I Cynically Call Love. Angel. Music. Baby. "An Overpriced Ad For Harajuku Girls."

The Good: One or two musical moments where Stefani's voice breaks through.
The Bad: Overproduced, Frontloaded, Dull, insipid lyrics
The Basics: Solidly below average, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. is a generic pop-dance album advertising Gwen Stefani's sense of style.


Some years ago, in the mid-1990s, No Doubt exploded on the music scene when lead singer Gwen Stefani was showcased as the promotional highlight of the group's album Tragic Kingdom (reviewed here!). The album made No Doubt huge in mainstream pop-rock and Gwen Stefani the face of the group. Some months ago, I reviewed Stefani's current charting album, The Sweet Escape (reviewed here!) and it occurred to me that I had not reviewed her solo debut, Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

With twelve tracks clocking in at 48:18 minutes, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. spawned four singles that did fairly well on the charts (and two that did mediocre) and the album sold seven million units worldwide. It's still a pretty terrible album. Frontloaded with singles "What You Waiting For?," "Rich Girl," "Hollaback Girl," and "Cool" (in the order they were released even!), Love. Angel. Music. Baby. is a boring, overproduced album that barely exposes the talents of Gwen Stefani.

And yet, this pop-dance album is arguably the results of Gwen Stefani's musical vision. All twelve tracks are co-written by Stefani and while she plays no musical instruments, she is credited for "Creative Direction." In the case of Love. Angel. Music. Baby., "Creative Direction" seems synonymous with "Product Placement Direction." The title of the album, for those (like me until a little while ago) not in the know, is a reference to her clothing line, L.A.M.B. Moreover, L.A.M.B. derives many of its designs from the Japanese fashion scene, epitomized by Harajuku Girls. Harajuku Girls are referenced on the first two tracks before getting their own, insipid tribute midway through the album. Stefani's music publishing company is called "Harajuku Lover Music."

The net result, hearing this album well after it has peaked and disappeared from the mainstream mind is that Love. Angel. Music. Baby. comes across as a self-serving advertisement for Gwen Stefani, the product. This is not a showcase of Gwen Stefani, musical artist, so much as Gwen Stefani, entrepreneur. It calls to mind the parody Stefani did of wealthy celebrities for Moby's song "Southside" from his amazing album Play (reviewed here!).

Stefani bucks the trend of loading up the album with guest performers (there are three featured artists appearing on tracks on this album), but she highlights instead the producers of the individual tracks. This is, in fact, drawing attention to one of the greatest weaknesses of the album. Love. Angel. Music. Baby. features eleven different producers or producer combinations (only Tony Kanal alone produces two tracks) over the twelve tracks, which leads to remarkably different musical quality and sound over the course of the album. As a result this is less a cohesive album than a collection of singles.

To wit, "Bubble Pop Electric" is a techno-dance track that, outside the refrain, lacks anything remotely suggestive of a tune. The track has no real music to it backing much of the vocals. Conversely, "Cool" and "Serious" both have music to them that illustrates a sensibility for harmony and melody, even though both are keyboard-driven tracks. The second best-selling track of the album, "Rich Girl," even uses the melody from "Fiddler On The Roof's," "If I Were A Rich Man" (though it is uncredited).

The point here is that there is a hint of music on some of the tracks. Yet, too often, Stefani cheats out on the music and opts for the easy hook. Take "Hollaback Girl," the cheerleader-beat track that is less sung than chanted. Heavily censored on most radio stations for the repeated use of "shit," "Hollaback Girl" illustrates well Stefani's obsession with creating a hit song rather than music of enduring greatness. Are the two mutually exclusive? No. However, there are obvious hooks engaged here and the song is basically a fight song/cheer that says nothing other than cliches. Stefani writes and sings such obvious lines as "All the boys want to be the winner, but there can only be one. / So I'm gonna fight, gonna give it my all. / Gonna make you fall, gonna sock it to you. / That's right I'm the last one standing, another one bites the dust" ("Hollaback Girl").

On the few tracks that Stefani presents something meaningful, it does not sound like her voice. The album closes on "Long Way To Go," which features Andre 3000 of OutKast. Co-written with Andre Benjamin (he takes the first writing credit), Stefani presents a track that sounds more at home on The Love Below (reviewed here!) than on this album. Instead, Andre 3000 produces a track in his style, his voice, accompanied vaguely by Stefani on her album. The result is disappointing.

Sadly, Stefani seems most unique and comfortable on her dull track "Harajuku Girls," which is basically a rousing endorsement of Japanese subculture fashion. She sort of sings (this is another song without much in the way of a melody) about "Harajuku girls you got the wicked style. / I like the way that you are. / I am your biggest fan. / Harajuku girls, I'm looking at you girls. / You're so original girls. / You got the look that makes you stand out . . ." ("Harajuku Girls"). Because they are not mainstream, this song is fairly pointless as the strength of an allusion is only so great as the listener's ability to understand the reference. And when one looks up Harajuku Girls, what are they likely to find? Stefani's clothing line. It's self-serving and cheap. (The song does reference dyed hair and cell phones, but this is hardly unique to Japan.)

The reason Tragic Kingdom exploded No Doubt, in addition to promoting Gwen Stefani as the new hot blonde, was that the album didn't sound like anything else on the radio at the time. Instead, it was different, new, fresh. On Love. Angel. Music. Baby., Stefani opens the album with tracks that conform to today's bland, uninspired pop-rock music with the hip-hop influences that inspire melodies more focused with movement and sound than music and statement. The result is a generic pop-dance album that says little other than "Buy Stefani."

The best track is "Cool," the worst is "Bubble Pop Electric."

For other, similar, artists, please check out my reviews of:
The Dutchess - Fergie
Now In A Minute - Donna Lewis
Susanna Hoffs - Susanna Hoffs

4/10

For other music reviews, please visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

The 80's Reconstituted: Paula Abdul and Madonna Blended Into The Sweet Escape

The Good: Good musical diversity, Interesting sound
The Bad: While Stylish, Lyrics aren't great, Very produced
The Basics: In a fun and generally listenable album, Gwen Stefani presents fairly direct pop music for The Sweet Escape.


[Note: This was originally written when the album was first released! Enjoy!]

While listening to the radio recently, I heard Gwen Stefani's new single “The Sweet Escape.” I had been turned off to the concept of her new album while watching the Billboard Music Awards where she unveiled her first single from the album The Sweet Escape, "Wind It Up." "Wind It Up" did not grab me with its simplistic lyrics and militaristic marching sound. It just did not work for me. When I heard The Sweet Escape, the single, it got me thinking. Something about the sound of the song itched in my unconscious and I could not quite place it. Whatever music one has while growing up, I think, makes them attuned to that same type sound. As a child of the 80s, The Sweet Escape had a sound I was having such trouble placing, though it seemed so familiar. Then it hit me.

Gwen Stefani is today's Paula Abdul.

Seriously. Listen to “The Sweet Escape.” It could have been a Paula Abdul song in terms of lyrics, production and music. It has the generally dancable sound, lyrics that are not earthshattering but are generally uplifting or steady and is overall listenable if not enduring or great.

Gwen Stefani, now a solo artist, presents music rather different from her No Doubt days. In fact, only one of the songs on The Sweet Escape sounds like anything No Doubt would work with ("Fluorescent"). Everything else on the album is pretty much standard pop-dance music. It seems designed for sound rather than substance and it succeeds at that. So, for example, on "Wind It Up," the heavy bass is contrasted with Stefani yodeling and speak-singing such lyrics as ". . . the boys all look but, no, they can't touch / But the girls want to know why the boys like us so much / They like the way we dance / They like the way we work / They like the way that l.a.m.b. is going 'cross my shirt . . ." Unlike something like the Black Eyed Peas "My Hump," which might be viewed as either parody or flirtatious, there is no such quality to the way Stefani makes observations in "Wind It Up." The result is pure pop.

Of the twelve tracks - which seems to be a standard number on most pop albums these days - on The Sweet Escape, none leap out as anything that is terribly enduring. This is a collection of up-tempo, generally fun-sounding tracks that don't inspire or challenge the listener to any thought. So, while “The Sweet Escape,” the single, is familiar sounding, it carries the same conceits that failed to keep Paula Abdul in the limelight.

Conversely, The Sweet Escape, the album has a Madonna-esque quality to it in the sound from track to track. The tracks sound very different within the pop spectrum from one another. So, while "Wind It Up" plays off a military march, "Don't Get Twisted" uses a carnival melody and "Orange County Girl" has more of a hip-hop feel to it. There is a sense of reinvention song to song on The Sweet Escape that at the very least makes the album listenable. Noticeably absent is a ballad, thought. The closest to that is "Early Winter" which has a softer sound initially but then continues with enough drums to keep it more a pop-dance song than a ballad. Contentwise, "Early Winter" is one of the better tracks with the sadness of the demise of a relationship being expressed.

Problematically, the album has tracks that become annoyingly hypnotic with repetition. "Wind It Up" repeats the title a number of times (and appears again on "Yummy") and "Now That You Got It" repeats that line an annoying number of times at the beginning and throughout as to make it almost unlistenable. Fortunately, only one track, "Yummy" is self-promotional which is decent for an artist as popular as Gwen Stefani.

My last real comment on The Sweet Escape has to do with the packaging. There are no notes on my copy indicating it is an edited version, but there are places where Stefani edits out swear words, which seems silly to me. If there's no PA version of The Sweet Escape, it seems silly she edited herself this way. But in the liner notes for the album, there are a number of severely airbrushed images of Gwen Stefani. Almost all of them are better than the one on the cover of the album, which makes me wonder, "What are they marketing as Gwen Stefani?" If Stefani is going for style or sex appeal, she's selling herself short with the cover. If she is selling herself on substance, she lacks the material for that.

The best track is the substantive "Lonely Winter," the weakest track is the carnie sound of "Don't Get Twisted."

For other pop albums, check out my takes on:
Bomb In A Birdcage - A Fine Frenzy
Susanna Hoffs - Susanna Hoffs
Between The Days - Merril Bainbridge

6/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

It's All Bad: "Hollaback Girl" (Remixes) Is Just Awful

The Good: Catchy tune
The Bad: Poor use of medium, Video does not play on all players, Remixes are lame.
The Basics: An insipid pop single, “Hollaback Girl” features two remixes (and a video), none of which are good.


A few years back, I gave Gwen Stefani's works a chance. I would not say that I have been regretting it ever since, but the experience in no way wowed me. I've pretty much come around to Brian Griffin's (Family Guy) view that “I'm not sure what a ‘Hollaback Girl’ is,” but I'd be happy to see Gwen Stefani's musical career come to an end. At least if she keeps coming out with songs like “Hollaback Girl.” The “remix” album is little more than a c.d. single and it is a poor one at that.

With three tracks and a music video, “Hollaback Girl” (Remixes) includes the song which was co-written by Gwen Stefani from the album Love, Angel, Music, Baby with two remixes and a music video. The song is sung by Stefani with heavy backing vocals. She does not play any of the musical instruments for the song, nor was she involved in the production of any of the mixes of the song.

Musically, “Hollaback Girl" is little more than a pop-music cheerleader anthem with a heavy percussion beat and a swaying overproduced keyboard/synth track. The instrumental accompaniment actually does have a recognizable theme to it, even if it is simplistic and does sound mostly like a cheerleader cheer. The percussion is heavier than most pop songs, which is probably why this is marginally considered a "hip-hop" track, when it otherwise bears little resemblance to one.

The remix single features the album cut of "Hollaback Girl" and "Diplo's Hollatronic Remix" and an instrumental remix of "Hollaback Girl" in addition to the music video for "Hollaback Girl" in Quicktime format. As one might expect, the instrumental remix removes the vocal performance by Gwen Stefani and is otherwise identical to the song played during the video and album version.

This leads us to the drastically shorter "Diplo's Hollatronic Remix" which is only 2:17 long, as opposed to the full 3:20 of the other tracks. This remix removes most of the song and focuses on the main cheer "A few times I've been around that track / So it's not just gonna happen like that / Because I ain't no hollaback girl" without the filler of the other lines. The bass is turned up and the synths create a hypnotic, repetitive vibe that is just awful.

As for the video, when I could get it to play, it was nothing special. In addition to Stefani and her Harajuku Girls riding around in a car and throwing food around at a dollar store, there are cheerleaders doing a routine. There is no narrative and it doesn't actually explain what the song is at all.

As a result, the single for "Hollaback Girl" is a pretty phenomenal waste of money. The song is catchy, but the c.d. is a poor use of the medium and it hardly makes the initial song any better.

For other works featuring Gwen Stefani or similar artists, please be sure to check out:
"Cool" (single)
Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt
21 - Adele

.5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

| | |

Another Mediocre "Single," "Cool" By Gwen Stefani Is Barely Adequate.

The Good: Not a bad pop-ballad, video is a nice touch
The Bad: Short, Poor use of the medium, No need for a “Hollaback Girl” remix!
The Basics: A bland pop-ballad single, “Cool” is not the worst way to spend about fifteen minutes, but it's nothing extraordinary.


Every now and then, virtually every popular music artist gives listeners a real reason why they deserve the listener's time and attention as well as airplay over the radio. After all, with so many talents in the world, there are very few slots for singers and they tend to go to the same banal pop performers whose works are overproduced and vocally lackluster. Frequently, I find myself wondering “how did this person even get signed?!” In the case of Gwen Stefani, I suspect that music videos went a long way to creating her career because she is, as they say, the stereotypical smokin’ hot blonde. Of course, there are millions of them out there, so every now and again, Stefani has to make an effort to prove she has talent. Her single “Cool” is one such attempt which is generally successful.

The fourth single from Stefani's solo debut album, Love, Angel, Music, Baby, “Cool” is a pop ballad that seems to want to continue Stefani's “Don't Speak” power ballad tradition from her No Doubt days. And, it is generally successful in that regard.

With only three tracks and a music video, “Cool” is largely the musical vision of Gwen Stefani. Stefani co-wrote the song, but did not produce it or the remix that appears on the “single.” Co-writer Dallas produced the album version and there is a longer remix from Photek. The "single" version also includes a remix of "Hollaback Girl" by Stefani's No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal which includes a pretty ridiculous reggae rap in the song. Because, honestly, did we truly need another remix of "Hollaback Girl?!" Stefani is only responsible for co-writing "Cool" and providing the lead vocals on the single.

"Cool" is a softer guitar and piano ballad which highlights the fact that Gwen Stefani actually can sing. The album version of the song features Stefani's unretouched, not-at-all overproduced voice. Stefani sings her lines with soft, soprano tones which are actually quite melodic and sexy. She has a good voice and on "Cool" the listener hears it well.

This pop ballad is essentially about making friends with an ex-lover and is rumored to be about Stefani's relationship with No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal. With lines like "And after all the obstacles / It's good to see you now with someone else / And it's such a miracle that you and me are still good friends / After all that we've been through / I know we're cool / We used to think it was impossible / Now you call me by my new last name / Memories seem like so long ago / Time always kills the pain" Gwen Stefani makes it seem like it is possible to get through the pain of a breakup and become friends again with someone one was once intimate with.

"Cool" is a good song, but the "Photek Remix" tries to take the ballad and make it into yet another insipid pop-dance song. It is almost as bad as the longer, less dancable, pumped up synth sounds on the remix of "Hollaback Girl" that is on this c.d. single. Those who like "Cool" might do better to just pick up the album this is from as the two exclusive remixes on this single are nothing to write home about.

Also on this c.d. single is the Quicktime version of the music video for "Cool" and the video tells a story that parallels the song and it is adequate, but not terribly entertaining on multiple replays. While this is a nice bonus above the music, it is not thrilling and it will not play on all media players.

Finally, because the single is more average than extraordinary to begin with, it feels cheap that Stefani and Interscope do not load it up with material. It is a waste of the c.d.'s capacity to use only fifteen minutes and even fans are likely to be underwhelmed by this c.d. single.

For other singles, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Overprotected - Britney Spears
Right Beside You - Sophie B. Hawkins
Was It Worth It? - Pet Shop Boys

3.5/10

For other music reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

| | |