Gwen Stefani, promoting her latest album, “This is What the Truth Feels Like,” mentoring on Team Blake on The Voice and dealing with the day-to-day challenges of motherhood, talked to TIME Magazine. She called the producers and songwriters she collaborated with gifts from a “higher power” and all part of a “master plan.” Sheesh. You’d think this was “Dark Side of the Moon,” “Sgt. Pepper” or a destined classic the way she describes it, but I guess she’s really proud of it. Here are some highlights:
On the album: “It was really a life-saver record for me. It wasn’t until I had to go through the worst tragedy that it really opened up a channel for me to be like, ‘God gave me a gift. I’m going to use it now. Because if I don’t, I’m going to die.’”
On moving on: “I’ve really been trying to exercise my spiritual side in the last year. I scraped myself off the floor and went into the studio and tried to somehow be alive again.”
On her divorce: “I don’t feel like I have anything to be ashamed of. I’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t feel like I have anything to protect about myself. But when you’re a mother, you have to have some boundaries.”
On the struggles she faced getting Truth recorded: “I started going in with different people, but it felt kind of man’s world-y. Like, ‘Wow, we’re excited you’re here, but we’re going to do everything.’ [They weren’t] open to my ideas.”
On being a rocker in love: “It was the first time that I really had written a record from a different point of view of being in love and being grateful and being in a really, ‘Oh my God, I got saved!’ kind of place.”
On what her time on The Voice meant to her: “This newfound tabloid fame that I’ve got definitely came from being on TV — that just takes it to a different place I’ve never been before. I’m just so grateful for that experience. To be on a show where I got to step outside of myself and coach and think about my own career really helped me find my confidence again and feel kind of reborn.”
I know Gwen is an artist, but this is kind of a little much, don’t you think?
This past weekend, Gwen played proud mama to sons Kingston, 9 and Zuma, 7 as they took part in the wedding of one of Gwen’s friends. Two-year-old Apollo stayed with Mom, who dip dyed her hair black – which I don’t like, but it’s not my hair.
photos credit: WENN, Getty and Pacific Coast News
I would not have known that is her in the black with the sleeves if it had not been stated in writing.
That shot looks like Katherine Heigel at first glance.
Is it actually her?!?!
Not a cute look :/
almost positive its temporary. She’s gone out with it like this before, as well as blue, and it never lasts long (mysteriously, the blunt bob cut also goes away too). I stare at it trying to figure out how she could’ve added this into her hair but it’s a mystery.
That bottom pic looks like the ones they show of celebrities’ less attractive high school days. “You won’t believe who this is!”
Except for a couple of songs, I love love the album. Very catchy. I love Gwen. She has a good heart. And she is very thankful that it was number one on iTunes and going strong on Billboard top 200 predictions. Good for Gwen turning hell into happiness.
I like Gwen too. I was listening to a radio interview she did a few days ago and I was struck by how humble, genuine and sweet she seems to be. Also, the New York Time’s latest Popcast was about her and her new album and the journalist who interviewed only had nice things to say about her and seemed very impressed w the new album, so I decided to check it out and I really really liked it. A solid album with a lot of good songs. People should give it a listen before giving their opinions on it 😉
@Bea, I agree. The album is addictive with all of its hooks and melodies and Gwenisms in vocal delivery. I will listen to a song and some lyrics will pop in my head like an hour after. Like the song “Truth,”
“So this is what the truth feels like, and I’m feeling it, I’m feeling it.”
I also got the Target CD which includes four bonus tracks exclusive to Target.
Okay. That hair is AWFUL! And those nails. Ick. Just all of it as one package – no!
I loved Gwen’s two previous solo albums but have changed my listening style a bit lately and am not sure whether I will be able to deal with it now. She really annoys me as a person these days. Maybe I should stream it on Apple radio and take a listen before I judge.
Any hairdressers out there? Is that real black dye? She seems to do that black on the ends thing frequently and then the next day it’s gone. I don’t see how you could get rid of black dye from bleached hair without destroying the hair…
Maybe it’s the spray stuff they sell at Halloween.
I know that I used a semi-permanent on my already dark brown hair and it took 6 months before it totally came out. It was the biggest hair mistake I have ever made.
Hairdresser here 😊 It looks like a hair piece to me. Her hair isn’t even close to that thick. And the way the ends spread out looks very unnatural and “weft like” . This “dip dye” look she’s sporting my five year old could have blended better. I’m sure it’s meant to look artistic but it looks like it was me by a beauty school drop out.
Those are probably tied in hair extensions, not her real hair, or she’s wearing a wig…she has many looks, so these looks can easily be accomplished with hairpieces, extension pieces, wigs, pony tails, and other fake pieces of real hair.
Her sneakers are cute. I hate everything else.
To me she looks like Brandy Glanville.
Normally I really dislike long, talon-like nails but on her, they look ok.
Her face makes me sad. Did she even need all of that? Also, those nails creep me out. Anyway, I’m glad she’s happy.
She is very d.r.a.m.a.t.i.c. She will die if she doesn’t use her God given gift. Don’t like the hair at all. Wonder how much of it is hers. I don’t get how she and Madonna and all of the naturally dark haired women can go platinum for decades without destroying their hair. Can’t be healthy..
I assume they are wearing extensions and/or getting regular treatments and trims so the spilt ends don’t travel up the hair shaft. It’s possible to have platinum hair that’s relatively healthy it just requires a lot of time and money.
She’s been doing the hair thing for a while–it was in the Spark the Fire video (2014). I’m not a fan of the look, but I hope she’s happy. She deserves it.
This look is passable on Terri Nunn. But it looks HORRIBLE on Stefani.
Lace front!
It will be gone next week
Can anyone ID the trainers please
I need them!
Worst tragedy? Ok, then.
Gwen talking like this is nothing new. When she released “What You Waiting For?” (the video for which was quite a literal take on her search for inspiration following the hiatus of No Doubt) she talked like this a lot. At this stage I think this is just her personality. She has always had that way about her.
She did just make a massive life transition. Leaving your most significant relationship only to realize how toxic it was is a big deal. Starting over is a big deal. I’m watching my mother go through something similar know that her children are all grown, and there is a kind of struggle and catharsis to it. So is it a dramatic? Maybe. But for somebody at the stage of her life, dating a man who’s openly affectionate and appreciative toward her in a way Ross never visibly was, it probably feels pretty dramatic. I’ll let her slide on it.
Oh my! No, just no!
I agree. A tad self-indulgent…
I actually love the hair, fake or not. It’s interesting … Like swaths of water color on a canvas. The nails not so much; they’re her standard issue beauty queen grows up nails.
Poor thing. This mid life crisis is really something.
She may be a nice person but when it comes to her appearance, it is very dated and boring. Time for a change.