It's summertime! It's official! That being so, what better way to start the season than this past decade's official summertime singles queen, Gwen Stefani.
The Madonna of the new millenium, Stefani's best solo track* begins with some Bahamian guitar and the catchiest "Whoo-oo" of the decade, making the song immediately catchy. By the second round of "Whoo-oo"s, it becomes nigh-impossible not to smile. Just try singing along. The beginning of the song is guaranteed to make you grin one way or another. The rest of the track is just as likeable and fun and fluffy and bright and chirpy and cheerful, as it waves and sways better than any faux reggae Blondie ever performed.
Gwen's singing, though, if taken in snatches, is just as positive and optimistic, as she sounds as if she's updating Madonna's "True Blue" for the new age, eschewing with that song's girl-group pastiche and instilling instead her own Caribbean-flavored pop.
Ah, summer....I wish it was here.
Sadly, it's not.
Not yet.
We teachers and students still have a week to go, and we've so much to do this week, more in these upcoming five days than in any five months of the rest of the year. So much stress and headache and paperwork and bother to come, the only way to stay sane is to take a mental trip to a peaceful place. We need a fantasy.
That's what Gwen gives us. Not just in the sound, but in the lyrics, too: Stefani's song isn't about creating a sweet relationship with her boo. No, it's not. The song's about her wish to do so. See...she can't do it. They don't have a relationship anymore. They don't have a future together. Really. The entire song is the protagonist's fantasy of wishing to have a perfect romantic utopia. The song is titled thusly because the the protagonist can't have the life she wants, so she needs to create her own world, a world in which she doesn't defeat herself.
This bittersweet undercurrent I didn't catch until about the fiftieth time I heard the song. I don't know why I never noticed it before, as the sadness colors Stefani's vocals throughout the chorus. Sure, the verses are all shiny happy people, but then there's a definite come-down in tone from verse to chorus. She sounds almost defeated, as if this fantasy, this escape, was the only thing anchoring her, her fantasy creating the only reality in which she can survive.
We teachers--especially this last week of school--understand this concept all too well. It's not summer yet, and we can't make it that way, but what if we could? Stefani offers us the closest chance we'll get at it this week.
NOTES
*I must confess that though I love Stefani's vocals on "Hollaback Girl," I don't like the music. It's too skeletal throughout the song. Whenever Stefani sings, the music's perfect, as--thematically--it matches her lyrics, but when she's not singing, I quickly grow impatient because the music offers no support at all. It might as well be acappella during the down time the music's so anemic. Just for the weird cheer of "bananas" at the end, I almost included it. Couldn't get into--or past--the music (or lack thereof) though.
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