Gwen Stefani Clarifies That Her New Album is “Not a Country Record”
Gwen Stefani has emphasized that her upcoming fifth album is “not a country record,” despite the country influence of her new single ‘Somebody Else’s’ and the cowboy hat featured on the album cover.
Last week, the ‘No Doubt’ singer took to Instagram to announce her first album in seven years, titled ‘Bouquet’, set to release on 15th November. “My fifth studio album, ‘Bouquet’, will be in full bloom on November 15th,” she wrote.
After dropping the country-inspired single ‘Somebody Else’s’, fans speculated Stefani was embracing the genre. However, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, she made it clear that ‘Bouquet’ is “not a country record.”
“It’s all the stuff I listened to in the station wagon on the way to church,” she told the magazine. “Yacht rock, though it wasn’t called yacht rock then. The music I listen to now, I wanted this album to reflect that.”
Stefani, who is married to country star Blake Shelton, has him featured on the album’s closing track, ‘Purple Iris’.
While ‘Bouquet’ won’t mark Stefani’s shift into country music, there’s been a noticeable trend of pop stars embracing the genre this year. Earlier, Beyoncé dropped the massive, country-infused track ‘Cowboy Carter’, and Post Malone dove into the genre with his album ‘F-1 Trillion’.
Image Courtesy: NME
Additionally, Lana Del Rey revealed that her upcoming album, ‘Lasso’, will see her exploring a country sound as well.
In other news, Gwen Stefani recently reunited with ‘No Doubt’ at this year’s Coachella, where she expressed that she’s open to future reunion plans, although there are no concrete plans for touring or new music at the moment. The performance, their first live show since 2015, was something Stefani said had been a long time coming, adding that it’s something they were going to do.
During their Coachella set, the band surprised fans by bringing out Olivia Rodrigo for a performance of ‘Bathwater’, with Stefani playfully asking, “Olivia Rodrigo, why do good girls like me and you always want the bad boys?”
In other news, Garbage’s Shirley Manson reflected on a past moment when their label decided to invest in ‘No Doubt’ over them, calling the decision “devastating.”
–Silviya.Y
