12 years on from her debut album back in 2004, Gwen Stefani returns with her third album This Is What The Truth Feels Like.
Due to managing an acting career and starting a family since then, plus the comeback of her band No Doubt in 2012, This Is What The Truth Feels Like actually comes out a full 10 years after her second solo album. This is in part due to beginning, and then scrapping an album that was due to be released in 2014, but also due to divorcing from long time husband Gavin Rossdale and then suffering from writer’s block. After bringing us pop hits such as Hollaback Girl and The Sweet Escape, can the American pop princess bring back that old magic or has it been too long?
Well, basically, yes she can.
Opening track Misery is a slowly pulsing, foot-tapping rhythm that gets under your skin the moment the melody kicks in while Stefani laments on her emotional scars. It’s swiftly followed by You’re My Favorite which incites flavourings of Madonna especially lyrically and it’s obvious that this isn’t going to be a whole album of forlornness and melancholy. Where Would I Be? mixes things up a bit with a reggae-dance feel and throws in some group vocals ala Hollaback Girl for good measure. Make Me Like You is unashamedly pop and doesn’t care, with a bubblegum candy type feel which will certainly be popular with younger listeners. Uptempo groove Truth comes next, with its light and subtle layering of guitars and synths and is a very good example of the quality of the production on the record.
Used to Love You is the therapeutic break-up song of the record and obviously is very emotionally charged, that aside, it’s a well-written song with a catchy hook and you could easily find yourself humming it later on in the day. The second half of the album sees the mood move towards more of a confidence and rediscovering oneself with Send Me a Picture and then the cockiness of Red Flag. Asking 4 It sees Stefani and the album lose its way a little with a song that feels more like over-produced filler than anything. Naughty has Stefani in all her pouting and street-girl glory, though it does suffer a little from somewhat of an anti-climax in the choruses. Me Without You and Rare are more of the new found confidence and swagger of post break-up positivity and wanting your ex to know that you’re moving on. By the end of the record with tracks like Rocket Ship, Obsessed and Splash you hear Stefani back to how you’ve heard her in her previous albums; confident, sassy, flirtatious and full of vigour.
There’s broadly something for everyone here whether it’s cheesy pop, melancholy epics, disco floor-fillers or loud and proud sing-alongs. It would be all too easy to jump on the bandwagon of arguing that at 46, perhaps Gwen Stefani should be aiming at more depth to her songs and less cheerleader chants but if this album is anything to go by, she’s still capable of pulling off both sides of the coin. At 17 tracks (for the deluxe version) there’s an argument for trimming the less accessible tunes off of the album as you do find that they are to the detriment of the majority of the other songs. All told though this is a very good effort for a singer who’s been away for a while as she could very easily not have come back to her solo career at all.
Author: Steve, Bristol store
