Gwen Stefani dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night (March 15) to perform her new high-energy single “Slow Clap” and chat with the host about what it’s like to hang out on fiancé Blake Shelton’s “magic” Oklahoma ranch.
“I had no idea myself that it was such an amazing place,” said Stefani, 51, who was Zooming in from her Los Angeles home after spending a lot of time at Shelton’s pad during lockdown.
“It feels like you kind of go into a portal and you’re all of a sudden in nature,” she added. Stefani, in a glittery gold dress, laughed as Kimmel recalled his days on rock radio in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, marveling that the once ska-pop 1990s superstar now has two country songs on the charts thanks to her relationship with Shelton.
“Who would have ever imagined that?” Kimmel marveled as Stefani said she’s first up in the incredulity line, noting that it’s hard for her to even remember those crazy mid ’90s band days. That, of course, led to superfan Kimmel asking Stefani whether she ever considers returning to the No Doubt fold, or if she remembers calling in to his gig at Los Angeles station KROQ and trying to request her own songs.
“When the Tragic Kingdom had its 25th anniversary … it was actually quite nostalgic to watch everybody posting,” Stefani said of last year’s celebration of the group’s breakthrough 1995 album. “I didn’t know I was going to feel like that. It was kind of depressing. It was kind of nostalgic. It was a very strange feeling.”
Now, with the 30th anniversary of No Doubt’s self-titled 1992 debut album just around the corner, Stefani admitted that she’s torn after the weird feelings that bubbled up during the quarter-century celebration of Tragic Kingdom. The singer explained that the album was written during her difficult breakup with bandmate Tony Kanal after seven years. “There’s a lot of feelings. Even that record, when you say ‘Tragic Kingdom,’ my heart still kind of is, like, broken. Those songs were about a really sad time for me,” she said.
The group has reunited a few times in the midst of Stefani’s on-and-off solo career, but they’ve been on a long hiatus since a 2014 appearance at the Global Citizen Festival, which followed the release of their 2012 album Push and Shove. “I have no idea what the future is with the band,” Stefani said. “I never would have imagined that we would have put the 30 years into it that we did in the first place, you know?”
“So that’s a no, or is that a yes?” Kimmel asked confused.
“I have no idea,” Stefani demurred.
Watch Stefani on Kimmel below.
