Audacy Check In: Gwen Stefani
Joining Bru for an Audacy Check In, Gwen Stefani is here to fill us in on her forthcoming album Bouquet. From finding the right sound, to feeling inspired by the “group of amazing songwriters” she worked with, the “spiritual” recording process, and more.
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MusicTranscript
00:00Knew I wanted to make something that I wanted to listen to and like I feel like I keep going back
00:05The older I get the more I go back to like the songs that I grew up with like as a kid
00:11You know, I mean like which we I think we kind of call it yacht rock now
00:14But it at that time was just like the popular, you know, like soft rock
00:19music like anything from like Steely Dan the Eagles like
00:23Carly Simon James Taylor like there was a lot of singer-songwriters back then everything was there was no computer
00:29it was just music like organic, you know, and so I really wanted to do something like in that kind of world and
00:38Hi Gwen, it's so nice to meet you in person. Thank you so much for so cool. Um, hey happy belated birthday
00:44Thank you
00:45It was a big birthday and I it's interesting because the last we talked about time right before we turned on the actual recording button
00:52But like it's really crazy because like a year ago
00:56I was I had a show in Hawaii on my birthday and I went on my own and I'd like spiraled into this like
01:03Place I was like everybody needs to have a birthday. I think like a celebration and I
01:09Ended up writing this song called swallow my tears, which is on the new record
01:12Yeah, so I got something good out of it. But this birthday I was like, okay
01:15No
01:15we gotta like we got to do something and so Blake took us it was like six six of us and we went to Colorado to
01:22Cabin and just like it was so beautiful up there. All the trees were like changing color. It was like waterfall
01:29hiking
01:30drinking like everything you could do and I was so emotional like
01:35Anytime I'd look over and they'd be like, oh like a cake would be
01:40It was like a really sometimes you just really need to transition into the next year and that was one of those years for me
01:46So it's been like it was a good one. I feel I'm ready now and it's so interesting
01:50I wrote down swallow my tears because I got to listen to the album a little bit earlier today
01:54And that's my favorite song so far. Are you serious? Yeah, I love it. So congrats on that
01:59There's things come out of bad things
02:03Absolutely for bouquet is coming out November 15th, how you feeling as a whole I feel so grateful
02:09Like it's it was one of those
02:12Like again, like you can't all I can do is look back at all of the whole career and be like wow
02:18How did that happen like none of it makes any sense at all let alone to have a new record now
02:22like I just I was feeling like I needed to like in dirt we talked 2020 and I'm like
02:28I really want to start writing again, but I also feel like I I have like so many things going on
02:33I'm a mom, you know
02:34like I have all these I felt guilty to even go to the studio and try to write music because a lot of times you
02:39go and nothing happens to and
02:43But I started working on it and I think I went down like a lot of like weird
02:48Cul-de-sacs like just musically because I didn't really know what I wanted to be or who I was like
02:53I was trying to kind of chase the old me like, okay
02:56I want to do reggae or I'm gonna do this and nothing was like landing and like that
03:00Wow, this is the thing not even for me, but like even when I'd played it for people like cool
03:04Okay. Anyways, like let's I'm like, oh I guess it's gone. Like I guess I don't do this anymore
03:09and and then finally like I think it really just comes down to like
03:14Mmm, you have to like you as the person doing it
03:18I want it to always be real and truthful and honest and I just had to find that real
03:22Honest place and also the people that I actually end up writing the songs with like finding the right chemistry the right
03:29Everything to make it all to come together
03:30And once I wrote purple irises, which I know I was in here when that came out
03:34Everything just is going by so quickly
03:36But um that was like finally like okay
03:38I landed in the spot and then the record kind of happened pretty quick after that
03:41But I was just telling the story about my birthday and that was a year ago and I wrote that so it time just lies
03:47Yeah, I can't believe it. But to have like this record that feels like it feels like so
03:54Therapeutic like share it and like the fact that you heard it like it's like oh my gosh
03:58That's even more healing like to yeah, it's like you have to confess your life like to heal. You know, I'm saying
04:03So it's been really awesome. That's amazing so far and it's so interesting how I love the phrase cul-de-sacs of music
04:10How would you describe this sound then since it's like different than what you don't before well
04:14I think it was like I knew I wanted to make something that I wanted to listen to and like I feel like I keep
04:20going back
04:20The older I get the more I go back to like the songs that I grew up with like as a kid
04:26You know, I mean like which we I think we kind of call it yacht rock now
04:30But at that time it was just like the popular, you know, like soft rock
04:34music like anything from like Steely Dan the Eagles like
04:39Carly Simon James Taylor like there was a lot of singer-songwriters back then everything was there was no computers
04:45It was just music like organic, you know
04:47And so I really wanted to do something like in that kind of world and I got to work with this producer called Scott Hendricks
04:54Who's actually a country producer, which I knew through Blake, but he's like this eccentric amazing gifted
05:00Like I mean, I'm like a huge fan of him. Like he's just so incredible at what he does. He's a legend
05:06He was just retiring from his job
05:08He'd been at forever and so I wasn't able to work with him until that happened
05:12And so it just all lined up exactly four days after he retired
05:16We were in the studio and we cut all the songs with live music. It was just amazing. It was spiritual
05:21it was so that's what the record is kind of like a
05:24you know bouquet of all these songs that are like a collection and really like really edited down to like
05:30Me kind of right now and like what I've been going through to get like healing to this point in my life
05:37I guess when it comes to being on your own project was the creative process different from like setting the time up to
05:42Record it with him like compared to nobody, but you how did it go in with him on your project? It was like really
05:50Spontaneous because I had that song for a while and he kept kind of like hey, don't put that out yet
05:54And then I don't know he I kind of like got this feeling that he wanted because it wasn't a duet
05:59It was just a song. I wrote about him. Yeah, and
06:02He's playing the seeds. I felt like yeah dibs on it
06:06I was like, hey, do you want to be on this?
06:07like I wouldn't dare ask him because everybody wants him on their song, but
06:12He was kind of like open to it
06:14I was like I can rewrite it like I can write did it whatever and then I was down the studio
06:18I was talking to Jay cash who ended up helping me get this whole project together
06:23And he I was saying how cool would it be if we did the duet and he's like, yeah
06:27I was like, you know what?
06:28I'm gonna text him like right now and like in a half hour he was over and we just like tried it on
06:33And even then I wasn't sure if it was working
06:35but and then when we we ended up recutting it with Scott like it kind of all
06:40Came together cuz it's like his world and my world coming together. And it was yeah combine it pretty well
06:45it's just so fun like as a life thing to do that with him because
06:51Outside of just him being my best friend my husband all of it
06:54He's just such an amazing gifted singer and person like just to build an artist. So it's just why not I love it
07:01I feel so proud of it. That's awesome
07:03Well, it's great. You're back in new music. Obviously saw you on Kimmel the other day and Coachella last year
07:08but when it comes to
07:09Performing is in your mind. Like what are your plans for getting out on the road anything come to mind?
07:14I you know what? I've been doing a lot of festivals. Yeah, which is really fun
07:18Do some I get hired for do some like kind of private shows, too
07:22I'm pretty busy. Like it's kind of like too busy, but
07:27But and I'm always like do I want to do I never want to do a show?
07:32Like I'm always like it's cuz it feels like if someone said, okay, we're gonna do a marathon now
07:36let's go like physically like
07:39You know and then once I get up there I'm like, oh I gotta do this and it's like I'm in it in the moment
07:45Then when it's over I'm like, oh, I don't wanna do that for a minute. But no Coachella was incredible
07:50The festivals I've been playing have been
07:52Absolutely amazing. And I think it's just really I love doing the festivals because you're there with other artists, too
07:58So it's like that energy and you get to like play for people that probably maybe wouldn't didn't come for you
08:03Which I love that too. I love trying to prove myself
08:12Absolutely and to get to obviously I collab with no doubt again and Olivia Rodrigo at Coachella is so cool
08:17I love that relationship and when you look at her
08:20Do you see a little bit of yourself and like how different it is?
08:24Like coming up in the music industry compared to when you did it is so different
08:29I mean even like I can remember them the industry
08:32Meaning like even when I say that word, it's work. It's weird. So I was so naive
08:35I didn't know it was an industry like I was like
08:38Like I'm gonna find my thrift store clothes and like here's my song
08:42I wrote about my life that no one's gonna hear, you know
08:45And I think that with Olivia like I got to meet her on the carpet like right on the Met Ball
08:51Like we were in the like line to go on the red carpet or whatever and I was by myself and she was by herself
08:56and we were like started talking and
08:59she's just was so cool and just normal and easy to talk to and I
09:04Really respect her because when I heard that driver's license song I was like god who wrote this like this is actually like
09:12Amazing amazing song like I gotta check this girl out and
09:15What I see in her is just like a really talented songwriter that just is able to be able to like
09:21Say what she feels in music and I just think it's just very cool and inspiring even for me to hear
09:28you know, it doesn't matter like again like
09:31collaboration for me has always been where I feel like I shine the most like especially as a songwriter and
09:37And
09:38Credit where credit's due because when I went in the studio
09:40I wrote these songs with like a group of amazing songwriters and
09:45It's finding that that zone where you feel like you have that chemistry of people and two of the girls that I wrote with on
09:51This record are like young girls that like oh my god
09:54My mom used to listen to no doubt like, you know what I mean?
09:57Like and so like for me it was like it was just so inspiring for me
10:02You know to be with to see these girls and try to think back to like what I was like at that age and like
10:08they were
10:09You know, I worked with this girl called Nico and she's an artist and I wrote purple irises with her
10:15I wrote this song called marigolds with her and she just was so cool about letting me have space in the room to be me
10:21but also
10:22She brought like lines and she brought like melodies and she was so confident
10:27But yet I don't know it was just it's just interesting, you know
10:30And then this other girl Madison love I love you guys
10:35She's again like at first when I start working with her I was like who is this girl like you walk in just like I'm
10:40Walking in here and go. Okay. Let's write a song like it's really intimidating
10:43It's really like pressure. Yeah, and it's like I got to give back to the kids like I'm saying like it's like a lot
10:49It was that's what I'm saying. Like it was a fight for me to like nobody cared like nobody was saying
10:54Okay, you got to go do this now. It's like your next thing you're doing. It's like no it's like me going
10:58I kind of want to do this because like is it weird that I want to do this, you know
11:03so that fight I think is what made me so like
11:07Makes me so proud of it and so excited to share it because it feels so like real
11:11It's so cool to see your journey and obviously like being from OC and having a even a star on the Walk of Fame
11:16So you got that last that was weird
11:19Yeah, you visited it ever not yet
11:21No, not yet
11:22But I remember driving up in the Nissan Sentra with like the band crammed in to like go get some studio time to like
11:29Haul everything upstairs to go do some music. I did we had no idea what we were doing, you know
11:34It was right there. Like those stars were like at the bottom of where that studio who was
11:40Amazing so Blake's chillin. Obviously, you're back on the voice for another season
11:45what is like your advice when it comes into a
11:48Program like that where it's so hectic and so pressurized it feels like what do you try to instill when it comes to your team?
11:54You know what? I love that show so much
11:56I think this season I was gonna I wasn't really planning to come back and then they were like
12:01But it's Snoop and it's like my play and it's Riva again. I was like, oh
12:06Season go through Christmas. Well, yeah, we so right now it's just airing everything that we like
12:12I know everything that's gonna happen. I was there and then we go back live in December and but it's really short
12:18it's only like two weeks the lives this time and
12:22It it was just like this season has just been so full of love like
12:27Michael Bublé is just like the
12:29Sweetest we we have to get separated like we're talking. They're like, okay get to set like stop
12:35We can't stop talking like and I knew he was gonna be great cuz Blake is friends with him and he'd always all these years
12:40I mean, I have known Blake now nine years and all that time. He I love Michael da da da
12:45So I wasn't worried about that. But Snoop I was worried about myself because I'm such a fan
12:50But I was like, what what are you gonna be? Like like this is gonna be like Snoop Dogg
12:56Like how am I gonna be normal like and
12:59And I'd met him before and stuff but like to really like be on set like that is it's a whole thing
13:05But he is so awesome. I mean, he is so Snoop you would not believe it
13:09Like he's literally in he calls it the green room before he comes out
13:13I saw him in Paris for the Olympics. I was doing some workouts there and he was the same vibe. Yeah, he's so fun
13:19He can't get away from himself. He's got the best jobs ever. Yeah, he's just doing side quests. He makes everyone happy
13:24He's just like a happy guy with an icon
13:26well
13:27I can't wait for those Christmas shows because that means you guys have to do some kind of Christmas song like
13:31You know with Bublé and oh my god, that's right. You know, yeah
13:36It's gonna be crazy. We got Halloween together this month. Are you a big Halloween person? I am a Halloween person
13:41It's interesting because
13:43Everybody was asking me like, oh, is this a country record? Cuz I wore a cowboy hat on the cover, but it's a long story
13:50but anyways
13:51one of the one of the when me and Blake first got together was it was Halloween so like we went out and
13:58And I dressed up like a country girl
14:00like I was like my feel like like I don't know not very farm version of a country girl like a square dancing outfit and
14:08So in the song miracles, there's a line that says dressed up like a country girl and
14:12knew you to prove and it's like
14:14Basically a nod to that because I definitely did go country when it comes to Blake, but not musically
14:19But it's funny. I just grabbed this hat because it was like, I don't know. I was doing the shoot
14:24I was like, oh Lizzie my assistant
14:26I was like when you go back to the house grab that hat that that
14:29It was his manager's wife gave me this cowboy hat like years ago. I never wore it
14:33I might want to throw it on and it end up being like the cover of the record
14:43Well, have a great Halloween obviously, it's still your birthday month so you got to keep enjoying that yeah keep enjoying every day
14:48I'm glad you
14:49Have that awareness now that you should be celebrated every year. Oh, you're sweet. Thank you
14:54Thanks for having me and thanks for playing the music. Of course. Is there anything I miss anything else?
14:58Well, let your fans know
14:59Well, gosh, I have an opportunity to talk to them. I just want to say thank you. Oh my gosh
15:04It's such an inspiration. You know I'm saying it's like you it's it's like anything else that you can't really see like love
15:11You know hope faith like there's these things that we know what they are and that's like them
15:15like I know they're there and
15:17Rooting for me and I feel that energy and that love and it's such an inspiration for me to want to do new music
15:24You know and share it with them. I can't wait
15:25I just want this record like I want people to
15:28To feel how it made me feel because it's like such a healing like I don't know
15:33It's just so it's such a me, you know
15:35When you find that record that you're like, I want to listen to this over it just makes you feel good
15:39Yeah, one of those what was the heart so far, but I've already had it for a long time
15:44Excited you guys have it shout out to you. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Bye. Thanks for having me