All hail the platinum blonde that made pop ace and Akon cool. I sat down with the Californian Grammy winner, who claims this is her last solo album… by Maddy Maspero

Last time you realized you’re an OG in this music game?
[Laughs] Yeah, it’s been a lot of years! I started in No Doubt when I was 17 and we were together for nine years before Tragic Kingdom came out. I’ve had this really long, slow career and I’ve experienced so many different sides to it. At the same time, it’s kind of like, “Oh man, I’m not at the beginning anymore.” But I’ve had such an incredible ride. It’s unbelievable.

Last time you thought about how fab your first solo album was?
You know, Love.Angel.Music.Baby was more like a record I wanted to make in my life. It was a dance record, a one-off. I wasn’t considering a solo career.

Last time someone asked you about your new album, The Sweet Escape?
Er, you, just now! After LAMB, I couldn’t creatively see myself going back, but I had a couple of songs in my computer. I went into the studio with Pharrell and wrote Orange County Girl, Wind it Up and Breakin’ Up. Before I knew it, I basically had a record. I actually ended up writing a lot of it after I had Kingston, which was weird because I thought I was done but I wasn’t. I kind of wanted to make one more. I’m greedy, I guess! I really enjoyed being able to indulge in my chessy, theatrical, fun, cartoony side. As soon as I finished recording it, I felt completed in that world and ready to go do a No Doubt record.

Last time you considered collaborating with your husband, Gavin Rossdale of Bush?
Well, I’ve actually sung a lot of background vocals for him, but it’s kinda like the generic, “Can you sing some background?” I’m in the house and I’m like, “OK”. I don’t know, I always thought it was sort of cheesy to work with your lover! Plus I kinda did that already with Tony so we’ve always kept it separate when it comes to creating things. Except for him (points at baby Kingston). I guess that was really creating something [laughs].

Last time you worked with a UK artist?
Well, Lady Sovereign is on my worldwide tour, and I personally requested her because I really liked her record. There’s not a lot of people right now that I would want to take on tour that mean anything,I just think she’s interesting.

Last time you worked with “hook-for-hire” Akon?
When I went into to work with Akon, I didn’t even know who he was. It was like my label forcing me to go to work with him and I said, “I really don’t wanna work with anyone new right now” so I cancelled it. They were like, “Cancel everything else, but don’t cancel this”. So I went in with him and he’s amazing. There was this instant friendship. We wrote Sweet Escape in, like, five minutes.

So is this really your last solo album?
As far as I know. I can’t predict the future. It’s all about the music and “What am I feeling musically?” I was feeling this ’80s dance record really hard… I just really wanted to do it. In my life, and where I’m at, I don’t want to waste any time. I want to keep doing this as long as I can, as you would if you were me. I feel very lucky and I don’t have any moments to spare. People are like, “Why don’t you take time off?” But why would I?

California dreamer Gwen Stefani has proven that she’s much more than “just a girl in the world.” Here the pop icon, new mom, and fashionista gets real about her baby, her band, and living in a bubble.

It’s Friday night in N.Y.C. when Gwen Stefani enters the conference room at the Ritz-Carlton, where I’ve been waiting for over an hour. There aren’t fireworks or rounds of applause or any big fanfare – actually, it’s not much different than when I entered the room, except that she’s Gwen Stefani and, well, I’m me. Her platinum hair is perfectly coiffed; her eyelashes are thick with mascara. She’s wrapped up in a long black coat that she seems to be getting lost in, and she’s holding her seven-month-old son, Kingston, who is decked out in a L.A.M.B onesie. It’s exactly what I imagined that scene would be like.

She sits down next to me and puts Kingston on the table; he smiles at me and I smile back, tempted to pinch his chubby baby cheeks. Gwen hands him off to his nanny and says she’ll see him in a bit. I feel a pang of guilt knowing I’m the reason for the handoff. She seems tired, leaning her head on her hand as we began to talk. Not surprisingly, she’s just as down-to-earth as she’s said to be. She doesn’t act like a rock star but more like an excited artist inspired by life. She reminds me of my friends.

It’s hard to imagine that it’s been almost 20 years since Gwen started her musical career, as a teenager singing backup vocals for her brother’s band in Anaheim, CA. In the years since, she’s succeeded in gaining widespread commercial success fronting No Doubt, as well as receiving numerous awards, but she’ll be the first to tell you, it’s still surreal. In 2002 Gwen married her long-time boyfriend, Gavin Rossdale, singer of British band Bush. A year later, L.A.M.B, Gwen’s clothing label, premiered with a line of bags by LeSportsac. That same year, No Doubt put out The Singles, a best-of record featuring songs from 1992-2003. With the band on a break, Gwen saw her chance to put out a solo record. In 2004, she released Love. Angel. Music. Baby, an ’80’s-inspired dance record. Then in May 2006, she gave birth to her first child, Kingston James McGregor Rossdale. With her second solo record, The Sweet Escape, out now, an upcoming world tour in April 2007, the Gwen Stefani Fashion Dolls, and two clothing lines – L.A.M.B and Harajuku Lovers – this 37 year old is only getting started, providing a bit of fireworks for old fans and new ones along the way.

When I asked one of the hardest working gals in showbiz questions about her life, music, and projects, she replies with well thought-out answers pulled quickly from her “I know exactly what to say” file. It makes me wonder if she’s protecting a secret or just protecting herself. She knows what we want to hear, and she says it. She’s not one to talk trash or start trouble. Gwen Stefani is happy being a good girl with perfect hair and perfect teeth. She doesn’t care what you say and, really, I love her for that.

Since this interview is going to appear in BUST’s “Love” issue, what are you lovin’ these days?
Well, everything I love has to do with that guy that was just in here. It’s really hard to focus on anything else. I really love having him in my life. It’s so insane, ’cause it makes everything so much funner, as you can imagine. Do you have any babies?

No. But I have a niece. She’s six. She’s rad.
I understand that, ’cause I have my niece who’s 11 now. She lived with me from when she was 2 until she was 5. And now, I have a nephew that’s 2 1/2. But when they’re yours and come out of your stomach, it’s really crazy.

Do your niece and nephew get along with Kingston?
Um, everybody’s obsessed with him.

Yeah? [laughs]
Like, we were sitting down at dinner the other night, and my stylist and hairdresser were trying to tell me how much they love him, and my video girl that makes my videos – they’re all, like my best friends – they’re like, “But you don’t understand, I don’t know why I love him so much,” and starting to cry.

Awwww!
And I’m like, “I know, it’s so crazy!” And then we’re all kind of crying about how much we love him. And we don’t really know why. Just that he’s so great. And he has such a great personality.

So, will there be more?
I hope so. You know, I was always worried about how I was going to fit [having babies] in.

Is is hard?
It’s definitely hard, but it’s nothing like I thought it would be. He’s just so chilled out and he goes everywhere with me, and I’m really lucky, because I have a job where I can take him everywhere, and it doesn’t matter. Like, I could have kept him in here with us if I really wanted to, but it would probably be distracting…

[Laughs]
…so, I was, like, I’ll get [the interview] done and then go have my hamburger upstairs with him. But I’m just really lucky, ’cause I can take him everywhere with me, and I have a nanny that can help me. If I had a job where I had to leave him somewhere and then go to work, that would be really hard. I wouldn’t wanna do that.

What do you think is the most important thing to teach him?
You know, I feel like I’m in this mode right now of trying to live in the moment. Gavin and I always wondered about things like, when are we gettin’ married? Where are we gonna live when we get married? If we have kids, where are we gonna raise ‘em? If I have a baby, how will I fit him into my life? But what I’m learning is to not to worry about those things and just let it happen. So, I’m not gonna think right now about what I’m gonna teach my son, I’m just gonna take everyday and love him, and let him have as much fun as he can. You can’t predict the future, but obviously, I also want him to be a good person. I never thought my life would be like this. I always just thought I’d end up being a mom and having kids. I mean, I do worry about “How will my life affect his life?” and I wonder if he’ll look back at me and think, “What a weird mom I had,” you know what I mean? [laughs]

What was growing up like for you?
I had a rad, super, really cool family. My parents met in high school. They fell in love. All they ever wanted was to have four children. And they had four children: two boys, two girls. Catholic. Everything was about us – every project, every weekend, every holiday. So I was really blessed. Also, my parents were really creative; my mom sewed, my dad did music.

So is that how you got into sewing? I know that you used to make your own clothes back when you first started No Doubt…
[I was sewing] before No Doubt, even. Like, my whole life. My mom made my clothes when I was a little girl, so every time we would have something come up, we’d go to the fabric store. We’d pick out the patterns, material, zippers, and buttons.

Does your mom still sew?
Well, she made Kingston one outfit so far. It’s this little outfit she makes for all the grandkids. Like, it’s not a christening outfit, but you know, it’s a cute little white thing.

So your mom’s a role model, obviously.
Oh, yeah. I guess you’d say my mom would be the one person that I look up to. She’s an amazing person.

What does she think of your life? I mean, I guess she’s used to it, by now…
You never get used to it.

Are you used to it?
Oh, no. You never get used to it. You still go, “Woah, this is crazy.”

Right, and you can’t just go like, “Oh, no. We’re out of milk. I’m just gonna run to the store.”
Yeah, it’s gotten kind of weird in that way. But the thing that I’ve been really lucky about is that it’s taken years to get to that. I mean, I started in about ‘87! In the ’80s!

Crazy.
So like, I’ve been doing this forever. And the first nine years, I was just a big fish in a small pond. It wasn’t until I was 26 that we started having commercial success, so it was this gradual kind of thing, over this long period of time. But it has gotten kind of crazy on a different level, recently, with the baby and everything. I mean, I’ve always had paparazzi at my house, but not at that level where they’re there every single day, in lawn chairs waiting for me. It was, like, really to another level.

You have some pretty serious fans. Is it more guys or girls?
I have more of a girl audience, which is really awesome. The one thing that got me through my whole pregnancy tour was seeing those girls from around age 8 to 14 at their first concert. I look out and I see myself in ‘em, and there’s just something about that. I just always have this place in my heart for that age, you know, where you’re just getting into music and you’re getting into your style and defining who you are through what you’re into.

What were you like at that age?
In eighth grade, I was chubby, and my little sister, my brother, and I were just getting into Madness and discovering England, all the ska music – Fishbone, and the Untouchables, and the Specials, the Selector, Bad Manners. My friends and I were into that music, so that defined our group of people. I thought we were really cool ’cause we had that. We knew that we were not part of the popular group, but we didn’t care, because we were into this [music]. I loved that time period. It defined who I was.

I read somewhere that Courtney Love was talking about how you were such a good girl and you have a good-girl image. Is that true? Do you have a bad girl side?
No, I’ve always been pretty much a goody two shoes. I never saw the point of trying to be bad. I want to be a good person. I just like being creative and making things. I don’t wanna be a drug addict. I don’t wanna miss part of my life because I did that.

Do you consider yourself a feminist?
Well, I’d have to get a definition of it, first. I mean, I’m pro-woman, and I feel like I’m in an exceptionally lucky position being in an all-guy group and being able to do music. And clearly, I work with a lot of women — my video directors, my stylists, my management. Working with L.A.M.B and all the people around me, I definitely have been able to see the power of my position. So I guess I don’t want to say I am a feminist because nobody will ever define it for me.

Do you think women play an important part in rock?
It seems like rock is pretty much nonexistent at the moment and pop and hip-hop have taken over, and in the hip-hop world, I see that it’s been very male-dominated. The pop world is pretty much female-dominated, but it’s embarrassing, you know? I love pop music, and I’m very easily entertained. And I’m not very hypercritical, but there’s a lot of really bland, manufactured, disgusting stuff out there.

Like what?
I’m not going to give you specifics. I’m no good girl if there’s bashing on people.

What do you think about the critics calling your new record “pop fluff?”
They’re exactly right. It’s called The Sweet Escape. That was the idea. I didn’t want this process to be painful. I made [the album] right after I had the baby, and some of it I did when I went down to work with Pharrell, which was like a year ago. When I was doing those songs, there was really no direction; there wasn’t anything so deep, it was just the idea of dance music. Although I did end up writing “Orange County Girl” because I was thinking, “Flying first class into Miami to work with one of the greatest producers of modern times — how the fuck did I get here?” Like how did this happen to me? How can I be so lucky?

Do you write all your own songs?
I’m part of every single song. When I came out with both of these records, I told everybody they weren’t solo records, because they’re collaboration records. What happens is, you go in and they’ll have a track for you, and sometimes there’ll be a hook, meaning a chorus or a melody for a chorus. Most of the time, it’s the words I’m doing on these records. And the idea is to just go in and collaborate. It’s hard on your ego, especially if you’re used to doing the whole thing yourself or with a band. But there’s also something great about being part of collaboration.

This might be shit-talkin’ but I read on a blog somewhere that someone said that Fergie is totally biting your style. Agree? Disagree?
You know, I took Black Eyed Peas on my last tour, and she’s a really nice girl, and if she bit anything off of me, it would be a compliment.

That’s a great answer.
But it’s the truth. I have seen a bit of wake from the last album – of things that happened [that seem to be] inspired by [it] – and it’s a really incredible feeling. It really is inspiring to me, because it makes me move forward. I’m not saying, “She did that and I’m moving on” or anything, I’m just saying that anything that happened after that record is inspiring me to move forward.

How do you handle the critics?
The thing is, I never do anything for anyone but myself. It’s very selfish. I don’t do anything unless I’m completely passionate about it, so what can you do? You put stuff out there, and they’re always gonna say something negative. There’s just no way around it. And, sometimes when they get it so wrong, I’m like “That’s so wrong. That was so not the way I intended for you to see it.”

What about the stuff that Margaret Cho wrote on her blog about the Harajuku Girls being a racist stereotype. How do you not let that hurt you?
It didn’t hurt me. It made me embarrassed for her, because she did not do the research. She’s totally wrong. Basically, if you look at the lyrics of “Harajuku Girls,” all it is is me glorifying a culture and saying how great and how stylish and how much of a fan I am of these girls and how inspired I am. And if you go to my website, HarajukuLovers.com, you can see interviews with all the girls talking about where they came from, who they are. They inspired my entire last album. The whole thing was my fantasy come true. It’s an art project. She embarrassed herself. She needs to go back and do the research before she talks shit.

When you’re at home and it’s just you and your family, what’s home life like?
I don’t have a lot of spare time. Like, if you want a day-in-the-life kind of thing, I’ll wake up with my baby and nurse him. I’m still nursing, so that’s one way that I get to make sure that we’re always together. Then I go and have to work out, which I hate doing, and I do it because it makes me feel good. And then it’s e-mails and we’re just there at the house. There’s never any real free time. I mean, like tonight after this [interview], I’ll go back up to the hotel room and I’ll have my hamburger, and I’ll play with Kingston, and we’ll go to sleep.

Are you gonna take Kingston on tour? Does Gavin go on tour also?
We haven’t fully figured that out yet. I mean, Gavin did go out on the last tour, but it wasn’t for very long. Kingston will probably come out to a lot of it, I’m sure. Gavin is working on a record right now, too. We’re kind of used to being apart from each other. Something kind of makes it good, ’cause when you have time apart, you have time to be yourself and be creative and be selfish, and then when you have time together, you get to be excited about each other. I think it’s kind of a good for the relationship.

Do you ever face temptations when you’re on the road? I mean, do you have groupies?
Oh, you mean all the guys that wanna get with me and wanna marry me? I don’t really have that problem. Never have.

What about Gavin? I’m sure he has groupies.
Well, Gavin’s always gonna be a chick magnet. And I always have to have a gun right in my pocket, just in case. [laughs]

Do you have any crazy stalker fans?
I don’t, really. I’ve been living in a bubble, you know what I mean? I just moved to a new house that has a gate behind a gate, because it was just getting out of control at my other house; you couldn’t really go anywhere. Now that I’m in the new house, my life’s a little more normal again, because I can go places and there’s not 100 cars following me, you know what I mean? It’s not the people that make it weird; it’s the paparazzi that make it weird. It’s nothing that I’m complaining about, ’cause it’s just part of it and it’s not gonna be forever. It’s just a moment, but it’s more normal now that I have more privacy in that house.

Are you living in California?
We have a place in London, too, ’cause when we met, [Gavin] had that place, and we just go back and forth. But mostly we’re in LA, especially since the baby. But you know, I’m really busy most of the time. When I’m not doing music, I’m designing, and I work a lot out of the house. I don’t really go that many places. And I really like it. I really like what I do. Like I said, I usually try to work out every day, and then I have my meetings, and everyone comes to me. So like, you know, they come over, and all the bags that I just designed will be spread all over the house. We fix them, we talk about it, we create the next ones. And the meetings go by like that [snaps], and Kingston will be sitting on my lap. We’re playing and ordering lunch from Jerry’s Deli and everybody’s over and it’s superfun. Next thing you know, four hours have gone by, and then I have to do e-mail.

What do you do to chill?
I like to lie in bed and watch movies and eat. I don’t cook, but Gavin cooks. And we just like that kind of stuff, chilling out like that. Just hanging out and eating and watching TV and playing with the baby.

I remember No Doubt had a Vans shoe. Is there gonna be a Gwen Stefani Vans shoe?
Well, there’s the tennis shoe that L.A.M.B did that are really cool. I just came from the L.A.M.B showroom, and there were big boards up of all the fantasy clothes that I’d ever want, and then you just try to convince everyone on the team that they’re gonna be great, and then we make ‘em. And I’m also developing a fragrance. This is it. See if you can smell it. [holds out wrist]

Ooh, I can.
It’s really amazing to be able to do a fragrance. The creative process has been so fun. Yesterday we had this long meeting with “the nose” – the chemist that develops the fragrance. You smell all these different versions and my friends will come and I’ll be like “Spray this one, spray that one, which one do you like?” This is all day long. You keep trying to get that right smell – “Add a little more of this, add a little more of that.” It’s a weird, creative process.

Cool.
That’s just everything outside of music, which to me is the thing that defines who I am, that really makes me most proud. The other stuff is just fun. It’s creative, but not emotionally draining and exhausting. It’s kind of like making cookies.

With thanks to Jenny Fowler at Beacon-Street.net

She’s the consummate multi-tasker

Grammy-winning frontwoman of No Doubt, multiplatinum solo artist, deisgner of two clothing lines, wife of rocker Gavin Rossdale and, in less than two months, mother of their first child. Last week, at home in her 1923 Spanish-style home in Los Feliz, Ca., Gwen Stefani still looked the part, wearing maternity jeans, a vintage sweater dress belted above her bump and Rasta-hued Christian Louboutin espadrilles. In her first sit-down interview since announcing her pregnancy, Stefani opened up about her music, her fashion career, her body and her great expectations.
You seem happy to be hanging out at home.
I love this place so much. I’ve been here since about 1998, right after the Tragic Kingdom album. I moved out of my parents’ house into this, and I finally got my studio done. But obviously, we’re probably going to to have to move once I have the baby. My husband wants to write songs, and there’s no more room. He can’t have a studio next to the baby’s room. This house is really great for singing if you’re the only person in it.

How are you feeling today?
Right now I’m sort of in lazy mode. I’m obsessed with watching TV and eating [laughs]. But seriously, this is great. It’s the first time I’ve had to focus on designing since I’ve kind of put the music on hold, and it’s been really fun. Everyone comes to the house and we sit here in the living room and have cookies and design. It feels good not to be double-dipping the whole time, because when you are performing, touring and doing appearances, it’s hard to balance both. It takes a lot of energy. The week before, I worked on L.A.M.B. spring 2007 three full days straight and we rolled into Harajuku Lovers that Thursday. After a certain point, it gets hard to see straight.

Compare Harajuku Lovers and L.A.M.B.
There’s nothing to be compared about the two, but at the same time, it’s a challenge for them not to copy each other, because they’re both me. L.A.M.B.’s my serious art project and my passion, and Harajuku Lovers is part of a bigger picture. With music, you do the actual songs, the videos, the artwork, the Web site and now you can do clothes to go with it. So that’s all one big creative pile.

Describe the creative process behind L.A.M.B.
I used to get really bummed about having to drop something, or if things didn’t work out. Now I just realize it’s going to come, and if I don’t get to it in one collection, I can do it in the next. It’s not as hard as music because the ideas just seem to come. With [fall 2006] for instance, a girlfriend of mine wore this dress when we were in Lake Como doing the video for ”Cool” and it became one of the inspirations, a toal 1950s, Marilyn Monroe-on-the-beach thing. It was very specific, whereas [spring 2007] is a little broader, but it definitely has a theme. I don’t want to give it away, but we just did the sketches and it’s going really well.

What do you love most about designing?
It’s not the outcome or the product. At the end of the day, it’s the actual process that I enjoy and it’s also the potential with everything. It’s the same with songwriting. I never listen to the record, but I listen to the demos an embarrassing amount of times because it’s the potential of what the song could be or what a bag could be.

What do bags mean to you?
I never carried a bag before I did the LeSportSac line. I just always felt like it was too much of a fiddly, girly thing. I’ve been in a band for 20 years years with all guys. I had a backpack, you know? Now I feel I never will have enough bags because when I leave the house, [paparazzi] always take pictures, and if I wear a bag like two or three times, they are like, ‘Whoa, she’s wearing the same bag!’ But so does everyone else.

What is it like to see girls and women wearing your products?
At first it was really uncomfortable putting it out there, but the reaction was so warm. It’s not quite as emotional [as music], but when you find something that’s your thing… I’ve seen people own those bags like they made them, walking across the street like it defines who they are. And that’s where it started.

Even after seven L.A.M.B. collections, do you ever feel like a fashion novice?
I didn’t go to school for this, but making clothes is something I’ve done my whole life, so it’s not new to me – but at this level, of course, it’s brand new. I don’t know anything, but I enjoy that and the whole vibe of the fashion world, even though I don’t know the rules. I’m just making my thing and hope that people enjoy it and apprecaite the stage I’m at. You can’t expect it to be anything more than it is.

What’s next, design-wise?
With L.A.M.B., I definitely want to focus on the bags, but I’m still doing the tennis shoes. I also convinced the tennis shoes to make boots, and now we are doing stilettos. I’m also doing watches. You can imagine the amount of artwork and e-mails that I have to approve, so I don’t really want to take on too much. But I want to do lingerie and makeup at some point. I want to do everything, eventually.

What about baby clothes?
It’s easy to downsize for kids and babies in Harajuku Lovers, but apart from that, I’m not going there. But we are doing some L.A.M.B. baby tennis shoes, little gold ones. You wouldn’t believe it. They are so cute. They are ridiculous.

How are you dealing with your ever-changing shape?
I’m sick of maternity clothes, but people are really sweet. No matter how big I feel, they say, ‘Well, you look cute’.  My body’s changing every week. I’ve gained eight pounds in the last month alone, but it’s all going to be worth it. And my husband has made me some really great meals and I’ve been eating whatever I want, trying to enjoy the moment. There’s only one time it happens for the first time.

Is it hard for someone as active as you to see yourself gain weight and slow down when all you want to do is jump around?
Well, I’m looking forward to my [post-pregnancy] diet. And then I’m going to train. But I have been working out. That’s the one thing I’ve been strict about, three days a week with a trainer. You should have seen me try to work out this morning. Oh, my God, it’s getting so hard. I do those stairs up there [pointing to the terraced steps behind her house].

What’s next, music-wise?
I have some songs that are left over from my last record, and I wrote four new songs as I was finishing it. One of them is called ”Orange County Girl”, which is one of my favorite songs ever. It’s really close to being done, but as time goes by, I might have to write some new ones to freshen it up. I went in the studio and I’ve been trying to write, but it just hasn’t come, so I’ve finally gotten to a place of guilt-free relaxation. I will try again, but now is obviously not the right time. But I want to put that record out. It would be a waste not to.

What about No Doubt?
I’m going to go back in the studio with the band to try and see what we can do together, which is going to be a huge, weird reunion. We don’t know if we go back what kind of music we’ll write, if we can write. We just don’t know. And then, being a mom… I don’t know what that’s going to be like.

It seems like a very transitional time for you.
Yes, everything is new for me right now, It’s a weird crossroads, the beginning of a lot, the closure of a lot. This is all about nesting and getting inspired. But [making a downward whooshing motion above her belly] I know one thing is coming out for sure!