TRACK REVIEW: Gwen Stefani - Slow Clap

TRACK REVIEW:

Gwen Stefani

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson

Slow Clap

9.5/10

The track, Slow Clap, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p__QQG6lrwQ

GENRES:

Ska/Reggae/Pop

ORIGIN:

California, U.S.A.

RELEASE DATE:

11th March, 2021

LABEL:

Interscope Records

__________

BEFORE I get to the solo work…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson

of Gwen Stefani, I do want to spend some time discussing her band, No Doubt. I think Stefani is one of the greatest-ever Rock voices and, as lead of the band, she definitely got me into similar bands. I was a big No Doubt fan, and, to this day, I listen back to the older material. Whilst there has been no announcement as to whether we will get another No Doubt album, it is great that the band are still together after all of these years (they formed in 1986). If you are unfamiliar with Gwen Stefani as an artist, then her bio section on her website explains more:

“A three-time GRAMMY® Award winner, Gwen Stefani has achieved global success as a performer, songwriter, frontwoman for iconic rock band No Doubt, and multi-platinum solo artist. To date, she’s sold more than 50 million units worldwide, including her four-times-platinum debut solo album Love.Angel.Music.Baby. — a 2004 release delivering the hit singles “Rich Girl,” “What You Waiting For?”, and the Pharrell Williams-produced No. 1 hit “Hollaback Girl.” With her 2006 sophomore album The Sweet Escape featuring the Billboard Hot 100 top-ten smash “Wind It Up,” Stefani most recently released her third solo effort This Is What The Truth Feels Like. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the critically praised album includes her powerful No. 1 single “Used To Love You.”

In addition to her three GRAMMY® Awards, Stefani’s honors include four MTV Video Music Awards, two Billboard Awards, an American Music Award, and a Brit Award. In 2014, she channeled her tremendous musical passion into empowering young singers as their coach on the seventh season of NBC’s musical competition series “The Voice.” Stefani now returns for her fourth season as a coach on “The Voice,” with the 17th season of the four-time Emmy Award-winning show arriving in September 2019.

Known for her wildly charismatic stage presence, Stefani premiered her exclusive Las Vegas headlining residency “Gwen Stefani – Just A Girl” in June 2018 at Zappos Theatre at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. With its setlist comprised of fan favorites and iconic hits, the two-hour show unfolds as an eye-popping spectacular, putting a fresh twist on classic Vegas theatrics. But despite the elaborate stage production — and wardrobe changes showcasing her legendary fashion sense — Stefani offers up an undeniably intimate performance, ultimately forging an unforgettable connection with the crowd.

One of pop culture’s most magnetic style icons, Gwen Stefani has also emerged as the first global celebrity artist to translate music stardom into a series of massively successful lifestyle brands. Through her fashion line L.A.M.B., its sister label Harajuku Lovers, and her eyewear line gx by Gwen Stefani, the designer and entrepreneur has brilliantly merged modern glamour with fashion-forward streetwear. L.A.M.B. and gx eyewear is available in over 3000+ doors in the United States. Harajuku Lovers, the pop-art-inspired apparel and accessories brand has had broad appeal with collaborations including the award-winning Harajuku Mini for Target and beauty accessories for Sephora. Target is celebrating 20 years of their groundbreaking Design For All program and are bringing back 20 of their favorite and most iconic designer partnerships including Harajuku Mini. The Limited Edition Harajuku Mini Anniversary Collection will be available at Target stores and Target.com beginning September 14, 2019”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Cuffaro

I am going to head back in time in terms of Stefani talking about her career. I feel she is such an interesting and accomplished artist that, even when discussing her latest single, it is valid to travel back and learn more about her. When she spoke with GQ this month, she was asked about those early years - and when she felt that she had achieved her goals and realised when she was a great:

“The first time you felt like you made it…

It was doing a noontime concert at the college I was studying at, a Cal State College, where big bands such as Fishbone and Red Hot Chili Peppers had played previously. So many people had come from all over the place that the grass was torn up afterwards and I remember thinking, “Holy crap, we’re huge.” I went to class the next day and people were passing their notebooks down asking for my autograph. It was weird, being in two roles – a student and then also being in the band that played yesterday.

The first time you realised you were actually any good…

When I was a little girl, I liked to sing but I didn’t think I was good at it. I could mimic singers that I liked stylistically, but the furthest my dream extended was to jingles – I used to hope for a KFC commercial. The songwriting is what really changed my life, because once I had a problem and I could channel it. I wasn’t good at school: I was super naive and very sheltered. When I started to write I felt like I was dying, my older brother who was everything to me was quitting the band and the boyfriend who I depended on quit me, so I felt, “What do I do?” I wrote one song and then they just kept coming. Another milestone was playing our first show at a club as the only singer. This confidence just came out of me that night, I could control the audience and I just knew how to do it. I remember going into the parking lot after and thinking, “I might be good at this.” Performing became an instinct, a power that I had”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Cuffaro

I want to spend a bit of time with No Doubt. I think it is important that the band are celebrating thirty-five years and they are still together. I might do a feature about that anniversary in some form. It has been almost a decade since the Californian band released their last album, Push and Shove. I loved 2001’s Rock Steady but, when there was this gap and the band seemed like they would not record again, it was a big relief to have another album out in there! Stefani spoke with The Guardian in 2012 about the band’s return and how it felt to put out Push and Shove:

“The announcement that No Doubt are about to release a new album, the first since 2001's Rock Steady, prompts a similar sensation of pleasant surprise. In the year that even Chumbawamba have given up the noble fight, one has to ask whether a band so much associated with the 1990s really has a place in 2012. No Doubt have always had their hardcore fans, dating back to their formation in 1986 when they were a popular ska band that venerated Madness in their home state of California. They broke out of that pond three albums into their career with the then ubiquitous single Don't Speak on 1995's Tragic Kingdom and, while they never quite matched that success again, ska-inflected pop-based songs such as Hey, Baby and Just a Girl burst through the grunge landscape of their time to become part of the backing music of the decade. Yet even then, the band's success felt more like an anomaly than the establishment of something long-lasting. When Stefani, always the band's most charismatic performer, broke away to pursue a solo career, focusing more on dance music with 2004's hugely successful Love Angel Music Baby and 2006's The Sweet Escape, as well as starting up a fashion line and pairing up with hip-hop collaborators such as Eve (Let Me Blow Ya Mind, Rich Girl) and Ludacris (Luxurious), this seemed like both a natural progression and an inevitable end.

"It just feels so much more natural being back in this mode. The solo records allowed me to indulge my girly side but it was never meant to be taken seriously," says Stefani, casually disowning several million record sales and a slew of Grammy nominations. "It was just like an art project that kept going longer than I expected. The group never ended – we always knew we'd come back to make this album"

PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Cuffaro

I want to look at a couple of No Doubt album anniversaries. I feel albums such as Tragic Kingdom (their breakthrough third album) are among the best of the 1990s. Tragic Kingdom turned twenty-five last year and, to me, it has not aged at all. Gwen Stefani’s songwriting and vocals are at their peak; the band, despite the fact there were some tensions and personal issues, are incredible and committed throughout. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly from late last year, Stefani was asked about the big anniversary:

“This year marked the 25th anniversary of No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom. How has that record changed meaning for you over the years?

I don't really like anniversaries. I don't really celebrate like, “Oh, I wore that in 1995. Now it's 10 years later, woo!” But then when it actually happened and I started seeing everyone posting and seeing all the stuff that we had done — things I don't remember, until I see the image — I was just overwhelmed, like, "Oh my god, we did that?" It was a really emotional couple of days. I really enjoyed hearing just how much that record impacted people. It really is truly mind-blowing to me that I get to do music, let alone to be part of people's lives in that way. It's hard to wrap my head around it.

I'm really proud of Tragic Kingdom. It was a very weird album. I was so naive. I didn't even know how to write a song. I don't know how I wrote those songs because I didn’t know anything back then. But doing the Vegas show was a really reflective time, because doing a song like “Just a Girl” every night felt more relevant than ever, especially in the last couple of years with the rise of the #MeToo movement. It feels like history repeating itself. We've come far, but we haven't. I always thought that I would outgrow that song and be a woman and not be able to sing the words “I'm just a girl” anymore, but it felt more relevant than it ever felt in my whole life. It was bizarre”.

PHOTO CREDIT: POP Magazine

Of course, many people associate Tragic Kingdom with the huge single, Don’t Speak. It is a song that so many people can relate to and, as a piece of music, it is among the best songs in the No Doubt cannon. I want to mention it because I feel it was a pivotal moment in the band’s career. Despite the song being written at a time of division, they are still together; Gwen Stefani is still recording and understands how important the track is. In that interview of 2012 from The Guardian, the subject of the song came up:

“Of course, No Doubt's most famous song, Don't Speak, was about one of the band's most personal struggles: the end of Stefani and Kanal's long-term relationship. Yet while the lyrics, coupled with Stefani's pained vocals, made for a classic breakup song, it must have been pretty weird for Kanal to be standing behind his heartbroken girlfriend every night on tour while she belted out how miserable she was without him.

"Oh definitely," replies Kanal while Stefani nods eagerly beside him. "We were on tour for Tragic Kingdom for 28 months. We were going through the breakup, and in every interview we were talking about it so we were opening this wound on an hourly basis. It was so brutal but I don't know how we made it through."

This breakup nearly broke Stefani. Even today, nearly 43 and with a hugely successful career, she gives off the air of a woman who loves to devote herself with girlish enthusiasm to the man in her life. She positively radiates when she talks about husband Rossdale's "beautiful lyrics" and she can still recall, with painful candour, the devastation she felt when Kanal ended their seven-year relationship when she had been dreaming of marriage and babies. Yet this episode gave her not just a hit single but a career; it wasn't until the breakup that she dared to try songwriting”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Joseph Cultice

Forgive the No Doubt backstory and history! I am coming to discuss Stefani as a solo artist soon. Rock Steady turns twenty in December. I feel it is a very underrated album that has some huge songs on it. Hey Baby, for instance, is a classic No Doubt cut! It is interesting reading an interview from Stereogum this month. Stefani looked back on the Rock Steady period:

“As you mentioned, that last non-Christmas solo album came out of tumultuous times in those early Voice days. Now you’re gearing up for a new one while there are some big anniversaries — Return Of Saturn turned 20 last year, and Rock Steady turns 20 this year. It seems like it must be a weird time to look back on. Rock Steady has all these songs I remember hearing all the time when I was young and first noticing music, but it’s also towards the end of the band in that initial era.

Now, Rock Steady, that was a different story. That was freedom. That was, OK, everyone agrees we’re going to work outside the band. We’re going to work with our heroes. We’re going to go out dancing all night long. We didn’t have kids yet. It was self-indulgence. We were working with the coolest producers. It was our time, and it was a great memory. But then going into the solo records, it was a different kind of freedom. There was no voting, no family, no democracy, no compromising. It was all indulgence. I could indulge not just my cheesy side but all the music that was the backdrop to my life. I could make music that was guilty pleasure. There were no rules, and I got to be the most creative I’ve probably been in my life, because I got to create a world and I had endless ideas and energy”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Universal Music Group

Looking at Gwen Stefani’s personal life and music. It is interesting learning about (in an interview with Today) how Stefani handled her divorce from Gavin Rossdale and how faith played a role in recovery:

“But I feel like it's the way you handle things, you never know," she continued. "You're gonna be blessed. You got to ask for the blessings. You got to keep engaged. That's how I believe. That's how I live my life. I'm getting better at it. It's something you have to work on. It's like a spiritual exercise every single day."

Hoda Kotb said that was the most beautiful sentiment, before asking Stefani how she has stayed open to life experiences despite trying circumstances in her past, like her divorce from singer Gavin Rossdale.

"I had all those fetal positions for a while," Stefani recalled. "I know that everything that happens in my life isn't happening in time with what people see. That's what people forget, although we are close to that these days with the Internet and the platforms that we all have.

"For me, I was turning to my faith right away. That was a seed that my mom planted in me when I was a little girl ... it's a journey. It's almost like you get lost, it's like you get lost on your journey. We all do and we all will and I will again at some point I'm sure."

"I tried to find what was my gift and my purpose," she said. "In that horrible moment, I just said to myself, 'This is happening to me for a purpose ... a reason.' I tried to go right into the studio. I knew that was the only thing I know how to do good, is write songs and I wrote the 'Truth' record," Stefani added, referring to her 2016 album "This Is What the Truth Feels Like”.

Now, she has a new love in her life. I wonder whether she will work with Blake Shelton. The U.S. Country singer would sound great on a Gwen Stefani album but, so far as I know, there are no plans for them to collaborate heavily in the future. It does seem like Gwen Stefani is in a much better place now. I would not normally discuss a relationship in the context of reviewing a song, but I feel that it is quite important in relation to her new lease of life and the fact she is looking ahead fondly. In this article from She Knows, we discover when Stefani and Shelton met:

“Stefani met Shelton before 2015 from working together on The Voice, but when they first met, he was married to ex Miranda Lambert and she was married to Rossdale. Both marriages dissolved in quick succession as Shelton filed for divorce in July 2015 and Stefani followed suit in August 2015, and while suspicions of their closeness lingered, they weren’t publicly an item until many months later, first commenting on the relationship in November 2015.

This Is What The Truth Feels Like came out in March 2016, and here’s what she told Lowe about the process of writing it: “What was really I think really significant about that This Is What The Truth Feels Like record for me was the miracle in it, which was, you talked about having to write music when you have to write music, the button doesn’t always work if you press it. And when I was going through the worst part of my life, I was running to go write songs. I knew that’s what I had to do. I knew that that’s my purpose.”

“But then halfway through the project, to my surprise, I start falling in love and I start writing these songs about Blake,” she continued. “So the first half of writing it, and it was written over a very short amount of time, a couple months, I think the record is just a very interesting record because a lot, of the darker, darker songs didn’t make it onto the record”.

Let’s move on to lockdown and how Stefani came to release her previous single, Let Me Reintroduce Myself. Apart from some Christmas songs over the past few years, she did record with Blake Shelton on Nobody But You last year on one of his albums. This track, Let Me Reintroduce Myself, seemed like a bit of a return from a hugely popular and influential artist. Stefani was asked about writing in lockdown and that single in an interview with Vogue from January:

“You’ve been busy writing and recording new music during lockdown. How has that been?

“Honestly, a dream. I had written one song, “Cry Happy”, in February and it felt really good. After that, people were like, ‘Everyone’s writing on Zoom.’ I was like, ‘That sounds horrifying.’ It’s already horrifying to go in a room with a 28-year-old [producer] who wants to write with you and you’re like, ‘I’m like your mom, let’s write a song.’ It’s weird. We ended up doing it and the first one I wrote on Zoom was with [producer] Greg Kurstin and [songwriter] Mozella. He was in Hawaii, she was in Los Angeles, and I was in Oklahoma — we wrote a damn song on a damn phone.”

The title of the new single is pretty self-explanatory — it’s about reintroducing yourself to the world. Do you feel like that’s something you need to do? You’re quite famous.

“[Laughs] I was working with this young producer called Luke Niccoli, and he introduced me to his [songwriter] friend Ross [Golan]. I was like, ‘I know that you know I’m Gwen Stefani and I’ve done all these things, but right now let’s try to be intimate and I’ll tell you how I’m feeling about being my age.’ He really got in my head — he’s the one that threw out the line, “Let me reintroduce myself.” Once he said that, the tone for the song was there”.

One reason why I loved Let Me Reintroduce Myself is because it has a Reggae/Ska feel. I always associate those genres with No Doubt and some of their best work. Stefani, having worked as a judge on The Voice (more on that later) could have gone more mainstream Pop or changed direction. Returning to that Entertainment Weekly interview, Stefani stated how Let Me Reintroduce allowed her to dig into the roots of Ska and discover something truly moving:

“Let Me Reintroduce Myself,” released Monday, is a feel-good return to the ska/pop/reggae hybrid — record-scratching, horns, a walking bass line — that Stefani perfected during her time fronting No Doubt. Using her downtime in Oklahoma during the pandemic to dig back into ska’s roots, she immersed herself in the history of the genre, leading her to feel like now was the right moment to return to the sounds that first put her on the map 30 years ago. “All of the riots had happened, and I just started thinking so much about when I started loving music and why,” she says. “It was eighth grade when I learned about ska and Madness and the Selecter and all those bands that started to define the kind of music that I felt like I fit into; here I was, this Catholic girl from Anaheim doing reggae music! But that music was all about unity and anti-racism, and that was in the '70s. Then we were doing it in the '90s. And now here we are, again, in the same old mess.”

You felt inspiration again?

I felt all kinds of inspirations and ideas. It's like God saying, "You’ve got to do this now." When I get that urgency, you can't stop me. I'm like, “I’ve got to go write songs. That's what I need right now. And I don't even care if anyone hears them, or if they think they suck, I'm doing it, now.”

When I got back to L.A., I went into the studio. Everything was plastic-guarded. You get your temperature taken. Everybody's wearing masks. By then, all of the riots had happened. I started to go back and investigate ska and reggae, and I found all these documentaries about how ska was born in the 1960s, how that was linked to the Jubilee when Jamaica was being freed from England. Starting No Doubt, we were the third-wave imitating the 1960s.Then I found this documentary on a school in Jamaica called the Alpha Boys School, which was run by Catholic nuns. There's this little white Catholic nun called Sister Mary Ignatius Davies who helped nurture reggae music. You can see all these pictures of her with these little boys and they're learning these brass instruments. The first ska band that was ever born was these kids out of Alpha Boys School, the Skatalites. No Doubt used to listen to them. Doing my research, it all just felt so full-circle.

So this music was born out of that. I wanted to go back and make something that was joyful and back to my roots, where it all started. [Pre-pandemic] I’d been in the studio with Luke Niccoli and he's the one that said you really should work with my friend Ross, who turned out to be someone who really gets my sarcasm, and the fun side of my lyrics. We really hit it off.

With Luke, we taught each other a lot, especially when it came to ska and reggae, because I kept saying, "Dude, no, listen to Sublime. It has to have scratching in it. It has to be '90s." So he was discovering all this stuff that he didn't know, but bringing his technology and youth to the sound. It was a perfect kind of combination between the three of us. And we wrote a bunch of songs together and I know we're going to write more”.

I am going to get to my review of her new track, Slow Clap, in a bit. There are a few more things that I want to cover before moving along.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson

As Stefani revealed in the interview with Stereogum, she was not planning on putting out new material or looking at making a record during a pandemic and after all of these years:

“GWEN STEFANI: I guess to talk about this song I have to talk about writing for this record, because I wasn’t planning to. When you get to be my age and have this wake of work behind you and you are a mother to three boys and you’re in a pandemic…

You know, the last record I did was a Christmas record, which was probably one of my favorite records I’ve ever done. Writing Christmas music, there was something so freeing to it. You’re writing for a period of time that’s hopefully going to be the memories to people’s families growing up. It’s a different thing, and I really enjoyed it. This record, it was like, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to do a record.” And why would I? If I did, what kind of music would I do? I’ve had so many genres I’ve bounced in and out of — I just had two country hits with a country guy, what the hell am I doing these days? I was all over the map. I was feeling a lot of insecurities about it to be honest. I don’t go and buy the new record of the band I liked in high school. I don’t. I listen to the one I liked in high school. So why would someone want to buy a new Gwen Stefani album? That’s just how I was feeling. But at the same time, I had written one song, and if it’s good you know it’s good. It’s addictive, you want to share it. By just doing that one session — right before the pandemic — I thought I needed to do some more songs”.

The intention of this whole album was to write music that was nostalgic to the people who actually did follow me all these years, that they could listen to it and it’d be new but it’d be familiar. I thought about them. If they didn’t listen to it, why else would I do it? So I’m doing it for them, too, you know what I mean? But yeah, I feel like that song is fun, uptempo, not serious but it has serious things in it. It’s all about saying, “Are you rooting for me like I’m rooting for you?” I’m really happy I got to write this song with Ross. The fact that the label wants to put out such a weird song, I’m clapping for them. [Laughs]”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Art Streiber/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images

Although I have not seen any announcement regarding an album and when that may be released, it seems like she is gearing up to release one soon. In that article from She Knows, they mentioned how Stefani was being interviewed by Zane Lowe and, when she was making Let Me Reintroduce Myself, it brought her back to an album that arrived at a particularly tumultuous time of her life:

“Gwen Stefani’s new album Let Me Reintroduce Myself has the former No Doubt star feeling nostalgic for another studio album of hers — 2016’s This Is What The Truth Feels Like, written in the tumultuous year that she both filed for divorce from husband Gavin Rossdale and began dating current fiancé Blake Shelton. In a new Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe, Stefani talks about the process of writing that album five years ago, which was originally slated for December 2014 but delayed due to Stefani’s ongoing issues with the material. She’s hinted in the past about the sudden burst of inspiration in late 2015 that brought this album to life, but she tells Lowe even more explicitly now that she was falling in love and that’s why she was able to write the songs she did. She details the “couple months” in which the album came together, and we looked back at the album release’s timing to see what that means for her relationship with Shelton. Spoiler alert: These two got serious even sooner than we expected”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson

One gets definite Reggae and Ska vibes on the hypnotic and twisting Slow Clap. It opens with “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap” and, even though we have not had any story revealed, one wonders what the background of the song is and what the title refers to. The beat is quite tight and taut. Riding a wave, Stefani delivers one of her most confident and catchy vocals. You can tell she is having a great time on the song! I wonder whether there is a personal story behind Slow Clap or whether it is a general observation. I really like the rhymes on the first verse: “I'll be David, you Goliath/Set the rule and I'll defy it/You be angry, I'll be quiet/You be purple, I'm the violet/Take a ride 'cause I'm the co-pilot/I'm the ice cream, you're just the diet/Be the captain, I'll be the pirate/You're Billy the Kid, and I'll be the Wyatt”. Not standing in one spot, Slow Clap moves through different sounds and paces. From the fast and commanding verse, there is a passage where the sound goes a bit more Gospel. It is interesting hearing Gwen Stefani singing “Are you rooting for me like I'm rooting for you?/Let me hear you get loud like surround sound” and what she is referring to. I get the impression Stefani is talking about a relationship and supporting someone. Maybe the two are contrasting and have very different personalities. The first verse has that snappy and Ska sound that gets you motivated and moving. It is clear that, despite Stefani offering backing and compassion, she is very much on control and has plenty of confidence: “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap/Walk into the room like a boss/Slow Clap/Putting on a little extra sauce/Slow clap”. It is classic Stefani as she delivers her words with so much panache and conviction: “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap/Side stepping people down the hall/Slow Clap/Winter, spring or summer or the fall/Slow Clap”.

PHOTO CREDIT: SHAPE Magazine

I think, when it comes to the lyrics, there is that nice oblique aspect…so you wonder whether Stefani is referring to a broken relationship or conflict or whether this is a fictional angle. I do really like the lyrics and the images they provoke: “Been the champion, rang the bell/Rocked the bottom, been through hell/Climbed the mountain, now I'm well/I just feel like coming back for the belt/I've been slipping and slipping/But now I'm back for double dipping/Who'm I kidding, I'm winning/My gentleman is for myself/I'm throwin' a Hail Mary to no one else/That's why I'm cheering for myself”. It is evident that Stefani has won a battle and, perhaps, she is referring to her relationship and happiness with Blake Shelton? I tried to look for interviews where Stefani talked about Slow Clap and its story. There is a touch of M.I.A. at times (when she sings “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap”, one gets elements of Galang). We get a passage of new lyrics where Stefani gives us more story. That is sandwiched between the chorus. That becomes more relevant and powerful the more you hear it. I would be interested to see an official video for the song and how Stefani approaches the visuals. Whereas I started off by thinking about Slow Clap as a relationship song and about marriage, perhaps, some lines later in the song make me feel like this is Stefani mounting a new solo phase and wanting to be heard: “I don't wanna go to the back of the line/No, no, I put in my time/From the garage to the penthouse girls/Underdog to the top of the world”. Stefani keeps the energy and pace up to the end. One gets carried by the wave of the chorus and the conviction that Stefani delivers: “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap/Side stepping people down the hall /Slow Clap/Winter, Spring or Summer or the Fall/Slow Clap”. I am interested to see what single comes next and whether there is an official announcement regarding an album release date. Slow Clap is another terrific single from one of my favourite artists – someone who is constantly evolving and huge engaging.

IN THIS PHOTO: Gwen Stefani on the set of The Voice/PHOTO CREDIT: Trae Patton/NBC

Before ending the review, there are a few other things that I want to note. I mentioned how Gwen Stefani was a judge on the U.S. version of The Voice. Not only was it important for her to lend her expertise and guidance; I think she also learned a lot from that experience and brought that to her new material. Stefani was asked about that by Stereogum:

“I feel like I’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about this a bit more, since it’s now such a big part of your career. Now that you’re putting out this album on the other side of this TV era, I’m curious if you learned certain lessons about yourself being a coach on The Voice and then going back to your own music. Obviously with everything we’re talking about today, there have been some wild opportunities in your life. But the arc from Anaheim ska-punk filming a video in your grandparents’ old house to being a household name on The Voice is probably one of the crazier arcs within your story.

STEFANI: I was super naive when I said I’d do it. I don’t think I’d even watched the show. My parents had watched it. I had literally just given birth. Five weeks out of having this baby. My lawyer, my mom and dad, my niece, they were over to see the baby. I got the call. Basically, Irving Azoff — who was not my manager at the time, but I’d known him and his wife for 14 years — his wife called me and said “Christina [Aguilera]’s pregnant, do you think you’d want to do The Voice?” I hung up and said, “I just got the craziest call.” My parents were huge fans and were like, “Oh my God!” It was a hard period in my life before that. A lot of stuff had gone down. I had done that record with No Doubt, which was really hard. I had been really depleted in a lot of ways. To do [The Voice], I just never thought I could, but I was going to go for it.

You ask me how it helped me? I learned so much on that show. I think it was the perfect time for me to play the role as mentor or coach. It helped me with my confidence, and also took away some of my confidence. It was so intimidating to watch these unbelievably gifted, regular people that just one after another were coming through and going through unbelievable pressure, just to get onstage and do a blind audition. Then everything that comes after that — I could’ve never done it. I could never sing like that. You start to judge yourself: “I’m not very good, how did I make it, how did they let me out of my mom’s house?” All these insecurities”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Berl for The New York Times

I guess we assume that Gwen Stefani has influenced a lot of artists herself (which is true) but is not necessarily compelled by any new artists. Going back to the Stereogum interview I have sourced from a fair bit, she was asked about that subject:

“I’m curious about how this came about, but I’m also curious based on how you’re talking about going into the new album: Dua Lipa is of this new generation. Are there other younger pop stars you look at and get inspired by?

STEFANI: That’s a good question. I’m at a really weird place in my life because of the different roles that I play. We all play different roles through our lifetime. You get to a place where you’re sort of out of touch a bit because… you are a mom, and you’re on a TV show, and you’re not touring, and you’re older. To have Dua Lipa even know who I am and want me to be a part of that was super flattering. When she asked me it was during that summer when that big song was out that the whole world was listening to — including Blake Shelton! Dancing around the backyard. We were all listening to that song. So it was really exciting, and it’s always flattering when someone wants to work with you. She’s such a good singer. It’s super rare — I’m just going to be honest — that I’m impressed by somebody. I can’t help it. I’m stuck up, and I like what I like. At the same time, on something like The Voice, people come through with this talent where you’re like, “Why did anyone even let me be onstage? How is it fair I have any success, I am so not talented compared to these people”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wonderland. Magazine

A couple of other things, I feel, need to be addressed before finishing up. The last part I want to take from the Stereogum interview is her memories of Prince. It may sound random but, as we mark five years since he died in April, it is interesting discovering how Prince impacted and touched various people:

“So I’ve heard. When Prince passed, people had so many bizarre and hilarious, or surprisingly heart-warming, stories about him. Do you have a particular memory you return to?

STEFANI: I was in London. They said, “The Arist…” The Artist. At that time you didn’t say Prince. “The Artist wants to speak with you.” Basically, Tony [Kanal] — my best friend at the time, my former boyfriend, my bandmate — worshipped him. That was his guy. The fact that Prince would even know who I am and would want to speak with me was terrifying and crazy. In high school I was ska, I wasn’t a huge Prince fan. It wasn’t until afterwards that I rediscovered all the dance music and popular music that was happening in the backdrop of my life. But yeah, he called me on the phone. His voice was exactly Prince. He was very quiet. “I want to talk to you, I want you to be on my song, ‘So Far, So Pleased.'” It was like a deal: “In return I’ll help you with your song.”

We had this song we’d been working on called “Waiting Room.” The way that No Doubt would write is I would write it and they’d have the chords and we’d never get anywhere, and everything took us so long because we never knew what we were doing. Sometimes we’d just get stuck. That was during the Rock Steady album, and we were actually in a good flow in that time period, and working outside of the band — like working with Ric Ocasek or Sly & Robbie. I said [to Prince], “I have this song I can’t finish called ‘Waiting Room.'” He said to send it to him. When I landed in Minneapolis, I’m walking through the airport and his people come to get us and this guy’s like, “The Artist wants to speak to you.” He hands over his cellphone, and Prince says, “I had to rewrite your song.” I was like, “OK, great.” Just dying to hear what it was”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Berl for The New York Times

All this new music makes me interested whether an album will arrive in the coming months. It is clear Gwen Stefani has lost none of her power and potency! Slow Clap is another terrific song that has earned her a lot of praise. In the Vogue interview I sourced from earlier, the subject of Stefani’s legacy was brought up:

“Do you think about your legacy? Do you see your influence in new acts today?

“Sometimes I can see my style, especially right now because it feels like there’s ’90s nostalgia in terms of fashion. I have a 14-year-old son, so he had a lot to do with me reinvestigating myself and taking me back to when I discovered ska music. It’s weird how time can go so quickly, especially when you’re a mother of three boys — I went from that horrible time in my life [her 2015 divorce from Gavin Rossdale], and that was when I wrote that last record. My life was falling apart. [Writing the 2016 album] wasn’t to do with anything other than saving my own life. That’s a completely different place to be. Then halfway through [recording], I fall in love with this cowboy guy — like, what the hell?”.

It is clear that Gwen Stefani has influenced a lot of artists and we can see quite a few from today have D.N.A. of her and No Doubt. I do hope that the band are not done and have more albums in them. I really like Gwen Stefani’s solo material, so I am going to keep my eyes open to see what comes next. Slow Clap is a terrific new single that deserves…