Gwen Stefani
After watching her video for "Cool," I decided that I'm one in that pathetic set of people who profess to *love* Gwen Stefani. It's a touching song, though I didn't pay attention to the lyrics until I saw the video. Contra New Criticism, the story of "Cool" is highly enriched by our knowledge of the author's biography.
I was never much of a No Doubt fan. The song that went "leave a message and I'll call you back" always irritated me. My feelings about "Don't Speak" were pretty much blah, except for a brief instant when I learned that it was about that short little bassist dude - at which point I joined the world in saying, "HIM?! No, seriously." And as for "I'm Just a Girl," it wasn't until about fall 2003 that I finally got it; I was listening to it on my car radio one day, and was like, "OH MY GOD! It's supposed to be FUNNY!" Budding respect for Gwen.
Though it looks like it's Stefani's husband who plays her love interest in the "Cool" video, I don't think I'm wrong in supposing that the song is really about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend/bassist. After all, Stefani is still with her husband, so it can't be him. This is what makes the story so moving: here's this beautiful, dynamic, totally hip bombshell, and we know that in a way she can't get over a shifty little troll dude with a bad bleach job. Bombshell though she is (ie, biography matters), she remembers what it's like to be hurt, she overcame it, and best of all, she knows how to be a friend. It makes one wonder what the trollish dude must be thinking, and why did he let go of the girl who valued him so much? But then I form a little mental picture of Orange County boys, and everything kind of falls into place: he just didn't feel the same way, for whatever reason. Isn't that how it always is?
I was never much of a No Doubt fan. The song that went "leave a message and I'll call you back" always irritated me. My feelings about "Don't Speak" were pretty much blah, except for a brief instant when I learned that it was about that short little bassist dude - at which point I joined the world in saying, "HIM?! No, seriously." And as for "I'm Just a Girl," it wasn't until about fall 2003 that I finally got it; I was listening to it on my car radio one day, and was like, "OH MY GOD! It's supposed to be FUNNY!" Budding respect for Gwen.
Though it looks like it's Stefani's husband who plays her love interest in the "Cool" video, I don't think I'm wrong in supposing that the song is really about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend/bassist. After all, Stefani is still with her husband, so it can't be him. This is what makes the story so moving: here's this beautiful, dynamic, totally hip bombshell, and we know that in a way she can't get over a shifty little troll dude with a bad bleach job. Bombshell though she is (ie, biography matters), she remembers what it's like to be hurt, she overcame it, and best of all, she knows how to be a friend. It makes one wonder what the trollish dude must be thinking, and why did he let go of the girl who valued him so much? But then I form a little mental picture of Orange County boys, and everything kind of falls into place: he just didn't feel the same way, for whatever reason. Isn't that how it always is?
posted by Rex at 8:09 PM
1 Comments:
did you also know that the other woman in the video is actually the "little troll dudes" CURRENT girlfriend. Yeah he reels in the beauties like no other.. part of being a rich rockstar (kinda) I guess.. But I'm also sure he's got lots of P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L-I-T-Y!
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