Ohemgee, Gwen Stefani is back again.
The No Doubt goddess actually came back weeks ago with her chant-heavy marching midtempo “Baby Don’t Lie.” It’s a chill jam, but the song quickly lost steam — not that it ever really acquired any steam to begin with. (That phoned-in video clip certainly didn’t help, either.)
This time around, Gwen’s actually back…in the sense of a more authentic solo Stefani sound, at least.
Even when the song was first teased as a snippet on radio, “Spark The Fire” already felt more right as a comeback track for Gwen: It’s fucks-free, frivolous and sure sounds like Gwen’s having tons o’ fun in the studio with her faithful “Hollaback Girl” collaborator, Pharrell.
Set on top of twinkly bells and bubbly beats, Gwen chants, taunts and boasts her way through dozens of off-the-wall, Internet speak-heavy lyrics in what sort of sounds like one, long emoji-filled text message come to life. (“LOL!” “OMG!”)
In a post-Miley Cyrus world (see “FU” or “SMS (Bangerz)”), “Spark The Fire” isn’t quite as exciting as it might have been a year ago. It’s also just not very exciting in general. Still, it’s…y’know, cute. Right? Err.
“Spark The Fire” will be released in November. (iTunes)