Just a few more days ahead No doubt During the highly anticipated reunion at the 2024 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival, Gwen Stefani expressed some doubt about the way she balanced her work and personal life after starting a family.
In a new interview with Nylonthe singer-songwriter opened up about how things all changed when she and ex-husband Gavin Rossdale expanded their family and welcomed the first of three sons in 2006.
Around that time, she had a second hit solo album and subsequent tours, as well as her LAMB fashion line that she was trying to get off the ground. And then there was her band, which brought her into a musical landscape that was eager to get back out there with more music and shows.
Stefani now admits, in retrospect, that she should have “just been with” her sons — Kingston, 17, Zuma, 15, and Apollo, 10 — instead of focusing on her career.
The singer-songwriter now finds herself trying to please her No Doubt bandmates, Tom Dumont (guitar), Tony Kanal (bass) and Adrian Young (drums) ‘by fitting it all into her schedule, which ultimately sounds like it is all too much at once.
Gwen Stefani, 54, shared some regrets about how she tried to balance her career with her family life when she and ex-husband Gavin Rossdale had children in 2006; she is pictured in the promo of The Voice in 2023
“I was dead,” Stefani said of her self-imposed workload, which only became more complicated when she learned she was pregnant again with second son Zuma.
“I think everyone was disappointed,” the Just A Girl star shared in a reference to the band. ‘I don’t think they would say that. No one will be mad that you’re having a baby. But while I was busy, they were waiting.”
It wasn’t that Stefani didn’t want to work with the guys from No Doubt anymore. They would even reunite and tour in the hope that it would inspire them to write what would eventually become their sixth studio album Push And Shove (2012).
“Except things change when you have two babies,” she says. ‘There was nothing left in me. I had no ideas. I had so much insecurity. I felt like…help!’
At that time, she felt between a rock and a hard place when it came to her work and personal life, which made her feel like she was abandoning her family and motherly duties.
While she “left her family” to write music with the band, the Orange County, California native said she felt like a “loser” when she “didn’t come home with a song” later that same day.
“I’d be like, ‘Oh my God… I didn’t have dinner with my family and I didn’t write a song,'” she told the publication. “I wasted a whole day of my life trying to get back into No Doubt.”
While all this was going on, she was also busy with her LAMB fashion brand, which can be a huge undertaking without having to try to juggle a solo music career with a band career, on top of a family life.
Stefani now admits, in retrospect, that she should have “just been with” her sons — Kingston, 17, Zuma, 15, and Apollo, 10 — instead of focusing on her career when she was with husband Gavin Rossdale , from whom she divorced in 2015; There is no doubt to be seen in 2015
The pop star confessed how “things change when you have two babies. There was nothing left in me. I had no ideas. I had so much insecurity. I felt like — help!’; The singer-songwriter and Rossdale, lead singer of rock band Bush, are pictured in 2006
Eventually, Stefani began to create a cycle of getting back to work more quickly that she might also like or need.
“I look at it now and think, ‘God, what was I doing to please everyone?'” she said after much analysis and thought.
Stefani and Rossdale eventually split in 2015 amid rumors that he cheated on her with their nanny.
Although initially distraught, she would find love again with Blake Shelton later that same year, leading to the couple tying the knot in July 2021.
Fast forward to the end of 2023 and the members of No Doubt were already discussing the possibility of playing some shows.
Stefani now sees that she tried to please her No Doubt bandmates, Tom Dumont (guitar), Tony Kanal (bass) and Adrian Young (drums), ‘by trying to fit too much into her schedule between her band career, solo career and LAMB fashion . line and family life
After her divorce from the Bush frontman, Stefani found love again when she started dating country singer Blake Shelton, whom she married in 2021; they are pictured receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles in October 2023
By then, it had been about nine years since No Doubt had shared a stage together.
It took a long time,” Stefani said of the band starting over. “It was something we were going to do.”
All the talk led to the band coming together on a Zoom call on January 16 to announce that they would, in fact, be reuniting to play Coachella in April 2024.
But the speed with which they all came together for the Coachella performance seemed to be some sort of sign of their eagerness to get back together and play.
‘I would say [from there] within 10 days or two weeks we were booked,” she said of the Coachella reunion.
No Doubt came clean and announced they would reunite on January 16 via Zoom
Since rehearsals started a few weeks ago, Stefani has been sharing teasers on Instagram ahead of the Coachella 2023 reunion
Stefani has shared clips of the band rehearsing some of their hits ahead of the first reunion show on Saturday, April 13
While the festival kicks off on Friday, April 12, No Doubt will take the Coachella stage on Saturday at 9:25 PM, just before Tyler, The Creator headlines.
So far, the Anaheim pop punk and ska band hasn’t shared any plans beyond Coachella, but Stefani says she remains “open to anything,” a motto that has served her well throughout her career as No Doubt frontwoman and solo artist. dates from the mid-1980s.
“Most things in life have surprised me,” she revealed, before adding: “One of the things I’ve learned is to be present in the moment and try to absorb what’s happening around me rather than to look ahead.’
No Doubt emerged in the mid-1980s and eventually achieved mainstream commercial success with their third studio album Tragic Kingdom (1995), following the hit singles I’m Just A Girl, Don’t Speak and Spiderwebs.
They would score more success with their fifth album Rock Steady (2001), which also contained other hits Hey Baby, Hella Good and Underneath It All.