Gwen: British GQ
Gwen Stefani: ‘We were a quirky, nerdy group that thought we’d never make it’
Gwen Stefani goes back to her beginnings, from her first gig to No Doubt's unlikely success story
At the start of 2021, Gwen Stefani shared the video to her reggae-tinged single “Let Me Reintroduce Myself”, paying tribute to an extraordinary career that has spanned more than three decades. Referencing iconic outfits all the way from the No Doubt days in the 1990s to the heights of her solo success in the mid-2000s, the visuals served as a fun, on-brand, colour-saturated reminder of Stefani’s place in pop culture, as well as a statement of intent for the star.
Calling it a comeback feels somewhat inaccurate, given Stefani’s five series-stint as a judge on The Voice US, appearance on Dua Lipa’s Club Future Nostalgia remix album and two big country hits with her fiancé Blake Shelton in 2020, but both “Let Me Reintroduce Myself” and today’s release, “Slow Clap”, mark the first time Stefani has given us solo music in five years (with the exception of a rereleased Christmas album). The three-time Grammy winner has teased more new material too, suggesting that a fourth album is indeed on the horizon.
To mark her glorious return, we spoke to Stefani to go back to the very beginning, from the very first No Doubt show to making her first million.
GQ: The first time you realised you wanted to be an artist…
Gwen Stefani: I was around 13 or 14 when I discovered music that was life-defining, so ska music, Madness, The Selecter. That said, I was really just following everything that my brother was doing at the time – he was the one bringing home all the records. I was very passive then; in my youth I didn’t really have big dreams at all. It wasn’t really until I started writing songs that I felt “OK, now I have a purpose.”
The first time you played in front of a live audience…
The very first thing was a high-school talent show, where my brother got us together with a bunch of kids and I just went with the flow. We were imitating that generation from the late 1970s, trying to be something cool. I wasn’t thinking about the music, all I cared about was having to make a dress, so my mother and I made a copy of the dress that Maria wears in The Sound Of Music when she sings “I Have Confidence”, the one the children call ugly. We did a cover of “On My Radio” by The Selecter and I didn’t even know the words by heart, I literally had a piece of paper with me on stage. We had so much fun with it and we got such a good reaction that we decided to form a band.
The first time you made money out of being a musician…
We had a band account, so at first everything we got paid as a band just went right back into what we were doing. I remember having to go to my dad and be like, “Can I have $5 to buy a microphone?” I went straight from my parents' house onto tour for two-and-a-half years, where we were getting per diems – we had a tour manager, so I was very naive about the finances. I had $1,000 when I left and when I came home I realised, “OK, I’m a millionaire.” I had to find a house and get a car. The first one I got was a 4Runner, which was not even fancy – it's a truck – but that was my dream car. I ended up buying a house and that was a huge investment.
The first karaoke song you always want to sing…
I never went to karaoke bars until I went on tour and the first time I did “Don’t Speak” in an Irish pub in Germany, right around the time it was No1 there, which I'll always remember. I also do a couple of covers in my Vegas show: Rihanna's “Umbrella”, because I always wish that was my song, and then “The Tide Is High” by Blondie.
The first time you felt like you made it…
It was doing a noontime concert at the college I was studying at, a Cal State College, where big bands such as Fishbone and Red Hot Chili Peppers had played previously. So many people had come from all over the place that the grass was torn up afterwards and I remember thinking, “Holy crap, we’re huge.” I went to class the next day and people were passing their notebooks down asking for my autograph. It was weird, being in two roles – a student and then also being in the band that played yesterday.
The first time you realised you were actually any good…
When I was a little girl, I liked to sing but I didn’t think I was good at it. I could mimic singers that I liked stylistically, but the furthest my dream extended was to jingles – I used to hope for a KFC commercial. The songwriting is what really changed my life, because once I had a problem and I could channel it. I wasn’t good at school: I was super naive and very sheltered. When I started to write I felt like I was dying, my older brother who was everything to me was quitting the band and the boyfriend who I depended on quit me, so I felt, “What do I do?” I wrote one song and then they just kept coming. Another milestone was playing our first show at a club as the only singer. This confidence just came out of me that night, I could control the audience and I just knew how to do it. I remember going into the parking lot after and thinking, “I might be good at this.” Performing became an instinct, a power that I had.
The first time you were given any really excellent advice…
When I started writing I showed the songs to my dad. He said that he’d played the cassette to someone at work and that they said the songs were really good and that I should keep doing what I’m doing. I remember him saying that and being like, “Woah, that's weird because I remember you saying to me this is just a hobby and don’t take it seriously,” because we were all going to college and trying to be something. He told me not to change my style or let anyone else change what I was doing, which was so important. We were really off the map: we were doing the opposite of what was popular at the time and we never thought we’d make it. We were this quirky, nerdy group and we were playing for our peers. The programme director at our local radio station said, “It will take an act of God to get you on the radio.” That is a real quote. I had written “Just A Girl” a year and a half before that song ever got on the radio. I wrote that song never thinking anyone would hear it except the people that would come to our show. It feels like a dream when I look back – the odds were against us and we were so not going for this big goal.
The first time you were starstruck…
My dad worked for Yamaha motorcycles my whole life, so he would go back and forth to Japan and that's how I became fascinated with Japanese culture. When I was around 12 or 13, they did a promotional photoshoot backstage at a huge The Police arena show and we got to go. Sting was there riding around on the motorbike that they were going to use for the shoot and my dad told me to go and ask him for an autograph. I did it and he was really rude! I understand now… You're playing a massive show and you're trying to ride this motorcycle, he obviously didn’t want some little girl coming up at that moment. Years later, I got to meet him many times and have dinner – I ended up doing the Super Bowl with him. He said that he’s had so many people say to him that he used to be a jerk!
The first time you got given a rider…
Around 1988, at a local show right at the start. It was a 12 pack of beers and I didn't even drink beer.