While being a stay-at-home mom presents its challenges, Gwen Stefani has enjoyed spending more time with her kids during the pandemic. “We had our little world, and it wasn't easy, but it was amazing to be able to have that experience with the kids,” Stefani says. “I had the little ones, and we are in a very, very rustic cabin. So it was just an amazing thing to be able to be there all together and pause and do things like tear trees down together and all kinds of nature stuff.” The singer-songwriter and No Doubt co-founder, who recently moved to Los Angeles after staying in lockdown at her fiancé Blake Shelton’s ranch in Oklahoma, has kept busy taking care of house duties like doing the laundry and cooking. But other than doing day-to-day chores, Stefani has spent her time writing and recording her next solo album—which moves in a ska- and reggae-oriented direction that takes her, in her own words, “back to my roots.” As she returns with a first tease of the album, “Let Me Reintroduce Myself,” Stefani curated an exclusive holiday-themed Apple Music playlist which includes timeless classics (Bing Crosby, The Beach Boys), offbeat favourites (Paul McCartney, Wham!), and even some of her own (No Doubt). “I want to make music that makes people feel happy,” she says about the upcoming project. “When you first are going to do it, there's this feeling of ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ And it's overwhelming, but once I said, ‘Hey, I want to do reggae. I'm going back. I'm going to revisit my old self,’ it’s so good.”
After emerging as one of rock's coolest frontwomen, No Doubt's Gwen Stefani launched her incredibly successful and critically acclaimed solo career with Love. Angel. Music. Baby., an '80s homage with a resolutely modern edge that spawned six hit singles. Capitalising on its success, Stefani quickly released her follow-up The Sweet Escape, which included the titular hit single featuring Akon. Stefani's innovative turn as a solo popstar paved the way for other singular pop divas.