[SONGS OF THE DECADE] #91 Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl

SONGS OF THE DECADE #91

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Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl (2004)


By my reckoning, Gwen Stefani's conversion into a full-fledged hip hop singer worked for a grand total of one song. The hints were there in her underrated collaboration with Eve in "Let Me Blow Yr Mind," but "Hollaback Girl's" militaristic stomp will get in your head and shut you up rather quickly. I can't count the number of times I found myself humming "I ain't no Hollaback Girl" or "The Shit is Bananas" over the past five years, and realized that I had no reason to care when I heard the song 20 times more than each time I hummed it. Overall, Stefani fans are still the types who remember how transformational No Doubt was to pop music. She won over fewer people then she lost with Love, Angel, Music Baby. But at the end of the day, "Hollaback Girl's" breezy horns, impeccable production, and vocal guile wins over the haters on the margin.