the recipient of the 2025 Woman of the Year award at the much-awaited Billboard Women in Music gala event.

The star-studded ceremony will take place at the YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park in California's Inglewood on March 29, Billboard reported.

Why does it matter?

The 26-year-old was nominated for three awards at the 2025 Grammys for her mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal. She won the Best Rap Album honour, making her the third woman in the history to take home the trophy. She has followed in the footsteps of Lauryn Hill, who won the Best Rap Album award for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999, and Cardi B for her album Invasion of Privacy in 2019.


During the 2023 Billboard Women in Music event, Doechii was given the Rising Star honour.

With the latest award, she has now become the third woman to go on from Rising Star award to the Woman of the Year. The previous two winners were Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.

Hannah Karp, editorial director of Billboard, in a statement said that Doechii has "quickly gained recognition in the music industry for her bold creativity and impressive talent”.

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Who all won the honour previously?

Among the previous winners of the Woman of the Year award include Cardi B, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.

A few weeks ago, Doechii was also announced as the outstanding new artist at the 2025 NAACP Image Awards.

Who is Doechii?

Born on August 14, 1998 in Tampa, Florida, her real name is Jaylah Hickmon. She is professionally known as Doechii.

Earlier in an interview with Vulture magazine, she said that she is "Doechii" and the name "literally just came to me". She released her first work, All The Places You'll Go, in 2020 and became famous with her single Yucky Blucky Fruitcake.

On TikTok, a viral trend was seen wherein users shared old photographs with a line from her song that read, "Doechii, why don't introduce yourself to the class?"

During the initial phase of her career, Doechii used to post covers on YouTube and Soundcloud in 2016. Thereafter, she also started releasing some of her own singles.

Her first single, Girls, was released on Soundcloud in 2016, while her first mixtape, named Coven Music Session, Vol. 1, was out in May 2019.

She is also famous for her song What It Is (Block Boy), which features on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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FAQs

1. When was Alligator Bites Never Heal released?
Doechii's mixtape was released on August 30 last year.

2. Where to watch the Billboard Women in Music event?
Hosted by Laverne Cox, the event will be aired live on VIZIO WatchFree+ at 10 PM ET on March 29.