MTV News (Sept. 21st 2012)

No Doubt say new single ‘Looking Hot’ was ‘almost thrown away’

‘It was one of those weird transitional songs,’ Gwen Stefani says of the latest cut from their Push and Shove album

No Doubt's long-in-the-works Push and Shove finally hits stores next Tuesday, and in the lead-up to its release, they've just sent another song to radio: "Looking Hot," which pairs club-ready thump with catwalk-approved strut (and, of course, throws in some easy, breezy horns, too ... some things never change).

In short, the song perfectly melds their skanking past with their shiny pop present, which is why it will probably come as a surprise to learn that it almost didn't make the cut for Push and Shove ... in fact, for a while there, No Doubt weren't sure if it was a song at all.

"The next single we're going to do is called 'Looking Hot,' and I love that song!" Gwen Stefani told MTV News. "[It] was one of those songs that was almost thrown away; it was an end of a song that turned into a chorus that ended up being [a song] ... it was one of those weird transitional songs."

And from those humble beginnings, the song has gone on to be one of their favorites on the album. Then again, to hear Stefani tell it, there's no shortage of faves on the album ... mostly because she's had so long to listen to it.

"Nobody really took CDs home to listen to stuff while we were making it, except for me, because that was my process of being able to see what we've got so far; I would drive home with the songs, and I've listened to this album so many times already," she laughed. "I've had different songs be my favorite songs. 'Gravity' was my favorite song for the longest time, and I feel that's like a girl song, like more girls will like that one. And I love 'Easy,' which was one of these songs that, like, had so many versions before we got to the final one, which is the perfect way it needed to be presented. But there really aren't any songs that I don't like on the record!"