Ok, everytime I read an interview with her she always talks about how she fancies herself as a song writer and how she was a nobody until she discovered she could write great songs. I really love Gwen Stefani. She has a unique voice and great style but I really don't think her lyrics are all that. What do you guys think?

She should title her next album "All I Want For Christmas Is To Be Cyndi Lauper".

And, yeah, her songwriting skills are underwhelming.

Oh you can tell with the contrast between NoDoubt and her solo work.
You can see during her time with No Doubt her band mates put in input to her lyrics which were much better.

Her lyrics on her solo cd were dreadful IMO except What you Waiting 4 (thank you Linda Perry who wrote the whole song)

jayaredee said:

Exactly! Gwen with No Doubt is great. Gwen on her own is a flakey pop bimbo. Her solo work is awful. The videos might look good, but the music sucks!

"The Real Thing" is a nicely written tune. I love the message behind it and the way the verses flow into the hook. "Serious" continues in that tradition and teases with "and you know I can't stand how the girls all wanna be gettin' all up in my place." I like singing that. "What You're Waiting For?" and "Harajuku Girls" get props for being clever. The line that got me in WYWF was, "Born to blossom, bloom to perish / Your moment will run out 'cause of your sex chromosome." I love that friggin' line.

jayaredee said:

JANFAN4L said:

That is a great line but if Linda Perry wrote it, Gwen can't be credited for that. Don't get me wrong, I love Gwen and I love L.A.M.B but she should seriously stop bigging herself up as some John Lennon type lyricist. She's not even John Legend in the writing department. She's still my girl though

dancerella said:

Word? Well, I haven't caught a wiff of Gwen's print interviews, so that makes me a bit oblivious to that side of her.

Sometimes, I like to be oblivious to goings on of celebrity — and this is one of those cases.

I have to add that her writting material has better on No Doubt...still she had always the same recorring themes (Gavin, Tony, I'm a girl, It's Tough being a girl, Gavin, weddding, Gavin, Gavin, GAAVVVVVIIIIINNNNN...)

miguelbulcao said:

That's true. Half of her songs are about Tony and Gavin. I guess her break up from Tony was a blessing in disguise. It made them millions.

miguelbulcao said:

You've hit the nail squarely on its head, my dear.

Why pick on Gwen? At least she tries.

And when did she ever mention herself in the same breath as John Lennon?

So what if her lyrics don't have some profound meaning like Bob Dylan's, we have Bob Dylan for that.

Too much emphasis is placed on lyrics. If it sounds good, it's good.
[Edited 5/11/05 19:57pm]

kinaldo said:

No, I give her props for at least writing her own material but it seems like everytime I read an interview she's always giving herself props as a song writer. Perhaps should could be just a bit more humble about it?

I made up the John Lennon comparison just to be cheeky!