The thirty-seven year-old American singer, songwriter and fashion designer Gwen Stefani has been first known as a lead vocalist of a ska and new wave band No Doubt, but when in 2004 her debut solo work Love. Angel. Music. Baby. saw the light of the day it became clear that she is well able to work independently. By now the album has reached a platinum status and its singles Hollaback Girl and Cool have been receiving the most frequent radio airplay and have become the leaders in the list of the most downloaded songs in the Internet. Early this December the singer has released her sophomore effort called The Sweet Escape which continues some of the tendencies appeared on the previous creations and also introduces a number of new elements that many of the fans have hoped for. The Sweet Escape is a more urban album with a less retro coloring than the first solo effort had and due to Gwen Stefani’s cooperation with such professionals as The Neptunes, Linda Perry and Akon its sounding has acquired really fashionable traits. Stylish and diverse, with unusual lyrics, The Sweet Escape is a worthy continuation of Gwen Stefani’s solo career.
Each song on The Sweet Escape is different from the others but at the same time Gwen’s varied vocals unite all the tracks to such an effect that the whole album is adhered as a homogeneous work of professional producers and a remarkable singer. The opener Wind It Up is the first single off the album on which Gwen experiments with her vocals and raps on against the background of a marchy rhythm, and the title composition The Sweet Escape featuring Akon finds her creating a fine disbalance between a sunny optimistic melody and the lyrics of quite a hopeless content. Orange Country Girl is the most melodious and at the same time tense song telling about the difficulties of living in an extraorinary world, whereas Early Winter is remarkable for the sounding closest to rock due to a sure-fire combinaion of piano and drums. A danceable track Now What You Got It surprises with a repeating line which contributes to a contagious beat. 4 In The Morning is the most pop influenced creation with a worrying tune and an iridescent accompaniment, and a collaboration with Pharrell Yummy attracts with metaphoric lyrics and a great arrangement refined with a unique drum work. It is hard to refer track Don't Get It Twisted to any particular style as it has got the elements practically of all of them, from electronic music to retro. Final composition Wonderful Life possesses a special catchy tune and Gwen’s manner of performance changes throughout the song leaving an unforgettable impression.
Uniqueness has surrounded Gwen Stefani since early childhood: her partially Italian, partially Scottish and Irish descent has presented the girl with a bright appearance and a willingness to try everything new. Besides the artist was born in California and it was probably the destiny itself that made her search for success in show business. Gwen Stefani’s small part in The Aviator, in which she played a movie star, became her greatly, and today she remains one of the most extravagant and stylish performers. Gwen is renouned for establishing new trends in fashion, and her label L.A.M.B. has brought her a worldwide fame of a person talented and creative in all ways. And though her career of a recording artist has started to develop rapidly in the beginning of the XXI century, this activity is only a part of the spheres Stefani is involved in. Among her plans, for instance, there is a prolonged international tour which may start as soon as April 2007. The singer is set to perform not only around North America, but will also visit Europe, Asia and Australia, where Gwen has a big loyal fan base. She has recently given birth to a child but The Sweet Escape is definitely not her last album, and probably as soon as her tour is finished we can get more of her sultry music.
BreakawayThe winner of Fox TV's first American Idol competition, during the summer of 2002 Kelly Clarkson went from an anonymous talent to a nationally known singer performing for an audience of millions of