Meet Remix's Summer Cover Star Gwen Stefani
She’s one of the most defining stars of our generation, having helped set the agenda for early aughts pop culture with her unique sound and visual identity, well before the likes of Charli, Chappell or even Gaga. Today Gwen Stefani is less ‘Hollaback’ and more look ahead, continuing her own journey as a mother and musician, and supporting new artists as a mentor on NBC’s The Voice. Shooting her first ever Remix cover in Los Angeles, less than 20 miles from where she grew up in Orange County, Stefani opens up to Steven Fernandez about her remarkable year celebrating both the old and new, including No Doubt’s highly anticipated Coachella reunion and her critically acclaimed new album, Bouquet.
Gwen, you are the truest definition of an icon. Are you a very nostalgic person? At this stage of your career, do you often find yourself reflecting on the incredible impact you’ve had on music, performance, fashion, beauty and pop culture?
I think I’m nostalgic, but I’m not really one to be like, oh, it’s the anniversary of this or that. For me, the inspiration strikes, and you just take hold of it—you’re in it, and then you’re out of it. It’s left behind like a little snapshot in a frame. Every time I walk into a store, and they’re playing an old song, of course I feel proud, I feel excited. Like, wow, I can’t believe I did that. But it’s not like I sit around thinking about the past. In fact, especially now that I’ve just done new music, which is the greatest thing in the world out of everything when it comes to being an artist, I think writing songs and having new music is the fire and the most fulfilment for me. The most exciting part is right before it comes out and listening to it over again on repeat and letting it speak back to me and what I learned from each individual song and the lyrics in the songs, going over in my mind how they were created, the struggle and all of that. Then, once it’s released to the world, it’s over. It’s done. It’s put in the frame, put in the photo album, and then onto the next. So, sharing it is super exciting; it’s very emotional. I don’t reflect on my career as much as like I said, when it shows itself to me—whether somebody says something about a song they might like. Even then, it’s hard to really digest it. The one thing that I love is to create. I love to write music, and it’s so therapeutic and it helps heal me so much in my life. I love the challenge of that and the reward.
Who were your icons growing up and starting out? Who did you look up to and why?
When I was a little girl, I’d watch tons of old movies—anything on Turner Classics. I love old movies. I love musicals. I loved the Annie movie when it came out. The Sound of Music was a huge inspiration [for me] as a little girl. When I became a teenager, I started to find my identity through the music that my brother brought home from school. It was called ska, which was underground music born in London. We were really inspired by the band Madness and the way they would perform, and the energy they had. That got us into all the other ska bands like The Selecter. Pauline Black was a Female lead singer that I looked up to. I was also inspired by Blondie. There was just a lot of amazing music when I was in high school. Everything from the alternative music that you would hear on KROQ [radio station] to the ska underground music that we discovered. There were a lot of local bands that we used to go see. One of them was called Fishbone, and I was very inspired by Angelo Moore. As far as stage presence goes, he was definitely my idol.
Even after so many hits and successes, do you still get the same nerves when releasing a new record? Does it feel the same as when you started out with No Doubt or released Love Angel Music Baby?
I have way less expectations. But this time around, it was a really hard process to get a record made. I went around a lot of different cul-de-sacswhen it came to trying to find what the record would be and what kind of style it could be. There’s been such an evolution through the years between No Doubt and the solo dance record periods, and even the gaps between when I was trying to pick up the pieces of my personal life and being a mom and healing, trying to find the time to write music and what I would write about. I’ve never been fast, but once I hit the zone, then it was pretty quick. I did overthink it, but once I found it, it was clear. Now I know what it is. I don’t care what anyone thinks. This is what I’m doing. I have to do this. And I just marched forward. I got excited for it to come out. But the best part of making an album is right before it comes out — when you get to let it speak back to you. You go over it and repeat it and repeat it and read the lyrics in your mind. It’s such a healing process.
Everybody has been incredibly excited about Bouquet. The music feels extremely fresh yet timeless, quintessentially Gwen but also very new for you. Tell me how this record came together and the inspiration behind the music as a body of work?
When I analysed it myself, it was interesting having the revelation that I needed to be in the room more when it came to the songwriting. There were a lot of sessions where I was getting in my own way, not being aggressive enough in the room, and not being clear enough. When I found the right partners who made me feel comfortable, it started to reveal itself. A lot of times, the songs feel like they were sent down. I’m driving to the session, and a lyric comes to me. Where does that come from? It’s got to be from a higher power. So, it’s just there, like this is the song I’m going to write today. I wrote the songs wanting to aesthetically draw from a ’70s singer-songwriter perspective. But the people I was in the room were quite pop writers. I think that was a cool juxtaposition because they had their background. I had my inspiration, and then once the songs were written, I brought them to producer Scott Hendricks, who I knew was going to give me the sound that I needed to make them the newest, truest, purest version of who I am right now. I knew that the record needed to be live—live musicians. I knew the exact sound and the inspiration I was drawing from. I knew Scott was going to be the one to get me there.
When working on an album, is your process insular or open? Do you share the music with Blake and friends and family while working on it, or do you prefer to share it with people once it’s done?
The longer you've been alive, especially when it comes to art and you’ve had a ot of success, you feel insecure in a lot of ways, but you are also super clear on what you want. I’ve always been very clear on what I like and don’t like. It’s a lot of no, and then when it’s right, that’s it, and I know. That’s what I run with in the studio, too. The older I get, the more insecure I get to be—like, don’t be so close-minded and into what you’re into. Be open, work with more people, maybe try what they think you should do. Just try to evolve and not be closed off. But sometimes, when I’ve done that, I’ve let people take over too much, to the point where I’m not in it anymore. Then it doesn’t feel like anything, and I don’t care about it. With art, it has to be a reflection of your heart. When I finally realised I was letting too many people’s opinions in the room, I became clear on what it needed to be. The process is so bizarre and weird. I definitely share the music with my husband, managers, and people in my small circle. It’s hard once you have huge hits because you’re competing with yourself a lot. That brings a bit of insecurity to new music. But at the same time, you move forward. I was trying to do something that I wanted to listen to, that I couldn’t stop listening to. Once I was playing it for people, I started to see that they were hearing the same thing I was hearing.
You have produced some of our generation’s most visually impactful and important music videos, bringing together art, fashion, beauty and pop culture in incredible videos like ‘What You Waiting For?’ and ‘Cool’. Do you have those visuals in mind when you’re writing and recording, or is that something you develop later in the creative process?
Every single album has been completely different. For Tragic Kingdom, we had nine years to figure it out. We had a long time. At that point, I was in college and an art major, and I’d always been very inspired by vintage anything. We named the album Tragic Kingdom based on living in Orange County and Disneyland. It’s a statement about that. I had been super clear about what I was going to do—I was going to paint the album cover with a pinup girl and she’s going to be holding an orange, and it’s going to be like orange crate art. Orange County was all Orange Groves back in the day. It was very thought out and very clear what I wanted it to look like with the theme of being from Anaheim. But every album is different. This album, Bouquet, was driven not so much by visuals as it was by the aesthetic of the sound of the record and drawing from my childhood favourite songs that I used to listen to that were the backdrop of my childhood. The way that music sounded was live, real, authentic, with a band, pure and lyric-driven. L.A.M.B. was the opposite. I don’t know how or why, but I was so clear on what the album was going to be. I had a style Bible; I had collected tons and tons of images—I literally had a folder of images I would take around to the songwriters, photographers, and video director I’d work with. I wanted to work with Nick Knight. I don’t know how I even heard about him, but I just knew he was cool and artistic. I had this binder of thousands of images I’d collected and went to his house in London. I opened up my binder and said, ‘I want it to look like this, and I want to be sitting on a throne.’ I had a lot of inspiration from all the travels that I’ve been on. Also, in my childhood, my dad worked for Yamaha Motorcycles and travelled to Japan my whole life as a little girl. He told me so many stories about the shopping and the Harajuku District.Everything iconic about Japanese culture: we didn’t have the Internet; it was just him telling me. In the 90s, when I finally got to go there, it felt like I was already there from all those stories. When I was creating ‘What You Waiting For?’, which is the first song that I wrote with Linda Perry, it was my first attempt at making my own solo record, which I was obviously super insecure and scared because it was my first time outside of the band doing anything. I was working with Linda and had never worked with a female songwriter/producer before. She had just done work with Christina Aguilera, which was the song, ‘Beautiful’. She was on top of the world as a songwriter. She said to me, ‘what are you waiting for?’ Because I was acting insecure. I said, ‘Well, if I do this record, I get to go back and see Japan again.’ It was that line in the album, which was the first song that I wrote, which was the inspiration for the rest of the album visually. It was like I was in a dream, almost like when Alison Wonderland fell into the rabbit hole. And once I got into that hole, I kept making all these things happen. It was just an amazingly fruitful time in my life.
I’m sure you’ve been asked this a million times this year, but it is for good reason. What was it like reuniting with No Doubt and headlining Coachella this year? What was that experience like, and what did that mean to you?
It was amazing. It was a long time coming. We did everything together since we were 16 and 17 years old. After my life fell apart, I had to step back from everything. Everybody went off and was doing their own thing and had their families. Once we knew we were doing Coachella together, we picked up where we left off. It didn’t feel weird at all; it was super fun. Everybody was themselves and the characters that they are in the band. Rehearsals were super fun. Getting up on stage was the unexpected part. I didn’t expect it to feel so iconic. So much great, amazing energy was coming at us, like a wave or a huge hug of love. It was so amazing and beautiful, and I feel very happy we got to do it.
Do your kids realise how cool you are, or are you just mom to them? Do they appreciate how major you are, or do you have to remind them?
That’s so funny. Of course, my kids only see me as their mom. They don’t really want to see me any other way. Kids need all the attention, and they don’t want to hear anything about what’s going on in their parents’ lives. They just want you to be there for their football games, make sure that you’re listening when they’re talking, and all the normal things. I’m the most straight-up, normal mom and parent to them. Once in a while, they’ll say, ‘my friend was like, is your mom Gwen Stefani?’ Sometimes they get mad about it. I think when it suits them, they’re proud of it, but it must be weird for them. I can’t imagine growing up, and whenever you go out, people come up to your mom, and they know you. They not only know me, but they know them too, and they didn’t ask for that. It is a very different way to grow up.
From your own catalogue, No Doubt, L.A.M.B., The Sweet Escape—all the amazing records—what are your favourite songs to play or perform? Does it often change, or do you have some staples you look back on and always love the most?
I learned really quickly. I learned when I wrote ‘Just A Girl’ before it even came out. We had that song a year before it came out, and we’d play it live. You could tell during the set that it had something to it, and people would perk up and pay attention. Even though they didn’t have the song, it was just live. There’s something unbelievably satisfying about playing a hit—a song that everybody knows the lyrics to, which somehow was the backdrop to their lives at some point. I like to play those songs. Fortunately, when I play the set, it’s one after another of songs that represent huge moments in my life, and hopefully, whoever comes to see them live is there because those songs are also important to them. These songs don’t get old; they don’t lose their magic. So those are definitely my favourite ones to do live.
When you’re not working on your many projects, how do you relax, unwind and enjoy time off? What is a dream Sunday like for Gwen Stefani?
I like the horizontal position the best, just on my back and lying there. I also love to cook with Blake and plan out a big family dinner for everyone to come over. I get to pull out my special dishes, and make a pretty table with flowers, and sit down with the family. I absolutely love doing that. I love gardening, being out there, planting, picking flowers, making bouquets, and making arrangements for the table. That’s who I am.
You sit in a unique vantage point as an artist from a generation who had to hustle and grind before the era of virality and social media. However, you also help afford new artists opportunities through The Voice. What is your viewpoint on that, and do you think one route to success is better than the other? The long game versus fast fame?
Every generation looks back and thinks they had the best music and had the best time. We had telephones with cords; we had Polaroid cameras. We’re going to feel nostalgic for everything we had, and we’re going to think that was the best way. It’s not until you look back and see how you did it that you think how great and special it was or why that fight was so important. As the expression says, ‘no pain, no gain.’ You don’t get anywhere unless you have to work and earn it. We definitely did that, and because of that, we made some great songs that became No Doubt. We had the confidence to be a great live band, but it was years of grinding. I look back at those years and ask myself what was better—the part where everyone knew or the part when we were trying to get everyone to know? I really don’t know because they both have so many good things about them. But there are a lot of great things about the internet, and then there are a lot of bad things. At the same time, you have access to a lot of information where you can educate yourself and be inspired by things. Like everything, it has good and bad things. Being on The Voice has been super inspiring for me. Just to play the role of a coach and a mentor to people after being able to live the dream that these people have. I’ve already lived it. Looking back and sharing the way I got there. It’s very rewarding to see people grow. It makes me feel even more grateful to look back and say, ‘wow, how did that happen?’ But the phones are super addictive. I think they eat up a lot of our time and we didn’t have that competition back then.
It’s been fascinating to watch the likes of Charli xcx and Chappell Roan have an entirely new approach to fame and putting down boundaries that many of your counterparts paved the way for. How do you feel about the year these ladies have had and how they’re pushing back on earlier expectations put upon female artists in the music industry?
You never know what the future holds and what will come out of something you think you might want. At the time, we were so blessed because we didn’t have fame for a long time. We did it purely because it was what we did to procrastinate from our lives. Our music was the thing that we did for fun. It was not because we had to do it but because we loved to do it. It was not because we were trying to make it or be famous; it was really coming from such a naïve, artistic place. I don’t think we even knew that at the time, but when we look back now, and I see it, we really were. I don’t think I was trying to make any statements as a female. I was just being myself. I wasn’t trying to say I deserve that because of my gender, none of that. I was just observing what was going on around me, writing about it, and writing my truth. When you put songs out, people are going to interpret whatever they get out of that work of art. It was just me being me and not thinking anyone would hear it or it would have any impact or change. It was so innocent. These days, it’s different. It’s impossible for me even to compare what I was doing to what’s happening now. We grew up in completely different circumstances. What I look for in some of the newer artists is to find their truth. Are they pure, honest, real, clever, authentic? I just get impressed by that.
You are working on a remarkable number of different things at any one time; this year alone was a testament to that. What is something you have not done or something you have coming up you can share that you’re really excited about?
I’ve done so many things this year that I can’t even wrap my head around it. I feel blessed that I get to do so much. It’s really hard if you put too many things on your plate—it’s hard to be in the moment. That’s the one thing that I’ve learned. I’m still trying to find that balance, but I don’t think I’ll ever find it. The big goal was to put out new music, and I’m doing it. Again, I’m trying to be in the moment. It’s released and out of my hands. The most fun part about putting out music is the anticipation and having something complete when the lyrics are speaking back to me and being able to learn from the songs. They heal and teach me something, even things I don’t know that I said in the first place. It’s hard to explain. I want to make sure I put in enough downtime that I can just be in the moment.
You’ve been to New Zealand many times over the years, and you have so many Kiwi fans. We adore you. Do you have any plans to come back or have any memories of your time in New Zealand?
I do have memories from my time in New Zealand. I came there when I had my baby, son Kingston. Back in the day, I’d be on tour, show after show and never really explore or go outside and see the places we were in. But once I had my children, it was an amazing thing to be able to go and explore with them. During that tour in New Zealand, I had my son Kingston, and we would go to the zoos and do anything kid-friendly. To be able to have the blessing of travelling the world because of the songs I wrote and see a place like New Zealand and learn about the culture—I love knowing how different and similar we are; I love learning about other cultures’ traditions like New Zealand. That is one of the greatest blessings of my life and my success: to be able to travel.
Photography NINO MUÑOZ
Creative Direction STEVEN FERNANDEZ
Executive Producer TIM PHIN
Styling KRISTEN INGERSOLL
Hair SUZETTE BOOZER
Makeup ANTHONY NGUYEN
Nail Artist ERI ISHIZU
Videography TODD STEFANI
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