Gwen Stefani reflected on her decade-spanning career and shared some interesting insights about her journey in the industry. In an interview with People magazine, the Hollaback Girl singer spoke about the one song that became the turning point of her career, and that was her hit number Don’t Speak.
“That song was written by my brother (Eric Stefani),” Gwen revealed. “He would stay up all night and smoke cigarettes and eat burritos and write,” she added. The Rich Girl singer recalled that the initial lyrics of the song were “completely different” from the original song.
Gwen, who was part of the band No Doubt along with brother Eric at the time, performed the song for their label.
“They said, ‘We love the chorus. You should try to simplify the verses,'” the Grammy winner recalled. “He sat at the piano with me and goes, ‘Doo, doo, doo,’ and he started with this super edited version of the melody of the verse,” she added.
The singer recalled it as one of the craziest rewrites that turned out to be the “heartbeat” of her life and admitted that she wouldn’t be where she is without that song.
No Doubt was formed in 1986 with Gwen as the lead singer alongside Tony Kanal guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young. After going on a hiatus in 2015, the band reunited this April to perform a special set at the Coachella music festival. The Sweet Escape singer recalled the chemistry the band shared since the initial days.
“We worked so hard, and we had so much chemistry between us, and we weren’t trying to ‘make it,’” she said. Stefani revealed that every time they were in the studio, they wished to procrastinate the real life and continue to do what they felt “passionate” about. That’s why the band became acclaimed in the 90s because the music they were making at the time was “so unbelievably pure.”
Nearly three decades later, the singer continues to find solace and joy in singing and songwriting. “I love writing songs. That’s everything to me,” she told the outlet. “If I want to feel like I have any kind of purpose or any kind of value or anything, it’s about writing a song. That’s where I get my fulfillment,” Gwen explained.
