Gwen Stefani has never been the type of artist to share her political opinions, although sometimes she feels her views should be obvious. But her longtime collaborator Pharrell Williams seemed to think that she was the perfect representation for feminism. Stefani, however, couldn’t have disagreed more.
Pharrell Williams wanted to make this Gwen Stefani song a feminist anthem
Stefani has been consistent with her stance on politics since her early days in the music industry. When she burst into the mainstream as part of the band No Doubt, she made it clear that she wasn’t trying to be some political symbol.
“I’m really not the type of person that’s a big feminist,” Stefani once told Billboard (via Buzzfeed News).
And she hasn’t changed her mind after all these years. Still, her beliefs didn’t stop others like Pharrell Williams to convince her otherwise. The veteran producer even felt her 2014 hit “Spark the Fire” was the perfect record to go full feminist on. Although the song leaned heavily towards topics like women empowerment and equality, Stefani still wouldn’t necessarily classify it as a feminist record. Instead, she asserted that “Spark the Fire” was more personal than that.
In an interview with Pride source, Stefani explained that her and Pharrell’s different interpretations of the song demonstrated their relationship dynamic.
“Our relationship is so interesting. I say to him, ‘You are so talented and incredible; how do you come up with this stuff? It’s blowing my mind.’ And he’ll say to me, ‘It’s you. I wouldn’t have come up with this unless I got the energy you gave me that night,’” she said. “And I didn’t do anything! It’s so weird. His interpretation of me is: He thinks that I need to be the torch for feminism. [But the song] was so perfect for my story – for what I was feeling in my own personal life – that I didn’t even get it as a feminist anthem. I thought it was just about me! I was just feeling me.”
Although she doesn’t fancy herself a feminist or a political symbol, Stefani has been known to support political causes in the past. She just does so silently, like how she donated $500,000 to one political candidate she was a fan of. Her quiet approach to activism stems from her upbringing.
“Overall in my life I’ve been shy to be too politically active in any kind of way. I’m a Libra. I’m all about balance; I’m not about confrontation,” she said. “I feel like I’m sort of rebellious, but you said it – I grew up in a Catholic family. I was the peacemaker of the family. I just wanted everybody to be happy. So, taking a stand was – I mean, obviously I have my feelings about things, but I’m subtle about it.”
Gwen Stefani doesn’t mind when her songs work for feminism
“Spark the Fire” wasn’t the only Stefani record that some felt had a feminist tone to it. Even Stefani’s 1995 track “Just a Girl” became an unintended anthem for the cause. The record came out just a few years after Stefani became famous thanks to her and No Doubt’s music. But she admitted that she wrote the song at a time when she was still just figuring herself out. Stefani had no idea the record would be as powerful as it ended up being.
“I just kind of wrote this song because I felt like I was just getting in touch with that feeling that when you’re born, if you’re a female, you don’t think about it, you’re just human,” Stefani said in an interview with The View. “Then, through life, you sort of start to realize, ‘Oh wait, someone just whistled. What does that mean?’”
What she might not have counted on was so many women relating to the album as deeply as they did. Soon, the song would become the theme for an entire political movement. Although “Just a Girl” wasn’t meant to advocate feminism, she took no issue with other feminists attaching themselves to the record.
“What’s so weird is, it works on two levels, but it’s very personal for me,” Stefani said. “If it’s working for [feminism] as well, that’s awesome. But with ‘Just a Girl’ too, I wasn’t trying to make a statement at all when I wrote that song. I never even thought that anyone would hear the song. I was just making a personal statement about my life, about me, and I feel like this is the same thing. It’s really about me, my journey and where I’m at in my life. It’s just very personal. I love the fact that it kind of has two faces.”
