Gwen Stefani

Harper's Bazaar August 2016

This issue of 'Harper's Bazaar' was still in my suitcase after vacation, so I must have saved it for ... possibly this pretty cover of Gwen Stefani. Her signature big red lip and super bleached blond hair are gone and is replaced by a softer, less Harajuku girl vibe. I like the change. It looks good on her.

When Gwen's "Love. Angel. Music. Baby" album came out, I went from 'ah, I like No Doubt okay,' to 'wow.' I've written before that I played the heck out that record. I liked the juxtaposition of power and doubt that Gwen expressed: 'take a chance you stupid whore/ what are you waiting for?' In print, that doesn't look very empowering, but when she's bouncing it to the music, I knew exactly what she was talking about. And I felt energized by it.

I bought her new album, 'This is what the truth feels like,' but it hasn't pulled me in. I faithfully listened to it in its entirety, twice, but I just didn't connect to it. I don't even know where it is ... well, of course I know that it is in my ITunes library, but I had to look up the title of it to write in the paragraph above. 

But she looks pretty.