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If you thought Gwen Stefani was on the road to making decent music after the release of “Baby Don’t Lie” think again. The new single from Stefani, “Spark the Fire,” sounds like the same old Stefani. A repetitive chorus that sounds eerily similar to, arguably, her most notable hit “Hollaback Girl,” and a rap-esque rhythm for the lyrics to follow. “Spark the Fire” sounds very different from her last single “Baby Don’t Lie” and is not even close to the likability of such a song. Some critics are calling “Spark the Fire” a dud, and I could not agree more.
“Spark the Fire,” has a weak beat and sounds very unoriginal. The lyrics do not make any real sense of anything, they are hard to follow and understand what the meaning is behind them. There may be a small “girl power” meaning behind them as they come out in the lyrics “It is time for the girls species to grow,” but that is really the only instance of a meaning to the song. It seems like it was just written for the sake of writing, with zero interesting aspects.
Even more unoriginality comes through in the video. It is part club dance scenes and part pop art animation. Random snippets of Pharrell Williams’ face appear multiple times making it seem like he has a part in the song, but he does not and is just there for no reason. Not that he could have made it any better anyway. The random flashing animations of lyrics and heart shaped lighters make the video seem childish. Almost as childish as the song itself.
Even when Stefani performed the song live on The Voice it was a huge flop. Pharrell was on stage with Stefani, again, with no real purpose other than spouting random words to try and get the audience into the song. Pharrell was trying his best but the crowd still did not seem pleased with the song.
“I never need to do that or want to do it again. I’m happy being in No Doubt.” Stefani said while talking about a solo career while making No Doubt’s 2012 album Push and Shove. If her music continues to sound like this maybe she was right and should stick to being in a band and not a solo artist. “Spark the Fire” is an awful excuse for a song and if Gwen Stefani wants to become a notable solo artist again, she will have to do a lot better than this.
