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Gwen Stefani breaks her brief silence in music with a new single that sounds far from her normal solo work. “Baby Don’t Lie” is her first single as a solo artist since 2008, when she came out with “Early Winter.” Over the years Stefani has made a wide range of music, from punk and pop punk with her band, No Doubt, to an almost rap sounding pop. “Baby Don’t Lie” finds a way to infuse all of those aspects of her music style into one song.
It starts with an inviting heavy bass beat before dropping into an electronic pop sound, then a chorus with lyrics that resemble many pop songs with repeated words and a stomping beat. As the song goes on it leads into a breakdown with a beat that can be very reminiscent of an early hit single “Hollaback Girl,” which is the only portion of the song that sounds like an older Stefani solo song. The rest is a very mature, adult sounding song showing that maybe Stefani has grown out of her angsty times with No Doubt and has matured as a solo artist. “If you ever give up, then we’re gonna die,” are some lyrics that show the maturity. The time comes for every great artist to grow up and make music that sounds like they have, for Stefani it was just shortly after she turned a shocking forty-five years of age.
The accompanying video is chock-full of artsy colors, animation, dancers and a few product placements. The pop art style compliments the song well and is a great fit. Yes it may be a cliched walking toward the camera video, but what makes it very original is the animations, colors, and having a short dance breakdown before rewinding the whole video back to the beginning with Stefani in black and white.
The song is a new direction for Stefani, and to me it is a much better, more easy to listen to direction. The video brings it together with good taste and seems like Gwen Stefani is finally growing up.
