What Happened to Gwen’s New Album?

[CheapGin 561]

Gwen Stefani’s latest singles made no noise….but weren’t they supposed to lead to an album?

I remember the story with This is What the Truth Feels Like was that she scrapped the original concept after she was uninspired after releasing Baby Don’t Lie and Spark the Fire.

I haven’t seen or heard any updates on her currently!

Did Gwen do….the same thing again? Is it too humiliating to do a second press cycle about this same mess? What are thought on where she’s been where she’s at and where she’s going?
 

[RAMROD 109,304]

There's no album when theres no top 10 hits, fam. That's the way it is with labels. 

[Dr Fudge 8,635]

I could see Gwen repeating what happened with This is What the Truth Feels Like and scrapping the original plan for something better. Might as well and generate some buzz.

[Franch Toast 26,803]

I don't know what's going on with the album, but I know first-hand from a conversation with someone close to her (don't want to say who as I don't want to get this person in trouble) that she was really hurt by how both LMRM and "Slow Clap" underperformed, which is why she hasn't incorporated them into any of her setlists. I think it's similar to what happened with "Baby Don't Lie" and "Spark the Fire." 

The update on her is she's focused on her new beauty line, GXVE, and performing a bunch of random shows (next up is the opening night of Hollywood Bowl's new season on June 3, where she'll perform alongside the LA Philharmonic and be inducted into the Bowl Hall of Fame). I haven't heard any tea on the album other than she's recorded like 40 songs. 

My own opinion is that after she finishes her honeymoon period with Blake, it's time to bring No Doubt back together, since that's where her current musical trajectory (reggae/ska) seems to be anyway. 

[beli8 1,424]

Yeah. I'm pretty sure the same thing has hapened. She seems busy with her new married life in the country (where she seems very happy), the makeup line, etc. 

The music industry has changed a lot. I think Sheryl Crow even said a couple years ago that she's no longer going to do full length albums, and just release random singles occasionally.

[gypsy101 5,453]

46 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

There's no album when theres no top 10 hits, fam. That's the way it is with labels. 

sis is in her 50s the label may want to give her a break

[JRCF29 8,194]

55 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

There's no album when theres no top 1000 hits, fam. That's the way it is with labels.

fixedT

[RAMROD 109,304]

38 minutes ago, gypsy101 said:

sis is in her 50s the label may want to give her a break

That is a bit insulting to Gwen for you to say that actually.  

[CheapGin 561]

1 hour ago, Franch Toast said:

I don't know what's going on with the album, but I know first-hand from a conversation with someone close to her (don't want to say who as I don't want to get this person in trouble) that she was really hurt by how both LMRM and "Slow Clap" underperformed, which is why she hasn't incorporated them into any of her setlists. I think it's similar to what happened with "Baby Don't Lie" and "Spark the Fire." 

The update on her is she's focused on her new beauty line, GXVE, and performing a bunch of random shows (next up is the opening night of Hollywood Bowl's new season on June 3, where she'll perform alongside the LA Philharmonic and be inducted into the Bowl Hall of Fame). I haven't heard any tea on the album other than she's recorded like 40 songs. 

My own opinion is that after she finishes her honeymoon period with Blake, it's time to bring No Doubt back together, since that's where her current musical trajectory (reggae/ska) seems to be anyway. 

Thanks for this!

These songs couldn’t have been the best of the 40 she recorded? 

I am a fan and like moments of TIWTTFL and No Doubt, but between these feeler singles and her country moments I feel like she’s in identity crisis mode…

For the record Baby Don’t Lie is a bop.

[Lukasson 475]

Such a shame. I really enjoyed the two singles so far. 

[gypsy101 5,453]

1 hour ago, RAMROD said:

That is a bit insulting to Gwen for you to say that actually.  

i’ve been a fan of hers since 1996 actually

i meant like because of the way society is sadly it is not easy for women of her age to have huge chart success like she used to. but she still is very successful.

i didn’t mean to be rude  i want the album so bad. i really enjoyed her last one even though it seems like a lot of people didn’t.

[ssslyboy 3,273]

Maybe she just wanted to re-introduce herself and clap her hands for a second 

[CheapGin 561]

15 minutes ago, gypsy101 said:

i’ve been a fan of hers since 1996 actually

i meant like because of the way society is sadly it is not easy for women of her age to have huge chart success like she used to. but she still is very successful.

i didn’t mean to be rude  i want the album so bad. i really enjoyed her last one even though it seems like a lot of people didn’t.

What are your faves from her last album??

[Franch Toast 26,803]

19 minutes ago, CheapGin said:

Thanks for this!

These songs couldn’t have been the best of the 40 she recorded? 

I am a fan and like moments of TIWTTFL and No Doubt, but between these feeler singles and her country moments I feel like she’s in identity crisis mode…

For the record Baby Don’t Lie is a bop.

I have no clue about the content of the supposed album or what the other songs are like, but she's worked with a few well-known people, including Finneas, so it'll be interesting to see what comes of it. 

I do feel like she's at a juncture in terms of trying to figure out what she wants to do artistically. Her work with No Doubt is vastly different from her solo work, and of course her Blake collabs are even more different. I've been to a few of her concerts recently, and she's performed a ton of No Doubt stuff, maybe more ND than solo work, so interpret that as you'd like. (But without Tom, Adrian, and tony, though she has Stephen & Gabe backing her.) She's also been posting a lot about ska and wearing clothing & accessories associated with ska. 

Recently, she said something really telling about her makeup line, which was how after her divorce, she needed to do something that was all hers so that she could have agency and regain control of her identity. (I'm paraphrasing here.) I think she lost a lot of herself with Gavin, and he was extremely controlling. I think this need to be in control of her own story might also be why she's working on another solo project instead of reuniting with the boys. At the same time, I have the impression she's gravitating toward the kind of music ND used to make (LMRM feels very "No Doubt lite" to me), so these two things are somewhat at odds. 

I'd love to see another solo album from her, maybe a fun dance record, and then more ND stuff after that. I definitely don't need any more country duets.