Billboard (Nov. 6th 2004)
Gwen's Dance Step
To hear No Doubt front-woman Gwen Stefani tell it, she's just a girl from Orange County following a dream, ''I’m just like you, except I write songs," Stefani says. "I feel like I'm doing something right. And right now, I feel like I'm in a good place in my life."
Indeed. Stefani-rock star, fashion entrepreneur (clothing line LAMB.), actress (Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," due in December), wife of Bush vocalist/guitarist Gavin Rossdale, pop culture icon is gearing up for the next chapter in a prolific career.
Her solo debut album-or as she prefers to call it, "my side project"-"Love, Angel, Music, Baby" arrives Nov. 23 in the United States (and one day earlier in Europe) from Interscope.
The disc will also be available in a deluxe limited edition. This fabric-wrapped, gold-embossed Digipak, with a case designed by Stefani/L.A.M.B., will retail for less than $30.
"Love, Angel, Music, Baby" is a global priority for the label-encompassing TV appearances, Internet initiatives and grassroots lifestyle marketing.
"Gwen is the kind of person with the potential to move the needle of popular culture," Interscope Geffen A&M chairman Jimmy lovine says. "She comes from a different place; she has her own lane. This is her very own concept album."
Stefani is more direct. "This is my dance record," she says of the set. "I had always wanted to do a dance record, but 'dance' is misleading [because] the definition of 'dance music' around the world is so different."
Stefani's "dance record"-not to be confused with today's four-on-the-floor underground club music-is steeped in all things '80s, from Lisa Lisa and Debbie Deb to Depeche Mode and the Cure, from Prince and Club Nouveau to Missing Persons and L'Trimm.
Stefani credits No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal with exposing her to these sounds. "I was a strict ska girl until I met Tony," she says. "He was always listening to all this stuff that you would hear when you went dancing at Knott's Berry Farm-like I did."
She adds, "Everyone I worked with [on this album] was under strict instructions as far as inspiration goes. I wanted to recapture the feeling I had when I first heard those songs."
"Love, Angel, Music, Baby" includes the work of numerous producers, song-writers and musicians: Dr. Ore and Eve ("Rich Girl"), the Neptunes ("Hollaback Girl"), Wendy & Lisa and New Order's Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner ("Real Thing"), Dallas Austin ("Cool"), Out-Kast's Andre 3000 ("Long Way to Go"), Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis ("Harajuku Girls") and Kanal ("Serious"). Stefani co-wrote all the tracks on the album.
Lead single "What You Waiting For?"-which ascends The Billboard Hot 100 to No. 63 this issue-was penned with Linda Perry; Nellee Hooper produced it.
"It wasn't about me having to create every part," Stefani says of the album. "It was about me driving the car, making the rules. Because I let so many other people in, this record is less of me than a No Doubt record. I see it as one big collaboration."
In the studio, Austin says, he and Stefani "carried on like eighth-grade friends discussing our favorite '80s songs. It was not a generic recording experience. It was unique for both of us."
Austin stresses that it was important for Stefani to make a record that was not too close to No Doubt's sound. "She would often say, 'I must preserve the band's integrity.' She's very sincere, very pure."
For Iovine, the set is a modern take on a pop album. "The whole thing, the whole vibe, from start to finish, explains where she is at this point in time," he adds.
That said, Stefani-who has collaborated with Eve ("Let Me Blow Ya Mind") and Moby ("South Side") in recent years-acknowledges that she had a goal: "I was not looking to make an art record. I was looking to make a specific record that would be everyone's guilty pleasure. There was no room for anything but singles on this album."
Delivered to radio in mid-September, "What You Waiting For?" has found a hungry audience at stations in several formats, including mainstream top 40 KIIS Los Angeles and WAKS Cleveland, adult top 40 KFMB San Diego and WVRV St. Louis and modern rock KROQ Los Angeles and CIMX Detroit.
"It says a lot about Gwen and her music that we're getting a great response from different formats," notes Steve Berman, Interscope Geffen A&M head of marketing and sales. "She is a prolific artist who has pushed herself creatively with this record."
KIIS added "What You Waiting For?" at the end of September. "It was one of those tracks that instantly shot to No. 1 phones," associate PD/music director Julie Pilat says. "Weeks later, it is still huge. People cannot seem to get enough of it."
This response bodes well for "Love, Angel, Music, Baby," which, given Stefani's history, could well be a multiformat smash.
"There is definite interest surrounding this album-and it goes beyond pop consumers," notes Jim Kaminski, pop/rock buyer for Tower Records in New York's Greenwich Village. He cites a recent in-store with Sum 41, during which "lots of people were inquiring about Gwen's album. It's not uncool to like Gwen and No Doubt, which explains why the group's albums continue to sell."
In the United States, No Doubt has album sales of 15 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "Tragic Kingdom" (1996), which spent nine weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard 200, accounts for 8 million of those. "Return of Saturn" (2000), "Rock Steady" (2001) and "The Singles: 1992-2003" (2003) peaked at No. 2, No. 9 and No. 2, respectively.
The group's new Interscope collection, "Everything in Time (B-Sides, Rarities, Remixes)," entered The Billboard 200 at No. 182 last week.
No Doubt has scored six top 40 hot 100 singles, three of which went top 10 (including "Hey Baby"). The band also notched five top 10 hits on the Mainstream Top 40 chart (including "Don't Speak," which clocked 10 weeks in the pole position) and five top 10s on Modern Rock Tracks (including "Just a Girl").
Outside the United States, "The Singles: 1992-2003" shipped 1.5 million units, according to the label. The set's single, a cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life," is the longest-lasting track on Nielsen Music Control's European Airplay chart, having spent 52 weeks so far in the top 100.
Now, "What You Waiting For?" is being played on such top 40 outlets as BBC Radio 1 and Capital Radio in Britain. This has set the stage nicely for Stefani's album, according to Jurgen Grebner, London-based W of marketing for Interscope Geffen A&M at Universal Music International.
"We want to establish her as an artist in her own right," Grebner says. "We will not consciously market her as 'the voice of No Doubt.' We will position her as the next pop icon."
Stefani commences a two-week TV and press promotion tour Nov. 7. She will visit Germany, France and the United Kingdom. She will also perform at the 2004 MTV Europe Music Awards Nov. 18 in Rome.
In the States, Stefani will participate in MTV's Spanking New Music Week, which kicks off Nov. 8. She also will perform the opening number at the American Music Awards Nov. 14. She is confirmed to appear on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and at the Billboard Music Awards.
Internet initiatives include AOL's Sessions and First View and launch.com's artist of the month for November. "Because Gwen has such an expansive fan base," Berman says, "we are aligning her with places where she can touch as many people as possible."
Whether Stefani takes "Love, Angel, Music, Baby" on the road remains to be seen. "Touring is something I've done a lot of in my life, and right now it's about doing stuff I've never done before -like dancing to my own song in a club," Stefani says. "But I can't picture myself touring without No Doubt."
Speaking of No Doubt (as she often does), Stefani hopes hardcore and casual fans alike will welcome her album. "I have all the respect for everyone [who has] ever supported No Doubt around the world," she says. "But if I'm being honest, when I'm making songs I'm only thinking of myself. I had a specific thing I wanted to try [with this album], and now I'm ready to share it with people."
As far as the next No Doubt album, Stefani says "We've talked about it, but there are no definite plans. Tom [Dumont has] been producing for other artists and he [recently] got married. I have this record. Tony's producing the artist Elan. And Adrian [Young], who has been touring with Bow Wow Wow, has a 2-year-old and is golfing everyday. After all the hard work, we're focusing on ourselves for the moment. We'll see what happens next."