New Record - Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani - What the Truth Feels Like

Gwen Stefani is a pop star with "punk-ish" roots who is also a star in the spunk rock universe. She scored 51 on the ass-kicking factor..
http://joelspunkrock.blogspot.com/2016/02/top-20-bad-ass-rocknrole-models.html
..not the highest score, but among the greats. At times I've thought of her in the lineage from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna to today. I had been looking forward to this record.. it is her first in some time, and some of the early singles sounded pretty cool. well.. I was disappointed.

This record lacks luster and spunk. Most of the songs are anti-climatic and boring. Nearly every song shows promise and potential, but just never gets groovin. All the elements you would expect are there.. cool beats and tunes, nice clean vocals with her distinctive voice, catchy poppy songs. but some how, they (almost) all seem to come up lacking in follow-through


Make Me Like You was an early release. I enjoyed that when it appeared, and I was looking forward to more (hopefully better) songs. Unfortunately, this is probably the best song on the record.Red Flag has some interesting hip-hop beats and vocals. Would/could have been a cooler song with a even a slightly harder edge. There are a few other songs with some cool build-up effects and rap-like vocals such as Asking For It, Naughty, and Rocket Ship. But these songs never quite connect to the funky dance tunes that she has pulled off in the past.

There is a personal component to this record that some may appreciate, but for me it just pulls it down further. I know she has been through some issues lately, with Gavin Rosdale and all. I don't know a lot about that, and I don't want to know. I just want her to kick ass again. If she needs to write a journal entry to get it out for her own mental health - great - share it with your shrink. I sincerely wish her the best. But it is not cast her in a form of good art, but rather in the tacky form of a high-school journal keeper. The Sonic Youth song Skip Tracer comes to mind, "we watched her fall over and lay down, shouting the poetic truths of high-school journal keepers."  Good song writing often draws on personal experiences and hard-ships, I have no problem with that. But a good song takes this experience and casts in it a general form that others can relate to without having that very same experience. These songs are just too blunt lyrically, lacking the subtle craftsmanship of a good pop song. Fans of Adele and other pop light-weights may appreciate this, but I don't.

I still like me some Gwen on occasion, but I won't be play-listing any of these, except may Make Me Like You.