Gwen Stefani makes "sweet escape" to new sound
By Lisa Wakeland, Staff Writer
March 22, 2007 | 7:08 p.m.
From her platinum blonde hair, trademark red lips and innate fashion sense to her rocker husband, multiple Grammy awards and L.A.M.B. clothing line, Gwen Stefani is a modern-day icon. After branching off from No Doubt in 2004, she returned to the top of the charts with her second solo effort, The Sweet Escape.
Stefani insisted her first album, Love, Angel, Music, Baby, was not a solo record, but a dance record. “If I was doing a solo record, that would be, like, finally me,” she said. “It’s not that. This album is actually less of me than I’ve ever been before.”
Stefani recorded enough tracks to make Love, Angel, Music, Baby a double-disc, but narrowed the list to a selection of dance-pop anthems worthy of four Grammy nominations. However, instead of recycling the songs for her sophomore record, an album she never intended to make, she enlisted the help of A-list producers for a new record more accurately reflecting her life and superstar potential.
It’s possible that Stefani does not consider this her second solo record because of the extensive list of collaborators. She used everyone from Keane’s Tim Rice-Oxley to ex-band mate and ex-beau Tony Kanal to hip-hop hit-makers The Neptunes and Akon. Even her mom lent a helping hand by inspiring the lyrics to the album’s third track, “Orange County Girl.”
A romantic at heart, Stefani included plenty of love songs on The Sweet Escape, most likely about her rock star husband, Bush singer Gavin Rossdale. On the official Web site, she confessed that her favorite song on her sophomore disc is “4 in the Morning,” a soft, sweet ballad about giving everything to make true love work.
Like most of Stefani’s lyrics, “Orange County Girl” and “Don’t Get It Twisted” appear to be ripped from the pages of her diary. It’s no secret she always wanted to be a mom, most notably professing her desire in No Doubt’s “Simple Kind of Life” from the 2000 release Return of Saturn. Her wish came true in May 2006 when she gave birth to her first child, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale.
“I don’t see myself putting out a bunch of Gwen Stefani records,” she said after releasing Love, Angel, Music, Baby. “Who knows? I might have a baby and just want to stare at it all day and quit everything.” She announced her pregnancy near the end of the Harajuku Lovers tour, but instead of ending her career, the little bundle of joy was merely a detour.
Stefani acknowledged her temporary departure from the pop world on the Pharrell-produced “Yummy” while at the same time recognizing the demand for her return. “I know you’ve been waiting/But I’ve been off making babies/Like a chef making donuts and pastries,” she sings over the percussion-heavy rhythm that eventually spirals into an industrial breakbeat. She might be one of the only artists who can mention bakers, ovens and bongos in the same phrase and make it danceable.
Kingston James inspired more than one lyric on his mom’s new CD. “Don’t Get It Twisted” is a circus-tinged internal debate about whether Stefani is pregnant with her son: “Well, I guess I’m late again/What are you suggesting there now, Gwen?” Always creative with her words and finally realizing she is pregnant, Stefani sings “Twenty-eight days in a normal cycle/If I’m not mistaken/I think you might’ve made a goal” over a dark, ‘80s-style synth beat.
Another inspiration for The Sweet Escape, although unexpected, is magician Harry Houdini. “In the [“Wind It Up” music] video, you can see the key coming out of my mouth. When Houdini used to do his tricks, his wife used to pass the key from her mouth to his mouth,” Stefani explained. "It's the sweet escape, and I was thinking, ‘The key is the music. It all kind of ties up together.’"
On her first album, Stefani gave a playful rendition of “If I Were a Rich Man” from “Fiddler on the Roof,” turning out the hit collaboration “Rich Girl” with rapper Eve. She flaunted her love of musicals once again in the new record’s lead single, “Wind It Up.” Drawing on “The Lonely Goatherd” from “The Sound of Music,” she yodels her way over the pulsing dance beat.
The song started as a mash-up between “The Lonely Goatherd” and “Wind it Up,” a song Stefani wrote for an L.A.M.B. fashion show. Her twist on the classic musical led some critics to applaud her visionary approach and others to slam her efforts and declare that yodeling should stay in the Swiss Alps.
Like any record, some songs are weaker than others, but the majority is a solid musical
experiment. Stefani has remarkable ability to combine autobiographical lyrics with fun, dance-ready beats and girly, love songs on the same album. Some people won’t like The Sweet Escape, but Stefani’s capacity to evolve and her willingness to share her vision with the world continue to ensure her place as a constant fixture in the pop culture landscape.---
Visit Gwen Stefani’s official Web site at www.GwenStefani.com.