In 2004, Stefani released her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. The album featured several collaborations with producers and other artists, including No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal, Linda Perry, André 3000, Nellee Hooper, and The Neptunes. It was primarily inspired by pop and new wave music of the 1980s, and emerged an international success with sales of over seven million copies. The third single Hollaback Girl became the first U.S. digital download to sell one million copies.
The debut album also drew attention to the Harajuku Girls, Stefani's entourage of four Japanese backup dancers named for the fashionable suburb in Tokyo. Originally hired in 2004 for the album, the Girls continued to appear alongside Stefani, and are featured in these music videos: "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl", "Luxurious", "Crash", "Wind It Up", "The Sweet Escape", and "Now That You Got It".
Stefani's second solo album The Sweet Escape was released December 5, 2006. Collaborating again with her on the project were Perry, The Neptunes, along with Akon and Tim Rice-Oxley of Keane, and producers Pharrell and Kanal. Despite mixed reviews of the album as a whole, the title track The Sweet Escape became an international success and earned Stefani a Grammy nomination, and remains the most successful song of her solo career.
Although it had been speculated that the album would contain only material originally written for L.A.M.B. that did not make the final cut, only two songs left over from L.A.M.B. were included in the record: 80's-influenced U Started It; and Wonderful Life, which features Depeche Mode's Martin L. Gore on guitar.
Stefani is equally known as a fashion trendsetter. In 2003, she created a clothing fashion line named L.A.M.B. which shares the initials of her debut solo album. This collection was later expanded with the introduction of a newer line in 2005 called Harajuku Lovers, which draws its inspiration from Japanese culture and fashion.
On May 26, 2006, Stefani gave birth to her first child, a baby boy named Kingston James McGregor Rossdale. The father is British grunge musician Gavin Rossdale, former frontman of the now-defunct bands Bush and Institute, who she married in 2002.
In January 2008, Stefani's now ex-father-in-law confirmed that she would be expecting her second child in the summer. On August 21, 2008, second son Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale was born.
Gwen Stefani said in 2011 that she was no longer planning to release another solo album.
On April 12, 2014, Stefani made a surprise appearance at the Coachella festival, where she joined Pharrell Williams onstage during his set to perform "Hollaback Girl". She and Williams were coaches for season 7 of The Voice. After nine years since her last appearance, she attended the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, and during an interview on the red carpet she said, "I didn't know I was gonna have a baby, I didn't know I was gonna be on The Voice, I didn't know I was gonna be writing new music, so I'm just like, what's gonna be next?".
On September 8, 2014, Stefani told MTV News during New York Fashion Week that she is working on both a No Doubt album and a solo album. She also revealed that she is working with Williams. Stefani released her comeback single "Baby Don't Lie" on October 20, 2014, co-written with producers Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, and Noel Zancanella. Billboard magazine revealed that her third studio album is set to be released in December and Benny Blanco is set to executive produce it. In late October, a sneak peek of a new track from Stefani's third album, named "Spark the Fire", was premiered. The song was produced by Pharrell Williams.
On October 17, 2015, Stefani performed a one-night concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, where she performed a new song, reportedly about her breakup with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, titled "Used to Love You". It was released as a digital download on October 20, 2015. The video was released later that same day. The song was released to Mainstream radio in the U.S. on October 27, 2015. The track is the first official single off her third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like, which she has been working on since June of that year. Neither "Baby Don't Lie" or "Spark the Fire" were included on the album. Stefani said much of the previous material felt forced and inauthentic, while the songs written since she returned to the studio are more natural and better describe where she is in her life. The album's second single, "Make Me Like You", was released on February 12, 2016.
In November 2015, she announced that she began dating fellow “The Voice” judge Blake Shelton. The couple got engaged in October 27, 2020. The couple got married in July 3, 2021.
Danger Zone
Gwen Stefani Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Adopting all your history, it's hard being me too
Are your secrets where you left them
Cause now your ghosts are mine as well
I think it's time I met them and I think it's time you tell
And you should have told me when you met me
All these things I should know
About this so long ago
It's not fair, it's not fair
And don't leave me here
How's this happening to me
It feels so lonely here
We are in a mess, a danger zone
What will happen next, you never know
We are in a mess, a danger zone
What will happen next, you never know
Now we share the closet, now you've let me come inside
And now you're finally undressing, and I feel like I might die
The damage is infectious, the confession is too late
And how can I accept this
How is this happening to me
It's not fair, it's not fair
And I come up for air
How's this happening to me
It feels so lonely here
We are in a mess, a danger zone
What will happen next, you never know
We are in a mess, a danger zone
What will happen next, you never know
You never know
You never know
All of your secrets
All your lies, all of it
We are in a mess, a danger zone
What will happen next, you never know
We are in a mess, a danger zone
What will happen next, you never know
In the song "Danger Zone," Gwen Stefani sings about the difficulties that arise when trying to build a relationship with someone who has a lot of emotional baggage. She begins by acknowledging that while she can't fully imagine what the other person has gone through, she can relate to the feeling of being burdened by one's own history. She wants to be let in and to be able to understand the other person's experience, but it seems that they're both standing on shaky ground.
The lyrics suggest that there's a lot of ambiguity in their relationship, and that things have been left unsaid for too long. Stefani feels frustrated that the other person didn't reveal certain things from the start, and now she's left to bear the burden of it all. She talks about feeling isolated and alone, as if she's been thrust into this "danger zone" without any warning. Despite this, she's willing to try and work things out, even if she knows that the road ahead won't be easy.
One of the main themes in "Danger Zone" is the importance of communication in any relationship. Stefani seems to be suggesting that if the other person had been more upfront about their past, things might have turned out differently. Additionally, the song highlights the emotional toll that secrets and lies can take on a person, and how hard it can be to repair the damage that's been done.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't imagine how hard it must be, to be you
I empathize with the difficulties you're facing, as I can only imagine how tough it must be to live your life.
Adopting all your history, it's hard being me too
I understand that learning and understanding your past troubles is emotionally taxing for me as well.
Are your secrets where you left them
I wonder if you kept all of your secrets in the same kind of places or things that you did before, as they might help me uncover them.
Cause now your ghosts are mine as well
As I begin to piece together your past and the secrets therein, I feel like I'm taking on and becoming consumed by your inner demons.
I think it's time I met them and I think it's time you tell
It's about time we both confront your secrets head-on and you tell me the truths that I need to hear.
And you should have told me when you met me
I believe that you should have been forthcoming about your baggage and secrets from the start of our relationship.
All these things I should know
I understand that there's much about you and your past that I don't yet understand, but need to in order to help our relationship thrive.
I should have asked, we should have talked
Looking back, I can see that I missed opportunities to ask out-of-the-box questions and initiate more open, honest dialogue between us.
About this so long ago
It's been awhile since our relationship began, so it feels like we're playing catch-up now, trying to make up for lost time.
It's not fair, it's not fair
The situation we find ourselves in feels deeply unjust and difficult to reconcile emotionally.
And don't leave me here
I don't want to be faced with your secrets and the implications they have for our relationship on my own. I need your support.
How's this happening to me
I'm struggling to come to terms with why we're sitting in such an emotionally fraught and uncomfortable place in our relationship.
It feels so lonely here
This emotional turmoil is making me feel isolated and disconnected from you, like we're not on the same page at all.
Now we share the closet, now you've let me come inside
Our relationship has reached a new level of intimacy, where we're sharing spaces and being more vulnerable with one another.
And now you're finally undressing, and I feel like I might die
As you continue to reveal more dark secrets from your past, it's becoming harder and harder for me to handle the emotions and uncertainty that come with that knowledge.
The damage is infectious, the confession is too late
The harm that has been done in the past and that has now been uncovered is pervasive, affecting me as well, and it's too little too late for the truth to come out now.
And how can I accept this
I'm struggling to find a way forward or to wrap my head around the information and secrets that are now out in the open between us.
All of your secrets
It's become increasingly clear to me that there are countless aspects and secrets from your past that I wasn't previously aware of, and which have affected our relationship deeply.
All your lies, all of it
I can see now that the truth has been largely obfuscated and distorted in our relationship; there's much that we need to re-evaluate and work through in order to move forward.
We are in a mess, a danger zone
Our relationship is in a deeply uncertain and unsteady emotional place, and it feels like it could tip over into chaos at any moment.
What will happen next, you never know
I'm struggling to predict and understand the trajectory of our relationship, which now feels highly unpredictable and unstable.
You never know
There are so many things that I didn't know about you and our relationship before, and now anything could happen, making our future highly unknowable.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network
Written by: LINDA PERRY, DALLAS AUSTIN, GWEN STEFANI
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@YinsShadow
Loved No Doubt, but I don't see why people hate her as a solo artist. I love this song, original, artistic, and very deep.
@UndergroundCreepers
Absolutely no one hates Gwen as a solo artist.
@mandymerlin1649
this album is pop perfection
@mannyjohnson4539
The thing I love best about this song is the “Cool” riff in the pre-chorus and bridge. It really brings the somber emotion in an otherwise fierce dance track.
@TGMusique
Indeed, and those handclaps before the bridge riff is sublime!
@mannyjohnson4539
CreamyCrumpets17 whatever
@kaysmith8992
This album opened the floodgates of the 2000s' 80s revival.
@jo3ly
Fuck this was a good album.
@madonnaandanastaciaaretheq9228
jo3ly Exactly!
@TheConcertQueen97
My absolute favorite song from this album. What a masterpiece.