Gwen Stefani - Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Gwen Stefani's first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (Often shortened to L.A.M.B.) This album really is a power house record. Not only did Stefani write every single song on the album, she also collaborated with numerous writers and producers including Andre 3000, Dr. Dre and The Neptunes.

Stefani wanted this album to be a modern 80's album. She drew heavy influence from Cyndi Lauper, early Madonna, New Order, The Cure, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Debbie Deb and Club Nouveau. The album also combines many diverse musical styles such as R&B, dance, rock, hip hop and electropop. All this together makes an extremely unique and kick-ass album! L.A.M.B.sold over 300,000 copies it's first week, eventually selling 7 million world wide, spawning six hit singles.

This is one of those albums where every single song is amazing. I feel like most, if not all the songs could have easily made it to single status. It's classic 80's pop revival with a twist. The album is so much more than that though. The entire album was a production, Gwen took us on a ride through her imagination, showing us what inspires her.

Now, let's break this album down song by song:

What You Waiting For?

I'll drink you all day Ms. Stefani!

Stefani faced self-doubt and writers block her first day in the studio. She was terrified to do an album on her own. The song was written by Stefani and Linda Perry. After a breakdown during the writing process, Perry helped Gwen by working on the track that night. The next day, Perry played the track for her. Gwen was pleased with it, it was then Perry asked her "What you waiting for?"  From there Gwen and Linda finished the song.

"What You Waiting For?" is mainly about Gwen's writers block and absolute lack of self-confidence with starting her solo career.The song also reflects Gwen's desire to start a family, but at the same time wanting to start her solo career: "Like a cat in heat stuck in a moving car".  The "Tick Tock" that repeats throughout the track represents Gwen's biological clock ticking away. The song also introduces the Harajuku Girls, characters created based on the fashionable region of Harajuku in Tokyo. She eventually had four back up dancers she named Love, Angel, Music and Baby. All four would prove to be a source of inspiration throughout the album.

"What You Waiting For?" was the lead single of the album and has been hailed by many critics as the highlight of the album.

Rich Girl (feat. Eve)

Sexy Pirate Alert!

Eve expressed great interest in working with Gwen again after the success of "Let Me Blow Ya Mind". The two discussed it in Gwen's laundry room during one of her house parties. The song, a ragga nod to the English duo Louchie Lou & Michie One's dancehall hit "If I Was a Rich Girl", which was an adaptation of the Fiddler on the Roof song "If I Were a Rich Man",

Gwen wrote the song about her dreams of being rich and famous when she was a young girl. The song got mixed reviews by critics, but that didn't stop it from being a mega-hit.

Hollaback Girl

Yup.

This became the albums most popular track. It also was the first song in history to reach 1 million digital downloads. The song was written as a response to Courtney Love's comments of Stefani in an article in Seventeen magazine where Love stated:

"Being famous is just like being in high school. But I'm not interested in being the cheerleader. I'm not interested in being Gwen Stefani. She's the cheerleader, and I'm out in the smoker shed."
Stefani fired back in 2005 when she was interviews by NME saying:

"Y'know someone one time called me a cheerleader, negatively, and I've never been a cheerleader. So I was, like, 'OK, fuck you. You want me to be a cheerleader? Well, I will be one then. And I'll rule the whole world, just you watch me.'"

This my shhh!

Besides teaching us how to spell bananas, the song is straight up attitude repeating the world "shit" over and over. It's fucking awesome. If you say you haven't heard this song, you're lying.

Cool

Dat hair!

This is one of my favorite songs on the album! It chronicles the relationship between Gwen and No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal. Dallas Austin originally wrote a song inspired by No Doubt's "Underneath It All". The song was his version of another song by No Doubt, "Simple Kind of Life." He was unable to finish the song and asked Gwen if she would help him. The two finished it in a 15 minute studio session together. The song is almost like an ending to No Doubt's hit "Don't Speak" which was about Kanal's and Stefani's relationship falling apart.

This is probably my favorite look of her's.

Gwen spoke about the song saying: "...It just ended this whole thing for me in my head, and it puts an end to a chapter in a really nice way." The lyrics of "Cool" sum up the evolution of her and Kanal's relationship beautifully with "After all that we've been through, I know we're cool."

Bubble Pop Electric

Damn... that stomach... I'm gonna need a minute.

This is an electro pop song about have sex in a drive-in movie. It's funny and daring. The song features Andre 3000 in an alias as Johnny Vulture.

Luxurious

Mmmm...

Two versions of this song were released. The album version features Gwen singing it solo and the single version features rapper Slim Thug. The track carries on the theme of Rich Girl by comparing worldly riches to love.

Harajuku Girls

You've got that wicked style.

This was Stefani's synthpop tribute to Tokyo's street culture. It also gave an explanation to what the hell a Harajuku Girl was. The critics panned this song, big time. Fuck them! This is cool, cute and fun.

Crash

Chola alret! LOVE IT!

God this song is just raunchy and great! It was L.A.M.B.'s sixth single, but by the time it got out, most people had already purchased the album. It had already reached triple platinum in the US and Canada. It's still a fun ride! Definitely a highlight of the album for me!

The Real Thing

The music video that never was. Sad.

Gwen takes a serious moment to talk about her marriage with Gavin Rossdale. It's a beautiful little love song that only Gwen could do.

Serious

Performing "Serious"

This is a synthpop song, similar to Madonna's early work in the 80's. It's a fun little diddy, comparing her need for her lover to medical things such as prescriptions and doctors. It's a bit kinky and you can just imagine Gwen playing a dirty nurse. It was meant to be a single, but was never released as one, which is a shame. It definitely had single potential.

Danger Zone

Everything about this is perfection.

If you held a gun to my head and forced me to pick a favorite track off this album, I would definitely say "Danger Zone". The song is an electro-rock song which describes Gwen's discovery of her lover's secrets. It's widely interpreted as Gwen finding out her husband, Gavin Rossdale, having an illegitimate daughter in 2004, however, this song was written before then. She could have still known about it though. Who knows. Some people speculated that it's about an STD, whatever. Shut up. The song is great and I fucking love it.

Long Way To Go 

With Andre 3000

God this is a fantastic song! It features Andre 3000 and talks about interracial dating. It has snippets of audio from Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It's just a brilliant song and definitely the perfect closing to this amazing album.

All hail Queen Gwen!

This album came out when I was in high school. I was OBSESSED. To say I was obsessed would be an understatement really. I immersed myself in this album. It was an escape for me. Getting lost in the world of Couture-Alice in Wonderland-Japanese-Pop Art Gwen created was so therapeutic during a hectic time in my life.

There are so many things that form you as a person, and as cheesy and stupid as it sounds, I believe this album helped form me in a small way. So Happy 10th Anniversary L.A.M.B.!