TODAY (Jan. 20th 2015)

Gwen Stefani

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Well, this morning she's announcing that she is heading back on stage for a solo performance. E!'s Jason Kennedy sat down with her to talk about what she calls her year of surprises.

(Begin VT)

JASON KENNEDY: She is just a girl known for her dance beats and (unintelligible), ready to take the stage solo for the first time in almost a decade performing the chart toppers that helped her sell more than thirty million albums and earned her three Grammy Awards.

You said this is surreal. Someone who has had so much fame, so much success but this is all still so surreal for you.

GWEN STEFANI: It never gets old. I mean it always is exciting and it's always surprising to me that anyone's interested or that I get to do all this fun stuff and I feel so grateful. I had the fastest year ever, full of surprises. Surprise, you're pregnant. What? Like I'm going to have another boy? Who said? You know, and then I have him and they called me to do The Voice.

(Excerpt from The Voice)

GWEN STEFANI: And now I just started listening to all my old songs again and I'm learning them all.

JASON KENNEDY: Do you still remember all the lyrics to your hits?

GWEN STEFANI: No.

JASON KENNEDY: No?

GWEN STEFANI: I don't remember any of the lyrics. It was such a moment in time.

JASON KENNEDY: A moment that Stefani hopes to repeat after the solo concert when she heads back to the studio to record a new album.

I'm just curious if you're going to do anything different this time around when you walk into the studio.

GWEN STEFANI: It's not like I have a plan. I think that when I did the original records, there was a clear direction and this time it's a little bit more open.

JASON KENNEDY: She's already released two singles, Baby Don't Lie and Spark The Fire on which she collaborated with her Voice co-star Pharrell Williams for the fourth time in her career.

Help us understand what clicks between you and Pharrell.

GWEN STEFANI: I don't know. I mean Pharrell and I are like an unexpected surprise. He has a gift of being able to inspire you and motivate you.

JASON KENNEDY: Her creative life coexists with that of her family. She is a mom to three boys, eight-year-old Kingston, six-year-old Zuma and eleven- month-old Apollo.

GWEN STEFANI: And try to be self-centered and just all about you and that's what it really takes to write songs. But I'm trying to divide my time between being, you know, a parent and song writing and, you know, it's just-- it's crazy. But I do have a lot of incredible people around me helping me

JASON KENNEDY: One of those people, her husband of twelve years, musician Gavin Rossdale.

Twelve years is a long time in rocker years.

GWEN STEFANI: I would have to-- I would say it's a long time. If I look back on the whole thing, the one thing that's been constant is that we both want the same thing. We both want to be married and we both want to have-- be good parents. And so I feel really proud of what we've done together, you know, and that we don't-- you're going to get me cry. No, now I'm going to get emotional but I did feel proud of it.

JASON KENNEDY: Proud of her career and family that she would say is Hella Good and Only Getting Better. For TODAY, Jason Kennedy, Los Angeles.

(End VT)