Entertainment Weekly (Dec. 1st 2017)

Gwen Stefani Sparks The (Christmas) Fire

'Tis the season to feel hella good: The No Doubt frontwoman, 48, has a new album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, out now, and an NBC holiday special airing Dec. 12 at 9 p.m

Your third solo LP, This Is What the Truth Feels Like, just came out last year. You must have been on a roll creatively.

I didn't think I'd make another record. When I pray, I pray for guidance, and when those little sparks of ideas come out of nowhere, I just have to believe that is what it is. When [this idea] came to me, I texted my managers, and within a week I had a session.

What drew you to a Christmas album?

I love the idea of being part of that joy of Christmas by having a record that will be an annual thing. I really hope we hit on something that people want to hear every year. That would be the fantasy, to be Mariah Carey. Who else has done it? Not a lot of people!

Along with covering classics like "Let It Snow," you co-wrote six original songs. Did they come easy?

I was at [boyfriend] Blake [Shelton]'s ranch in Oklahoma and there are all these animals, like wildebeests! It's just Jurassic Park. I decided to go for a run. I was out there thinking to myself, "If I wrote a Christmas song, what would it be?" And literally this whole chorus comes out of my mouth! I was just singing out loud, myself with the wildebeests, this song called "Christmas Eve." [Laughs]

Are you thinking of another solo LP?

I'm not writing at all. [Laughs] I don't ever write until I have to. But last week I was fantasizing about doing a record. I have to be really picky because of time, because of my kids. But I think about it a lot.