Cosmopolitan (March 2015)
Blonde Fury
Welcome to the Gwen-aissance. With a new album, a chair on The Voice, and an ever-growing fashion empire - and family - Gwen Stefani may not have the ‘simple kind of life’ she used to sing about, but you could argue she’s found something even better.
Perched in a makeup chair in Hollywood's Siren Studios, you'd never guess that Gwen Stefani is running on four hours of sleep…or that she has a brutal cold. She's so totally Gwen—deeming almost everything rad or awesome—that you're almost tempted to try the whole sleep deprivation/congestion thing yourself. Maybe it's the secret to Gwen's mojo, or maybe it's the Mucinex. Either way, her enthusiasm is contagious.
She has a lot to be stoked about. At 45, Gwen's career is more turbocharged than ever. In the past year, she's released new solo tracks (a full album is expected any day now), scrubbed in as a coach on NBC's The Voice, returned triumphant to New York Fashion Week, and oh yeah, had a kid. Of course the Gwen- dom wasn't built in a day. For more than two decades, she's been paving the way for countless celebs to tippy-toe in her stiletto'd footsteps. The whole star-starts-a-fashion- line thing? Gwen launched the irrepressibly hip L.A.M.B. line when Victoria Beckham was still rocking tube minidresses. New to the singer's portfolio: gx by Gwen Stefani, a collection of rad accessories, celebrates its first anniversary this month.
And while Gwen may not have a long list of ex-lovers—"I wasn't a huge dater," she says, "I've only had two boyfriends, and I married one of them! "—the confessional tunes she penned about her guys past (longtime bandmate Tony Kanal) and present (husband, Gavin Rossdale) presumably opened the door for that other ruby-lipped songwriter, Taylor Swift, to draft hits about John, Jake, and Harry. "I can relate to [Taylor] on that," Gwen says, adding, "she's awesome."
It was through songwriting that Gwen found her independence as more than just the frontwoman of No Doubt, the band she's been with for more than 25 years and with whom she's rumored to be working on a new studio album—its seventh. "When I discovered I could write songs, that gave me a power that I didn't have. Before that, I put all my energy into my relationships. Having something else I could put energy into, that I actually created, really changed who I was in the best way."
Perhaps the only party Gwen was late to (albeit fashionably) was Instagram. "It took me a while to get into it," she says. "It's so awkward! Who said it's okay for me to sit in my kitchen and take pictures of myself until I find one I like?" For starters, her 1.1 million followers. Her first post last year was a doozy, announcing the sex of her third child. In the picture, Gwen radiates in a plaid shirt and a crown. The caption: "I was ready to hand over the crown. But I guess I am still queen of the house #ItsABoy #SurroundedByBoys." By the look of her, Gwen was in a state of pregnant ska-goddess euphoria. Not so much. "Being pregnant was so shocking and totally unexpected," she says. "I was very sick—puking the whole time. I was in a little bit of a rut, being pregnant— even previous to getting pregnant," she admits. Then The Voice called.
It wasn't an easy yes. The woman who grew up jamming in SoCal garages struggled with the concept of being on a talent show: "It was hard to wrap my head around, but I needed a change creatively and it felt like something new, fresh." She soon found herself in the spinning chair vacated by Christina Aguilera. "Watching all these performances and being critical, it's a big responsibility and a new kind of inspiration I've never had. I wasn't expecting it." Still, she says she would never have auditioned for the show had it been around during her early days: "First of all, my kind of voice would never impress people. The Voice has amazing singers with acrobatic voices and you're like, Whoa! Technical! But in real life, the people who have made a big impact in history are people who don't have those kinds of voices. There are a few of them—like Whitney Houston, obviously. And Prince is an unbelievable singer, but he has so much character. As soon as his mouth opens, you know it's him, whereas some of these singers are generic-sounding. Even if you're perfect, you sound like a background singer if you don't have the character."
Character onstage, off, is one of Gwen's most irresistible—if inimitable—attributes. A fact with which husband, and Bush front-man, Gavin Rossdale would most definitely agree. Married for 12 years, they have one of music's most enduring unions. "We go through so much together—it's a miracle that we could stay together this long," she says. But she also credits their time apart. "[Gavin's] on a short tour right now, and he wrote me the sweetest note this morning," she says wistfully. "It's good to have those days when we both do our own things. I think that's what keeps relation ships going, when both people can be themselves and have their own individuality. That's especially important for women—it's hard to find time for yourself." I can't help but wonder, does she still look at Gavin like the rest of the world and think, Damn, he's fine!? "I do!" she laughs. "I never really saw myself landing a guy that hot. I don't know if I was a nerd in high school, but I definitely wasn't the super-cute cheerleader so I never saw myself getting somebody like that. But I do think he's quite handsome. It's not the most important thing about him, but it is nice…and he makes really cute babies!" Can't argue with her there. Gwen and Gavin's sons, Kingston, 8, Zuma, 6, and Apollo, 1, are already cooler than 99.9 percent of the guys in L.A.
Anytime Gwen can laud someone else in her professional life, she's quick to do so. "Charli XCX, Calvin Harris, Miguel—they gave me a gift," she says of the many collaborators on her third solo album. "And Sia, she's a fucking genius." But she gets especially gushy when talking about friend and fellow Voice coach Pharrell. Last spring, the super-producer behind her "Hollaback Girl" and latest single, "Spark the Fire," pulled off a Jedi trick of getting her to perform less than two months after delivering Apollo. For that, she's the most thankful: "My first time out of the house after having the baby was reuniting with him at Coachella. To see him go from being this producer to taking over the world and being a solo artist—he's just so talented."
Unlike many multiplatinum-record holders, Gwen isn't one to fashion herself an invulnerable music messiah. She's genuinely in awe of the lucky hand life's dealt her. Even more so now that she's charged with mentoring nascent talent on TV. "These girls are trying to 'make it,' and I've been thinking: What is making it?" she says. Growing up in Anaheim, "my parents taught us, '[music] is your hobby. People don't make it. It just doesn't happen.' It still shocks me that people care about me. I trip out about it all the time." She pauses, visibly trying to understand it all. "It's mind- blowing! For me, I've never gotten to a point where I felt, 'Okay, I've made it, I'm number one!' It's an amazing feeling to hit number one, but it's not that different a feeling from not being number one. It's really about the journey—that's where the joy comes. It's not about the end result, because there isn't really ever an end." A Gwen that never ends? We should be so lucky.
In Her Own Words
My nickname: "G"
The first concert I went to was: EMMYLOU HARRIS
I'd do anything to see perform live. BOB MARLEY
The last song I downloaded was: "SPARK THE FIRE" ROUGH MIX!!!
My first style role model was: ANGELO MOORE "FISHBONE"
If I were auditioning for The Voice, I'd sing: "I HAVE CONFIDENCE" SOUND OF MUSIC
And I'd choose as my coach: "P"
My notebook doodles look like this: DOODLE
The woman I look up to most is: MY MOM
Because: SHE IS SMART LOVING-THOUGHTFUL BEAUTIFUL — WISE-DEEP-SPIRITUAL — TRADITIONAL - AND SUPER RAD
THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO EVER LISTENED TO MY MUSIC - YOU HAVE GIVEN ME THE MOST AMAZING LIFE OF CREATIVITY KISS