-Our first guest tonight is a Grammy-winning musician
and a coach on "The Voice" -- new episodes air
Mondays and Tuesdays at 8:00 on NBC.
Let's take a look.
-You gotta catch it, okay? -I'll try.
-It's a T-shirt? Are you ready? -I think so.
-Here it comes. Oh! -Ohh.
-Oh. What do we do now? -Sometimes that happens.
-[ Laughs ] Redo. -Okay. Hold your breath.
-[ Laughs ] -I can't reach.
-I got it. I got it.
-I'm not going to help her, because it's too funny.
-How did you fold it before --
Just, you know, everything's great, Ryan.
Everything's -- -Are you ready?
-Let's try this again.
-Here it goes. -[ Gun squeaks ]
-Oh. Oh. It's not loaded.
-Please welcome back to the show Gwen Stefani.
How are you?
-Good. Wow! I get to be on your show again.
Thank you for having me. This is so fun.
-It's lovely to have you back.
Obviously not the ideal circumstances.
But I'm wondering, you know --
For us, we're obviously back in the studio.
We don't have an audience. But it is still --
There is a niceness to being back in the studio.
I'm assuming it's the same for you and "The Voice"?
-Yeah, I mean, we were just --
It was, like, every day, calling like,
"Do I need to get on the treadmill?
Like, are we really going back? Like, are we shooting again?"
So we all felt really grateful
to be able to go back and do the show
and to listen to live music for the first time in forever.
It's definitely different.
But there were some really nice things about it, I have to say.
You know, it's very intimate.
Like, between the coaches, I feel like we --
There's nobody there, so you really feel --
Like, the reality part feels very relaxed.
You know what I'm saying? So that was really fun.
And mainly just being around the music is so inspiring,
especially during these times, you know?
Music is so joyful and inspiring, and you just --
There's so much talent. So that's been really great.
-It's also a reminder that, you know,
obviously, you've become successful
and there's a lot of money behind music,
but you can also do music at a real DIY level,
which, you know, you guys did --
I know you did for years before your band
had major success back in the day.
Like, do you remember back to those days
as you go through these times?
-Yeah, a lot lately.
Because we just had our, um -- I hate saying it --
But we had our 25th anniversary of the "Tragic Kingdom,"
which was our first big commercial album.
And so I feel like it was last week.
I was really like in the zone, like, "Oh, my gosh."
Like, I didn't even think I would care.
Like,i don't really care about that kind of stuff,
but when you watch everyone posting,
and I look back to her, that other girl that was me
but has sort of, like, evolved into this one,
I just think, "How?"
You know? How did we do it back then?
And we were already a band for like nine years
before "Just a Girl" came out.
We were playing that song live for a year
before it got on the radio.
I think K-Rock said it would take an act of God
for them to play it on the radio, so there is a God.
[ Laughter ]
And it's just beautiful to look at the wake of songs
and how they've just touched everyone.
Everybody comes to me all the time telling me
how that record really was, like, a big record for them,
and I just look at the songs,
and I'm like, "This record was a weird record."
And it was so my story.
So I'm just really grateful, really grateful.
-It's a -- I think this is right.
Was your brother the one
who was behind the idea of doing a ska band?
Is that who had the idea for it?
-My brother was the one that discovered this band
called Madness, which was, you know, a ska band.
And basically when we got into Madness,
it got us into all the other ska bands
that were happening in the late '70s, early '80s.
And we were, like, the third wave of that.
And definitely, like, my brother was the one
that was the songwriter in the early days
and taught me everything I know.
It's crazy, because I have been making new music myself,
which is totally out of the blue.
Like, didn't plan on it.
In fact, I had been texting
during the pandemic with Kelly Clarkson,
and she was sending me songs, and I was like, "Wait a minute.
I'm literally doing 40 loads of laundry a day.
I'm cooking for 15 people every night three times a day.
How do you have time
to actually, like, write music right now?"
She's like, "Oh, I just stay up all night."
I'm like, "I'm not doing that."
So I was really jealous that she was
actually making new music, and I thought,
"That's never going to happen for me,
and then I kind of pushed the button
to see if it was working, and all of a sudden,
all these songs were, like, coming down.
I'm like, "What?"
So, my brother actually played on a song of mine the other day,
and I went up to his house, and it was just like this --
it was during that same week
of all of the nostalgic -- "Tragic Kingdom."
So I don't even know
how I started talking about this but, yes.
-I think it's very nice.
-My brother is, like, my biggest hero.
And, so, he's an amazing artist and talent.
-I know your parents were really supportive.
What was their first reaction to, like, the No Doubt sound
when they first heard it?
-My parents were really musical growing up, as well.
They were really into folk and bluegrass.
They used to take us to these, like, weird festivals
where people would, like, streak and wear overalls.
And it was just like, very hippie, like, when we were kids.
That's what I remember.
So there was a lot of music in the house.
My dad played guitar, piano.
But they were just always super-supportive.
I mean, they let us use the garage.
And then when my brother actually moved out of the house,
he moved into my dad's house that he grew up in --
where my grandparents -- after they passed.
That was the band house.
That was the Beacon Street house that is kind of famous now.
You can go by and see it.
It's in Anaheim. Where we wrote all the songs.
You know, they were super, very strict with me,
so when we would be playing up in L.A.,
like, back in the day --
You know, I lived at home until I was 26,
but they would come to all the shows,
because they needed to, like, chaperone me.
Like, they didn't trust us.
So I can remember the first time we played
at, like, the Roxy and the Whiskey,
like, they were there, you know, with the camera, filming.
-That is -- -I have really cool parents.
They're very weird in a very normal way.
And I just feel lucky to have that.
-That's great. That's a lovely thing to hear.
You know, when you talk about how much happens in 25 years
and what a weird path it takes,
you and Blake just won a CMT Award.
Which is, you know, again, you wouldn't think
listening to "Tragic Kingdom" this is someone in 25 years
who will be winning an award for a country song.
Did it feel surreal to you, too?
-When you say that, I'm just -- I get shocked.
And I also think about this a lot.
I love to play this game with myself,
where I picture myself in my "Voice" chair, right,
because I didn't know Blake Shelton existed
before I went on that show.
Meanwhile, he's literally, like, one of the biggest --
You know, 27 number-one radio hits, you know?
He's insane.
So I just always like to picture myself
and think about before I knew him
and that person that I didn't know at all,
and then imagine that now, like, he's my boyfriend
and I won a song on a countr-- Like, it's too hard to imagine.
Like, it's inconceivable that we would even know each other
and be friends, let alone do music together.
But at the same time, it's like -- we have so many things
that come together and we're the same.
Even with music.
So, yeah, being on those records were so much fun.
The community, the whole country community,
was so welcoming to me,
and there is a lot of cross-pollination
going on in music in all different genres.
I feel like in my whole career,
I've been -- I don't know why -- so lucky
to be able to bounce in different genres.
And, you know, back in the day, being on an Eve track,
being on a Moby track, like,
it's just so incredible because music is so --
It brings us all together in so many ways.
So sometimes boundaries and genres
don't really mean anything.
It's really about the story
and the song and the heart and the message.
And so I've just noticed that
being able to go in country music
and just go to concerts and see Blake's audience,
and it's just so different, but yet so the same.
So it's been -- -I will -- With that said,
I would be really impressed
if you could win a ska award for Blake.
-I think Blake is looking into doing a ska record next.
And I was going to produce it and write it.
So we'll see how that goes.
-I know you also are doing some Christmas music, as well.
That must have been a fun
sort of departure from the norm, as well.
-That is my favorite thing I've ever done, honestly.
It sounds crazy. -Really?
-Yeah, because there was something about writing
a Christmas record
where you didn't have the boundaries.
Like, you could kind of be cheesy or, like,
you could write within a theme.
And I never really did that before.
There was less pressure in some ways,
but then when I look back at the record
and the original songs on the record, they're quite deep.
Like, there's a song on there that I wrote on Blake's ranch
that is almost like -- it literally was a spiritual moment
where I was running on the ranch
and I said to myself,
"I'm going to run and I'm going to pray,
so I'm going to get my spiritual exercise
and my physical exercise at the same time."
And this song just, like, literally came through.
I started running back to the ranch to get my phone
so I could, like, not forget it.
And, so, that record is really special to me.
And to be able to work with --
I'm working with Hallmark Channel this season.
Just out of nowhere, they called me to sing on a song
that Ryan Tedder wrote, an original Christmas song.
And then I got to do "Sleigh Ride,"
which is a cover, and those get added to my record.
So that came out of nowhere,
and it's been really fun to work with Ryan.
He's so talented. Oh, my God.
He recorded my vocals.
So it's Christmas already in my house.
-Well, I'm glad to hear it.
-We're all looking forward to it being in all of our houses.
-I know.
-It so great to see you as always.
Congrats on another season.
And really just -- I hope to see you soon.
-I miss being in New York. I want to come back.
-We'd like you to come back. -Thanks for having me.