Gwen Stefani, the queen of confessional pop, shared some insight about the evolution of her career, along with an update on her life with husband Blake Shelton.
In a People interview published Wednesday, Gwen touched on her role as The Voice coach sans Shelton, who exited after 23 consecutive seasons. “I was really weirded out like, ‘What’s it going to be like without Blake?’ But we are having so much fun,” she said. “At the end of the day, coaching these humans who are so gifted … I love it.”
In regards to her songwriting, Stefani said that one thing will always be at the core of her music. “I’m never going to write anything that’s not just completely reflective of what’s going on in my life,” she said. “Before I wrote my first song, I was this dyslexic girl who didn’t know how I fit in. Then I was like, ‘Oh, this is my magic power.’ I’m so honored that I got the gift to be able to write music, and I take it super seriously.”
In June, the star released romantic pop track “True Babe,” her first song since 2021’s “Slow Clap” featuring Saweetie). Last month, her and Shelton’s rendition of “Love Is Alive,” a single from the Judds’ 1984 debut album Why Not Me, was released as part of the forthcoming album A Tribute to the Judds, out Oct. 2
The pair wed in 2021, and Stefani said that she “didn’t see any of this coming with Blake.”
“This was just a big old ‘What?’ It was an amazing gift to experience love like that for the first time,” she continued. “He’s changed my life … when I [started dating] Blake, that’s when I felt home, like, ‘Oh, this is where I’m supposed to be, with this guy.”
Last spring, Stefani headlined the 2023 BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach, California alongside the Black Keys and the Black Crowes. The former No Doubt frontwoman played a string of European and U.K. festival dates and wrapped the run with an appearance at BST Hyde Park Festival in London with Pink this past June, performing a bevy on nostalgic hits for the 65,000-strong crowd.