The descent of Gwen Stefani and my accompanied disappointment.

I know blogging is sort of 2010. Or maybe 2009. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I have decided that when my facebook posts consistently have the "continue reading" option, it's probably time I had a separate place to write. This way I won't be self conscious that I'm over posting. That's definitely a thing I feel, especially since I am constantly taking pictures of my two girls. I used to write for therapeutic reasons, and I think I've come full circle in many ways, finding it useful to do so again.

So here is my first thought. It's about one of my favorite music groups ever, No Doubt.

Last week, the band announced that they would be continuing as a group, replacing Gwen Stefani with AFI frontman Davey Havok. Now, to be more clear, Gwen has said they aren't really replacing her, they're creating a "super group" punk band. But, if we're being honest, it's everyone in the band, minus her, adding a new guy. So for the sake of this post, let's just see through this "super group side project" garbage and get to the heart of things.

First, let me begin by saying that when Tragic Kingdom came out, I was really pretty young. I picked up on them a couple years after the album was released because my brother listened to them. And I idolized his taste in music. I remember walking in to see him watching the music video for "Spiderwebs" and being totally entranced by Gwen.

She was fierce in a way that hit right to the core. To me, she was a woman doing a man's job. That sounds sexist, but let me explain. This was around the time boy bands and girl bands were beginning to surface. I loved Spice Girls, dabbled in some B*Witched, and appreciated all the major girl singers (Britney, Mandy, Christina, etc). I could tell that this band wasn't created with the thought, "Let's have a girl sing" (and reading about this history of the band later, I found this to be true). I don't mean to belittle the existence of other bands with a female lead (Garbage, Cranberries, Cardigans). But I think it's fair to say Gwen had a certain unapologetic personality and style, a very different kind of voice, an edge. She was simply herself.

So, I held on to this band and made them my own. I got into their freshman self titled album. I thought I was super cool because I had a corner on the ska market in my group of friends (not really; I only got into a handful of ska bands). Gwen continued to be just another member of No Doubt. 

In 2000, No Doubt released their album Return of Saturn. I got it for my birthday that year and wore it out. It is one of my very favorite albums to this day.

There is something about this album that makes me feel so much. I wish I could explain it better. I was too young to understand the complexities of love, of heartbreak, of wanting to be with someone so much that you can't stand it. But I could feel that Gwen was sincere. So I clung to it and felt like I had opened up a small portal into adulthood, snuck in, and closed the door behind me. It felt like mine.

Gwen's style changed. But it was still funky. I loved it even more. 

I could go on about the intricacies of the album, but I'm already getting side tracked. 

It's hard to believe, but their next (and last good) album came out only a year and a half later, in 2001. This is where I started to see a turn in Gwen. The music was still good, but the synthesizers were more prominent, there were R&B guest singers on a few tracks, and press for the band put the focus more on Gwen. The subject matter became more about dancing in the club. I still embraced it. In fact my first concert ever was No Doubt touring this album. My dad took my friend Katelyn and I. It was a great show. 

Gwen's image quickly evolved. She couldn't be more clear about it, as one of the tracks of the album is called "Platinum Blonde Life". No more pink or blue.

She began making covers of magazines. This was one I had on my wall. Suddenly red and white striped shirts were everywhere.

In 2004 she released her first solo album. 

This is when Gwen began breaking my heart. This album became so popular, and she had reinvented herself. I felt suddenly that I had to share her with the crowd that only listened to singles on the radio. This little corner of my musical taste had suddenly been compromised, and I felt a strange sense of betrayal from her. She went on to release another album that did even better the year I graduated high school. The fanfare of it all, the gaudy music videos, it made me sick.

Then she disappeared for a little while. In 2012, No Doubt released an album. I had such high hopes. But it was a mess. Earlier this year she released another solo album. But the thing that really changed her image permanently was her new gig on The Voice.

After joining The Voice, she gained a huge fan base. She began dating fellow Voice judge Blake Shelton. You can see them all over the tabloids now. Gwen has now become more than a singer. She is a celebrity.

It really only makes sense that the other three members of No Doubt would move on without her. I am happy that they were strong enough to stay together. That is the good news. I never really cared for AFI (one of my ex boyfriends was annoyingly obsessed with them). But I will probably listen to the music they make, just to support them. This also brings me back to the point that Gwen was never just a pretty face for the band. They were a group that could go on with or without her. And that is pretty neat.

The point I really want to end on is this: Why do we feel we can stake claim on how a celebrity lives their life? It's not fair of me to be disappointed in her. I think in the case of musicians especially, fans take it so personally when they change their sound, their image, their target audience. But why is that so wrong? If Gwen Stefani is happy dating a country singer and looking beautiful on cable television, why should I care?