Bouquet | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 15, 2024 | |||
Length | 33:05 | |||
Label | Interscope | |||
Producer | Scott Hendricks | |||
Gwen Stefani chronology | ||||
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Singles from Bouquet | ||||
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Bouquet is the fifth studio album by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani. It was released on November 15, 2024, through Interscope Records. The album serves as her first release since You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017) and was preceded by two singles: "Somebody Else's" and "Swallow My Tears". It also includes the duet "Purple Irises" with husband Blake Shelton, which was released in February 2024.
Stefani first started work on the project in February 2020, writing a song called "Cry Happy", which was composed of various lyrics she had compiled onto her phone, and cited this event as her inspiration to continue writing new music for a fifth album. [1] [2] The same year she collaborate with her husband Blake Shelton on country pop singles "Nobody but You" and "Happy Anywhere". [3] During initial reports of a new album from Stefani, critics predicted it would serve as her return to pop music, following her lineup of country and holiday music releases in previous years. [4] In a press release, Stefani commented that the album would return to her roots in reggae and ska music. [5] Stefani said she was inspired by world news events, such as the Me Too movement and COVID-19 pandemic, to create uplifting and positive music; she explained: "[Reggae] music was all about unity and anti-racism, and that was in the '70s. Then we (No Doubt) were doing it in the '90s. And now here we are, again, in the same old mess." [1] She released the single "Let Me Reintroduce Myself", musically inspired by her days with No Doubt, in December 2020, and the hip hop-accented "Slow Clap" in March 2021, both of which were expected to appear on Stefani's fifth album. [6] [7] [8] [9]
Stefani began hinting at the album's namesake on September 6, 2024, posting a series of photographs featuring flowers, all prominently. [10] The album was officially announced on September 18, along with its cover art and title, Bouquet, her first release since 2017's You Make It Feel Like Christmas . [11] Stefani said the record has a "flower motif", evident in song titles like "Marigolds", "Empty Vase", and "Late to Bloom", and was inspired by "all the stuff [she] listened to in the station wagon on the way to church" as a child. [10] [12] Despite the album's cover art depicting Stefani wearing a cowboy hat, she insisted Bouquet was not a country album and rather a yacht rock project influenced by 1970s pop radio hits. She created the record following a period of "healing [and] transitioning" that stemmed from the divorce to her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, part of the subject matter to her 2016 album This Is What the Truth Feels Like . [13] [14] According to Stefani, she was unable to record the project in a consistent schedule due to her parental duties, but rather in "concentrated bursts of creativity". In an interview with NME 's Nick Levine, she added: "I don't go to the studio every day and just self-indulge [...] It's like, hey, [the kids] are at school, I got three hours so let's see if I can get down there to write." [15]
Given the album's cover art depicting Stefani in a cowboy hat, critics predicted Bouquet would serve as her first country album. [16] [17] [18] The artwork used is a photograph of Stefani in a brown tartan suit, holding a singular white flower, sprawled atop a bed. [19] In reaction, Nylon 's Dylan Kickham anticipated that "Stefani [would] be riding the cowboy trend like a bronco with at least some of her new music." [17]
Stefani described Bouquet as being full of "seventies pop-rock radio gems" with Nashville influence. [18] The album opens with "Somebody Else's", a heartland rock song combining elements of Stefani's pop and Shelton's country sounds. Its lyrics describe letting go of a former relationship ("I don't know what a woman like me was doing with a man like you"). [16] [17] The album closes with "Purple Irises", a duet with Shelton, serving as the only collaboration. [17] The love song was originally intended as a solo song, but was lyrically revised to include Shelton. [20] [21] [22] The couple sings about finding love with each other after past heartbreaks. [23] Stefani's lyric "It's not 1999 / But this face is still mine" refers to what she believes was a highlight in her life, and how she has changed since then. [22]
"Purple Irises", a duet with Shelton, was released months ahead of the album's announcement on February 9, 2024. [24] The song's release came ahead of its live debut at the Super Bowl LVIII TikTok Tailgate Show and just several days after Shelton's digital EP Love Language, which featured the other Stefani collaborations "Nobody but You" (2019) and "Happy Anywhere" (2020), was released. [25] It was accompanied by an airplay release to contemporary hit radio stations in the United States, reaching numbers 15 and 16 on the Adult Contemporary and Adult Pop Airplay charts, respectively. [26] [27] It also reached the top 40 on Billboard's Digital Songs Sales charts in the US and Canada. [28] [29] An accompanying lyric video to "Purple Irises" was released to Stefani's YouTube channel on February 14, 2024. [30]
Following the album's official announcement, "Somebody Else's" was announced as the lead single. It was released digitally on September 20, 2024, alongside an audio visual on YouTube. [19] [31] The song was also serviced to contemporary hit radio, and in the United States it reached number 23 on the Adult Airplay chart. [27] [32] In Japan, "Somebody Else's" appeared on Billboard Japan 's Hot Overseas chart at number nine. [33] It had its first televised live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 1. [34] "Swallow My Tears" was released as the album's next single on October 25. [35]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 56/100 [36] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Clash | 8/10 [37] |
MusicOMH | [38] |
Rockol | 6.5/10 [39] |
Rolling Stone | [40] |
Slant Magazine | [41] |
The Times | [42] |
Bouquet received generally mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 56, based on eight reviews. [36] Brendan Sharp of Clash described the album as a "country-inspired vibe", in which the singer "shows a real vulnerability in her soul-baring lyrics", founding that "there is a distinct sense of emotional depth at the heart of Bouquet, which feels as though it finds Gwen Stefani at the peak of her songwriting craft". [37]
In a less positive review, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine found that the lyrics showed a "regressive Stefani's views" about women, because "it's difficult to reconcile the woman who made her breakthrough with No Doubt's neo-feminist anthem 'Just a Girl'" and found the songs arrangements "middle-of-the-road". [41]
All music is composed by Scott Hendricks
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Somebody Else's" | 3:44 | |
2. | "Bouquet" |
| 3:25 |
3. | "Pretty" |
| 3:13 |
4. | "Empty Vase" |
| 2:58 |
5. | "Marigolds" |
| 2:42 |
6. | "Late to Bloom" |
| 3:26 |
7. | "Swallow My Tears" |
| 2:54 |
8. | "Reminders" |
| 3:18 |
9. | "All Your Fault" | Diane Warren | 3:45 |
10. | "Purple Irises" (with Blake Shelton) |
| 3:40 |
Total length: | 33:05 |
Musicians
Technical
Chart (2024) | Peak position |
---|---|
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [43] | 136 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [44] | 94 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [45] | 80 |
UK Album Downloads (OCC) [46] | 20 |
UK Albums Sales (OCC) [47] | 44 |
US Billboard 200 [48] | 95 |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Various | November 15, 2024 | Interscope | [49] | |
[50] |
Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. She is a co-founder and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin" from his first album, Blake Shelton. "Austin" spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The now Platinum-certified debut album also produced two more top 20 entries.
American singer Gwen Stefani has released five studio albums, two extended plays, 37 singles, six promotional singles, one video album, and 28 music videos. She has sold more than 60 million records worldwide. Stefani is also the lead singer of the rock band No Doubt, with which she has released several albums.
"Sleigh Ride" is a light orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. He formed the idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and finished it in February 1948. Its first performance was by the Boston Pops Orchestra, with Arthur Fiedler conducting, on May 4, 1948. Anderson also made arrangements for wind band and piano.
American country music singer Blake Shelton has released 12 studio albums, four extended plays, five compilation albums, and 54 singles. According to Recording Industry Association of America, Shelton has sold 52 million singles and 13 million albums in the United States. He also has achieved 14 No. 1 hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. Billboard ranked him as the 31st Top Artist of the 2010s decade.
"Make Me Like You" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani for her third solo studio album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016). The record's second single, it was released digitally on February 12, 2016, and distributed to contemporary hit radio on February 16 in the United States by Interscope. Mattias Larsson and Robin Frediksson produced the song, which was co-written by Stefani, Larsson, Frediksson, Justin Tranter, and Julia Michaels. A pop and disco recording, "Make Me Like You" incorporates light rock, with guitars and digital harps over an uptempo melody. The lyrics, which were inspired by Stefani's relationship with singer Blake Shelton, explore finding and renewing love after a fractured relationship.
This Is What the Truth Feels Like is the third studio album by American singer Gwen Stefani. It was released on March 18, 2016, by Interscope Records. Initially, the album was scheduled to be released in December 2014 with Stefani working with a handful of high-profile producers, and Benny Blanco serving as executive producer. However, after the underperformance of her 2014 singles and the writer's block Stefani suffered, she did not feel comfortable curating an album and scrapped the whole record in favor of starting again. The album's release was scheduled after Stefani hinted at it on her Twitter account.
"Go Ahead and Break My Heart" is a song that was written and recorded by American singers Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani for the former's tenth studio album, If I'm Honest (2016). Shelton's longtime producer Scott Hendricks produced the track. It was released as its second promotional single for digital download on May 9, 2016. The song is Shelton and Stefani's first collaboration. The ideas behind the song began after the pair shared similar insecurities with each other, leaving Shelton to write the first verse, followed by Stefani analyzing it and writing her own.
"Christmas Eve" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her fourth studio album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017). The song was written by Stefani, Justin Tranter, and busbee, with the latter of the three handling production alongside Eric Valentine. It was the first song conceived for the album, and "originated from a run Stefani took in rural Oklahoma. Details about the song first emerged in August 2017, when its title appeared as a registered work on two global music databases. The song a slow-burning Christmas ballad with lyrics that reference the holiday season.
"My Gift Is You" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her fourth studio album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017). It was released digitally on October 6, 2017, along with the rest of the parent album, through Interscope Records. The track was written by Stefani, Justin Tranter, and Busbee while production was handled by Busbee and Eric Valentine. Musically, the track is a Christmas song that contains elements of pop-soul music.
"Under the Christmas Lights" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani for her fourth studio album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017). It was written by Stefani, Justin Tranter, and busbee, who co-produced the song with Eric Valentine. The song was released alongside the rest of the album on October 6, 2017, through Interscope Records. Details about the track first emerged in August 2017, when the song title appeared as a registered work on BMI and GEMA. "Under the Christmas Lights" is a pop and Christmas song with a doo-wop melody and romantic lyrics.
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"You Make It Feel Like Christmas" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani from her fourth studio album of the same name (2017). It features guest vocals from Blake Shelton. The song was written by Stefani, Justin Tranter, Shelton and busbee, while production was handled by busbee and Eric Valentine. It was recorded during the summer months, with the song title leaking in August 2017. The song was eventually released for digital download and streaming as the lead single from the album by Interscope on September 22, 2017. It was influenced by popular holiday music from Stefani's childhood and marks Stefani and Shelton's second collaboration following their duet "Go Ahead and Break My Heart" in 2016. A Christmas track, the song includes country and pop music elements, with lyrics describing a romantic holiday season.
"Nobody but You" is a song recorded by American singers Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani for the former's fifth compilation album, Fully Loaded: God's Country (2019). It was produced by Scott Hendricks and written by Ross Copperman, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, and Tommy Lee James. Following "Go Ahead and Break My Heart" (2016) and "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" (2017), "Nobody but You" marks Shelton and Stefani's third collaboration. The song was first revealed in October 2019, although Stefani's contributions remained a secret until a week prior to its release in December of the same year. It was sent to United States country music radio outlets by Warner on January 21, 2020, becoming the third single from the parent album. Promotional acoustic and live versions of the song were released to the public in March and June 2020, respectively.
"Happy Anywhere" is a song recorded by American country music singer Blake Shelton that features guest vocals from his wife, American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani. It was released in July 2020 as the lead single from his twelfth studio album Body Language. It was produced by Scott Hendricks and was written by Ross Copperman, Josh Osborne, and Matt Jenkins. Their fourth collaboration and released directly after their duet "Nobody but You", "Happy Anywhere" was released as a single via digital download and streaming on July 24, 2020, by Warner Records. To promote the song, Shelton's official website launched a contest where fans could upload pictures of themselves with their loved ones.
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"Purple Irises" is a song by American singers Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. It was produced by Scott Hendricks and written by Stefani, Svante Halldin, Jakob Hazell, and Niko Rubio. The song was released on February 9, 2024, through Warner Records and is included on Stefani's fifth studio album, Bouquet (2024). It is a country pop love song that finds the couple remembering their past heartbreaks that led to their eventual relationship. Some of the song's lyrics reference the artists' careers. Commercially, it reached the digital component charts in the United States and Canada, and several Billboard airplay charts in the former country.
"Somebody Else's" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her fifth studio album Bouquet (2024). Interscope Records released the song on September 20, 2024, as the album's lead single alongside the album's announcement. It was produced by Scott Hendricks and written by Stefani, Fred Ball, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Nick Long, Madison Love, Jake Torrey, and Henry Walter. Love developed the song after a series of vulnerable writing sessions with Stefani where they discussed their lives.
"Swallow My Tears" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her fifth studio album Bouquet (2024). Interscope Records released the song on October 25, 2024, as the second single from the project. It was produced by Scott Hendricks and written by Stefani, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Nick Long, Madison Love, and Henry Walter.