Gwen Stefani Releases Reggae-Tinged Single ‘Slow Clap’

Gwen Stefani has rolled out her first new song of the year, releasing the reggae-tinged “Slow Clap” on Thursday. The song brings to mind Stefani’s early work with her band No Doubt and was written by Stefani, Ross Golan and producer Luke Niccoli. “I’ll be David, you Goliath / Set the rule and I’ll defy it,” the song begins. “You’ll be angry, I’ll be quiet / You’ll be purple, I’m the violet.”

Stefani told Zane Lowe on Apple Music that Golan woke up at 5:00 a.m. and “had this crazy weird idea” and sang the song into his phone. “I was like, ‘You’re the weirdest guy ever,’” she recalls telling Golan. “And he was like, ‘It’s kind of like all those movies from the ’80s where you get clapped back to life. Like yes, you’re not the underdog. You’re an awesome person.’ And I feel like it’s that thing that happens to us through our life.”

After the song was released, Stefani used Instagram to share a clip of two kids listening to the song and clapping along. “perfect wind down song,” she joked. “Slow Clap” follows the December release of “Let Me Reintroduce Myself,” Stefani’s first non-holiday single in four years. Both songs are expected to appear on Stefani’s upcoming studio album, which has not yet been announced. In 2017, she released her Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, which followed her 2016 album This Is What the Truth Feels Like.

“The last record I did was a Christmas record, which was probably one of my favorite records I’ve ever done,” the mom of three told Stereogum. “Writing Christmas music, there was something so freeing to it. You’re writing for a period of time that’s hopefully going to be the memories to people’s families growing up. It’s a different thing, and I really enjoyed it. This record, it was like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be able to do a record.’ And why would I? If I did, what kind of music would I do?”

“I’ve had so many genres I’ve bounced in and out of — I just had two country hits with a country guy, what the hell am I doing these days? I was all over the map,” she continued, referencing recent duets with fiancé Blake Shelton. “I was feeling a lot of insecurities about it, to be honest. I don’t go and buy the new record of the band I liked in high school. I don’t. I listen to the one I liked in high school. So why would someone want to buy a new Gwen Stefani album? That’s just how I was feeling. But at the same time, I had written one song, [“Let Me Reintroduce Myself”] and if it’s good you know it’s good. It’s addictive, you want to share it. By just doing that one session — right before the pandemic — I thought I needed to do some more songs.”