Gwen Stefani Releases Reggae-Infused ‘Slow Clap’
While Gwen Stefani’s Slow Clap track which she released on Thursday, is being praised by her die-hearted fans, as, among other things a ‘masterpiece’, ‘amazing’ and other superlatives, there are some who are dismissing the song as ‘trash’.
The Reggae-infused song is the singer’s first release of the year, and follows her Let Me Reintroduce Myself track which was met with overwhelming enthusiasm by her fans when it was released in December 2020. Both songs are expected to appear on Stefani’s upcoming fourth full-length studio album.
Slow Clap was co-written by singer Ross Golan and producer Luke Niccoli, with whom Gwen also teamed up for Let Me Reintroduce Myself.
However, while the hook sounds like it was not made with an adult audience in mind, but more like, her verse in Hollaback Girl where she spit lines in which she childishly spells the word “B.A.N.A.N.A.S.” the verses, in contrast, speaks to Gwen’s maturity and longevity.
When Gwen posted a short video clip of two children in bed singing along and clapping to her chorus on Thursday night, which she had captioned: “perfect wind down song”, it was the impetus for dissenting followers to jeer her and unleash their criticisms and distaste for the hook which goes: “ Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap/ Clap, de-clap, de-clap, clap, slow clap/Walk into the room like a boss, slow clap/ Puttin’ on a little extra sauce, slow clap.”
Some fans made it clear that they felt that the hook sounds like a song that was written for preschool children and not an adult audience.
“Pretty sure this will be the next fun pre-school song,” lori.jeries wrote while pretty_rude_art cheekily noted: “Good job on teaching children to clap and spell bananas 🍌.”
“To be honest when I heard the song it sounded like it was for preschoolers,” lalatika_ added.
Others like kierasklub spared no punches, and demanded that Gwen refrain from voicing rhymes that sound puerile.
“I think I speak for majority of fans that want to see you do great, So Please stop making music to target CHILDREN. You’re 51. That’s not your audience. You should be appealing to the demographic you have. Before it becomes kidz bop for you,” he said.
On another IG post where Stefani had posted a snippet of the song, meegell sparked a mini-battle when she posted: “This is trash” in response, before adding later: “I’m a HUGE No Doubt fan and have loved all of her previous solo albums but can’t get on board with any of her new music as of late.”
Several people were in agreement and even expressed relief that amidst the glowing comments someone had decided to be honest.
“THANK YOU!!!!! Good lord. People just automatically like it and refuse to actually judge it. Blows my mind as a lifelong fan,” haannah_bananaa said.
“It’s weird when they do that, isn’t it? Like Katy Perry dressing up like a clown,wtf? 😂 it’s so off putting watching them go from grown and sexy one minute to Fisher-Price the next,” jennimc9901 said.
On the Album of The Year Review website, the few reviews which were written of the song also had expressions of annoyance and disappointment.
“Middle of the road background pop with a very annoying hook…,” one commenter wrote, while another stated: “The production on Slow Clap is super fun and infectious but the song’s repetitive hook really does drag it down. I expect it to grow on me though!”
The hook of Slow Clap is akin to lines from Gwen’s 2004 hit single Hollaback Girl, which even though it topped the Billboard charts and received several award nominations, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year at the 48th Grammy Awards, polarized pop music critics, some of whom declaring it ‘embarrassing’.
Men’s magazine Maxim had even declared it the ‘Most Annoying Song Ever’, even others at the other end of the spectrum praised the song, for among other things, its its minimalistic production.
In December when Gwen released Let Me Reintroduce Myself, the song debuted at number six before skyrocketing to number one on the all-genre US iTunes sales chart, less than 24 hours after the she released the track and performed it on that week’s edition of The Voice, on which she serves as a coach.
Let Me Reintroduce Myself also charted in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, Canada and Brazil.
Her fans celebrated her return to her Reggae/Ska roots, which defined her breakthrough in the 1990s as the leader of the band No Doubt, after having dabbled in several other genres over the last several years.
As lead vocalist for No Doubt, Gwen was part of the band’s Grammy Award-winning collaboration Hey Baby collab featuring Jamaican dancehall icon Bounty Killer, which copped the Grammy award for Best Pop Performance by a duo or Group with Vocal in 2003. The group also took home a similar award in 2004 for the hit Underneath it All featuring Queen of the Dancehall Lady Saw.