TV Insider (Dec. 12th 2017)

3 Things to Know About Gwen Stefani's Christmas Special

When Gwen Stefani set out to make her first Christmas special, the singer and fashion designer says that one question topped her list: What are the costumes going to be? The answer is that there will be lots, and they will be glam. “I don’t know how many pairs of fishnets I went through—I got fishnet rug burn!” she says with a laugh. Of course, there will be far more than her signature style on display during the hourlong extravaganza—an homage to the tinseled variety programs of yesteryear—including skits featuring comedians Chelsea Handler and Ken Jeong and a duet with Stefani’s real-life squeeze (and costar from The Voice), Blake Shelton. Here, Stefani gets us into the spirit.

You recently released a new holiday album, and now you’re doing this special. Christmas 2017, here you come! 

There’s something great about this time of year! The air changes, the Hallmark Channel movies start coming on—I love it. Getting to be part of people’s lives through music, especially for a joyful celebration at Christmastime? It doesn’t get any better!

Much of your two-year romance with Blake Shelton has unfolded on TV. What was it like filming your joint ­rendition of “You Make It Feel Like Christmas”? 

It was for sure one of my favorite moments, and hopefully we were able to capture that. There were probably 2,000 people, all friends and family, in the theater, and it was a really electric audience. Looking at Blake and singing this song that we’d written ­together—which feels like such an extension of both of us—was so special.

Will your three sons (Kingston, 11, Zuma, 9, and Apollo, 3) also make an appearance? 

A little. We share a tradition that we do every year at my house, which is creating a wall out of wrapping paper for Santa to break through to deliver the presents. When we re-created it for the special, my kids were asking, “But are there presents on the other side?” I was like, “No, it’s just for TV!”