Gwen Stefani Without No Doubt

In 1996 Gwen Stefani wrote a song proclaiming her “girl” status (“Just a Girl”), and it catapulted her and her No Doubt band mates from Orange County underdogs to universal rock stars. Nearly a decade later, she’s out to reiterate her adolescence with her first solo effort, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. But venturing out alone is a big step for a girl, even when she’s 35. ...

From "No Way, Eric" to 26 Million Sold
When Stefani’s brother, Eric, began No Doubt in high school nearly 20 years ago, he had to coerce his sister to sing backup. After then-front man John Spence tragically committed suicide, Stefani had to be persuaded to take his place. And when bassist and first love Tony Kanal broke up with Stefani after a seven-year relationship, she needed even more prodding to continue. Then, as if a dam broke, Stefani began pouring out song after song of lost love and shattered innocence. Her raw honesty connected with people, especially No Doubt’s younger audience.

By the late 1990s, the group’s blend of ska, reggae and rock was no longer alternative, it was mainstream pop—sung to the tune of 26 million albums and three Grammys. With Stefani’s now-honed rock-star charisma, magazine-cover looks and chic fashion sense, the singer quickly became a paparazzi favorite.

Marketers, meanwhile, saw her as a cross-generational goldmine. For Love. Angel. Music. Baby. label execs brought in no fewer than 20 all-star producers, artists and songwriters to give her a major music makeover. Stefani has already rolled out her own clothing line (after years of watching young girls emulate her makeup and clothes). And she’s currently appearing in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator—fittingly, as larger-than-life starlet Jean Harlow.

Did Marketing Kill the No Doubt Star?
So much attention and opportunity can drown an artist. Love. Angel. Music. Baby. saturates itself in a celebration of Stefani as a musical and pop-culture idol. So much so, in fact, that Stefani feels left out of her own party. “Everyone keeps calling it a solo record,” she says. “If I was doing a solo record, that would be like, finally, me … finally this is the real Gwen Stefani. It’s not that. This album is actually less of me than I’ve ever been before.”

Maybe that explains this dilemma. On the one hand, Stefani preaches a few virtuous messages. “What You Waiting For?” the album’s first single, encourages female listeners to “take a chance” for the sake of growth. She assures the typical 13-year-old that “you’re capable” and “born to blossom.” In “Rich Girl” money doesn’t mean happiness. And Stefani even esteems long-lasting friendships on “Cool.”

On the other, however, Gwen goes wild. She shows up in Blender seductively posing in a bustier. She wears just as little in liner photos for Love. Angel. Music. Baby. And she lets loose sexual innuendoes in “Bubble Pop Electric,” playing the high school sex kitten while OutKast’s Andre 3000 plays the date picking her up (“Tonight I’m gonna give you all my love in the back seat ... Gonna speed it down and slow it up in the back seat”). Things get even more explicit when a play on words turns “drive-in movie” into “drive in move me” and finally “drive into me.” In “Crash” Stefani oozes sex throughout the song’s chorus as she sings (and moans), “Drive back baby, do me fast in your car ... Crash, and do me real hard.” (Add to the immaturely sexualized automobile fixation unwholesome language. The s-word serves as the cornerstone for every verse, chorus and bridge on “Hollaback Girl.”)

Torn Between Two Images
So who is Gwen Stefani? Is she just a girl in love with clothes and Japanese jewelry who gushes about girl power and boy crushes? Or is she a siren who’s sold her soul to the marketing gods salivating over her potential tween appeal? It's a tough call, but Love. Angel. Music. Baby. makes it hard not to favor the latter.

The disc is supposed to be an ’80s throwback inspired by good-time dance tunes from the likes of Madonna, Prince and Lisa Lisa. Stefani says the notion of seventh-graders slow dancing to “Cool” is “so perfect. ... The thing about my record is you can try to not like it. You can try. But you know what? It’s gonna be your guilty pleasure. I just know it!”

Which is exactly what should make fans wary.