Tag: Pharrell Williams

Gwenopolis

Having just come off a world tour promoting her record-breaking solo career and right before she steps into the studio with her old cohorts No Doubt, singer Gwen Stefani is flying too fast and bright to slow down. It’s safe to say that Stefani has become one of the gods of today’s pop music world, with plenty of devoted followers. Welcome to Gwenopolis.

A few days before I’m supposed to meet Gwen Stefani in Los Angeles for this interview, I just happen to run into her in a Virgin Megastore. Not surprisingly, Gwen is striking-movie-star blonde, impossibly big brown eyes, impeccable style. She also happens to be standing in a clear plastic box and is approximately 12″ tall. It’s the “Hollaback Gwen” doll, a fascinating (and, in this case, adorable) barometer of fame. It’s one thing to acquire international pop-star status, your own fashion empire, a level of wealth unimaginable to most humans, and what appears to be an enviable level of domestic bliss (right after this interview took place, Stefani indeed became pregnant with a second child). It’s quite another to actually see yourself immortalized in toy form. Read the rest of this article »

Gwen Stefani – The escape artist

New album? New tour? A possible No Doubt reunion in the near future? No problem. But this time around, Gwen Stefani’s got a baby on board.

Gwen Stefani wanted to be sure that her return from a between-albums hiatus was going to be, well, a wind-up. “I was thinking about how you disappear and come back, and I’m kind of coming back from being gone a minute,” Gwen hollas back over dinner at hip London eatery, Nobu. “The idea was to focus on the word ‘escape.’ I started thinking about the idea of Houdini. His whole gimmick was that his wife used to kiss him and pass the key through her mouth to him, and he would escape from his traps.”

Pry as we might, we can’t exactly confirm whether Gwen and husband Gavin Rossdale [Ed: Swoon!] are well-practiced in such techniques themselves, but we do know one thing she can’t escape from: her status as the coolest California Girl in popular music. Read the rest of this article »

Escape Artist

Platinum pop star Gwen Stefani talks about her hit addiction, yodeling fantasies, and how she kicked her Madonna habit. Now she prepares to conquer the world, with baby in tow. By Joseph Hooper.

You know the story: Blonde Italian-American pop diva, music video eminence, and all-round material girl marries a Brit artiste and moves to England. The relationship hits some bumps along the way, but a baby boy ensues and celebrity life keeps rolling. “It is weird that we have all these similarities,” Gwen Stefani allows as she nestles on a couch in one of the many rooms her entourage has taken in London’s Landmark hotel in mid-November. With a voice that hovers somewhere between sultry and Kewpie doll, the singer has a knack for sounding about seven years old: “Madonna’s had us over to dinner and stuff, and she’s always been very nice to me.” Read the rest of this article »

Now and Gwen

She’s got a wardrobe of to-die-for clothes and gets to spend all day making music with Pharrell. We tracked Gwen down and demanded to know why she’s so cool.

Hey Gwen! How are you?
“I’m good, thanks for asking!”

You’ve been so busy. We love the Wind It Up video.
“Thanks. It’s so cool looking. I remember when I was a little girl and I saw The Sound of Music. It was such an inspiration to me. My folks wouldn’t let me watch Grease when it came out… but I did see that and it changed my life. I was able to indulge my theatrical side!” Read the rest of this article »

Leopard changes her spots

Gwen Stefani is back. And guess what. Yup, she’s got a new look. By Dan Cairns

Okay, the hair, for starters. Gwen Stefani in the last days of 2006 has two new looks. Gone are the stacked Marie Antoinette constructions and the cascading, just-out-of-bed curls. This afternoon, in a London hotel room, she’s a rocker, and the shock-headed plume of peroxide in front of me isn’t moving an inch. Litres of lacquer have been spilt. When Stefani cocks or tilts her head, the stiff quiff remains unbending. Later, at the television studio, you could run a ruler along each perfect strand of blonde fringe, her alternate look. “Busy?” I ask her hairstylist. “Oh,” he says, his eyes rolling in their heavy mascara rims, “we’ve got lots to do.” Read the rest of this article »

The Making Of Gwen Stefani’s ‘Hollaback Girl’

‘It’s a song that says you don’t have to answer back,” Gwen says. By Jennifer Vineyard

Going solo wasn’t as easy as Gwen thought it would be.

She’d originally intended to just take a break from No Doubt and make a fun little dance record. But, encouraged by her label boss and others, she’d decided to swing for the fences, and now that she was deep in it, the album suddenly didn’t seem like it was going to be all that much fun — and it definitely wasn’t going to be little.

Stranded without her longtime bandmates and plagued by writer’s block, she nervously turned to a host of producers, songwriters and musicians for creative help. This strategy proved useful, but it had a downside: The music came so easily to everyone else that it made her feel insecure — and jealous. “I’ve had a hard time with my ego,” she said, “because it gets bruised.” Read the rest of this article »

There is No Doubt about this quadruple threat

Gwen Stefani: The singer, dancer, actress and fashion designer sees children in her near future

Gwen Stefani, 36, is doing a little short of building an empire. After achieving worldwide success with her band, No Doubt, she is making as a big a name for herself as a solo artist with her debut CD, Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

In between recording and performing, she’s found time to launch her own fashion label, L.A.M.B, and forge ahead in her acting career! But Gwen – who is married to Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale – is also starting to gear herself up for an even more demanding role – as a mother. Read the rest of this article »

Working Girl

She works hard for the money, and she ain’t no hollaback girl, but now that the world has embraced Gwen Stefani as the platinum bomb, will she ever find a simple kind of life?

The popular television series The OC and Laguna Beach have made Southern California’s Orange County and attitude like, totally rad. They portray the laidback lifestyle of perfectly aligned palm trees, lazy afternoons, and never-ending spring breaks. Meanwhile, the most famous OC girl of them all, Gwen Stefani, is quietly building her empire as the hardest working girl in show business. Last year, we saw her playing Jean Harlow in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, and this year she is high off the phenomenal success of her first solo album – having already achieved worldwide domination as front woman of No Doubt – and summer anthems “Hollaback Girl” and “Cool.” She is also busy spearheading not one but two clothing lines: L.A.M.B (which shares a name with her Love. Angel. Music. Baby. album) and the newly launched Harajuku Lovers. Read the rest of this article »

Grand Slam

Gwen Stefani has a platinum album, a red-hot clothing line, and a solo tour. Never has world domination seemed so cute. By Deanna Kizis.

Gwen Stefani’s home sits atop a steep driveway in Los Angeles, like a butter cream-frosted castle complete with a turret, bougainvillea vines, bathing pools, and fountains. When I ring the bell to announce my presence, her Minnie Mouse voice drifts down from a balcony above: “Hold on! I’m not ready yet!” A moment later Stefani – pop superstar, body beautiful, famous wife of Gavin Rossdale – bounds down her wrought iron staircase, her bare feet slapping the terracotta tile. Her bottle blond hair is pinned on one side like a Vargas pinup girl. Her famous abs, just visible between her white tank top and jeans, are tan and taut. Stefani’s fully made-up – brow pencil, foundation, blush – and in her pocket are not one but two golden-hued lip glosses, which she sweeps across her lips as frequently as some hipsters light cigarettes. Read the rest of this article »

She wears the crown

Few mix it up like style queen Gwen Stefani. But unlike most pretenders to her throne, she’s not too precious to share her secrets. Respect.

We get a shock when Gwen Stefani walks into the room. That’s to be expected, of course,  from a peroxide bombshell rock goddess. But today, as she saunters in from the 11 o’clock sunshine to the industrial cool of an LA photo studio, we’re taken aback because she’s so, well, under-stated.

Dressed almost head to toe in her own label L.A.M.B (Mukluk-style boots being the only concession), a beanie covers her trademark hair, over-sized shades shield her face and, despite the bomber jacket, she looks daintier than her larger-than-life stage presence – kinda doll like, which is really rather appropriate for a girl with such a penchant for dressing up.

‘This is my everyday outfit,’ she says. ‘These jackets are wicked, the lining’s camouflage with little lambs – I call it Lambi Cami.’ Gwen’s got a way with words – just read the lyrics, or cute sleeve notes, on her debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby (L.A.M.B, geddit?). And as she laughs and chatters her way through our interview so enthusiastically that it’s a struggle to actually get a word in, it’s clear that not only has she got plenty to crow about, but that she’s toe-wigglingly happy with life right now. Read the rest of this article »