Spark The Fire - Gwen Stefani

Uninspired and Somehow Well Received Pop Garble

Pop idols were starting to set themselves up again in the early 2000’s, and Gwen Stefani was one of them. Coming from a ska/rock band No Doubt and their success, she decided to pursue some very different sound in the pop scene. She has produced music and had huge ups and downs in her fame and musical career, and came back this March. But for this week I’ll be pulling from every album a song that deserves some attention. Spark The Fire steps from her pop sound and goes into hip-hop and even a little rap. The beat combines numerous sounds and goes well with the bass the goes from very low to high through the whole song. The song uses some a few other synth pads, but really lack any other instruments. Her voice is hers as always, that slightly auto-tuned sound that is found in most of her music after 2004. Her rhythm in the dong was a little different than other ones, which is nice to see her exploring her options. As a side note: is it just me or does WTF by Missy Elliott sound kind of like this? Overall though, the song sounds like it has a lot of empty space, I don’t know if I can explain what I mean well, but maybe it’s because there is no real instruments that give a melody or defining other parts other than a simple bass and pretty average sounding beat. The song is alright, not one of her best songs, but it is a song that she tries some new stuff, which all artist should do, and I commend her for that.

Originality:6

Instruments:4

Vocals:6

Longevity:3
Red Score:4.75