Words and phrases like 鈥渘ostalgia鈥� or 鈥渂ack to her roots鈥� come to mind when listening to fifth studio album, 鈥淏ouquet鈥� 鈥� and it is in no way negative.
Across 10-tracks, the powerhouse singer leans into the mellow rock of her youth 鈥� think Hall & Oates, Chicago, Fleetwood Mac 鈥� with dashes of country vibes here and there. Her voice is ageless, unaltered and distinctive, immediately recalling the early aughts when still existed, and Stefani was still a bit of a ska girl.
Thematically, however, the songs are about a woman who鈥檚 been through the ringer 鈥� but life gave her a reprieve in her second act, and she found stability, lots of flowers and no mo鈥� drama. In that way, 鈥淏ouquet鈥� is a not so furtive ode to husband 鈥� who she met and fell in love with while they were both coaches on the singing reality competition show, 鈥淭he Voice." At the time, they were both going through divorces to and respectively.
On 鈥淏ouquet,鈥� the Stefani-Shelton romance arrives through yacht rock sounds and flowery language in songs with titles like 鈥淢arigolds,鈥� 鈥淟ate to Bloom鈥� and 鈥淓mpty Vase.鈥� When the album reaches its end, it is with a duet with Shelton on 鈥淧urple Irises."
If the album tells a story of her relationship, it starts with the opener 鈥淪omebody Else's.鈥� Stefani starts off the proceedings by listing her previous romantic entanglement and bad choices. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what a heart like mine/Was doin鈥� in a love like that, ah," she sings. "I don鈥檛鈦焝now鈦焪hat鈦焌 woman like鈦焟e/Was doin鈥� with鈦焌 man like you, ooh.鈥�
It's a direct counter to the title track, where the focus appears to be back on Shelton: 鈥淲e met when my heart was broken/Thank God that yours was, too,鈥� she shares. 鈥淪o lucky that you were goin'/ Through what I was goin' through.鈥�
In "Late to Bloom,鈥� she decries the fact that they met so late in life.
A nice bass progression, a clever turn of the phrase and a great voice are what it takes to get this album going. Add a cohesive theme, a pleasant vibe and a charismatic star 鈥�- and that's coming up roses.
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Cristina Jaleru, The Associated Press
