Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

    I can't deny, I do think there is something to be said in a case like Gwen Stefani. How does the lead vocalist successfully transfer from a quintessentially 90's New-Wave band transfer to the new millennium as the next pop sensation, without looking cheap or tacky? I don't really know how Gwen Stefani did it, but I can't deny what a refreshing voice in contemporary pop music, even if some of her later work (cough cough Wind It Up) is, well, weak at best. This, however, is truly what I think pop should sound like. It was far from pain to listen to. The same cannot be said of the hellish production of the album.
    After basically being forced into working with Linda Perry, Stefani was exhausted after her final No Doubt tour, and suffering from extreme writers block and depression, Stefani was in far from the right frame of mind to write music. After being asked by Perry "What are you waiting for?", she wrote her masterpiece of electro-rock, telling her story of her stress and feelings of judgement she felt from others. And what a song it is. The angst ridden yells of (Now look at your watch now/You're still a super-hot female/You got your million dollar contract/And they're all waiting for your hot track) fantastically address an area of song-writing we very rarely see, and underline Mrs Stefani's rejection of selling out. The song is spectacular.
   So once you've made the best, can you make it better? Well, no, but you can try. There is a pleasant nod to Madonna with the nice Cool, where she adresses her ex boyfriend in a way that is nuanced enough to be irresistible. Rich Girl is decent, but I find it ironic how someone who has soldover 33 million albumns is wondering what it would be like to be rich (plus we get her obnoxious obsession with her dancers, The Harajuku Girls) Hollaback Girl is probably the most infamous track by Stefani, despite the fact it is fun and fresh, and far from the worst lyrics. (That prestigious award goes to Yummy. (I'm feeling yummy from head to toe/Ain't got no patience so lets go) Flo Rida has better lyrics, and he is the one who uttered I'm betting you like people/And I'm betting you love freak mode.) 
The best of the non What You Waiting For? part of the album is the weirdly very-catchy, but-not-at-all- catchy Luxurious, which is essentially an answer to Rich Girls, moaning about the luxuries of being rich and successful, which I can relate to so much. Here we get verses about the joys of cashmere and sparkly things, and a rap verse by Slim Thug, who, to be fair, is not half assing it.
   All in all, it would be a good album if we didn't have that sucker punch What You Waiting For? But thanks to that bit of pop brilliance, this came out as one of the surprise hits of 2004. Rather lovely.

9/10

Teo