Has Gwen Stefani gone country?
The pop superstar and judge of The Voice had some fun experimenting with music genres last night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In a comedy sketch disguised as a late-night album infomercial, Buck Pinto, played by Fallon, sells us on a new sound for the former ska queen. First, behold Fallon in a Stetson hat and sweet embroidered Western shirt, then check out Stefani’s musical makeover:
https://youtu.be/_GzCLfPmx84
Seems like her boyfriend Blake Shelton‘s influence is rubbing off on her. Stefani, who is 51 but apparently doesn’t age, is looking lovely in glammed-up, glittery cowgirl attire—and she sounds even lovelier. Strumming a guitar in front of a backdrop of cornfields, cows, and pick-up trucks, the artist performs a countrified medley of her greatest hits.
Stefani starts with her heartbreaking ballad “Don’t Speak” and moves onto “Spiderwebs”—two modern pop classics from No Doubt’s 1995 album Tragic Kingdom. She wraps up with the 2004 single “Hollaback Girl” from her first solo album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. We confess we’re partial to the original beats by Pharrell, but the new rendition is still a fun twist, full of Southern twang and fiddles.
We also appreciate Pinto’s promise of a “bonus album” with purchase: Blake Shelton: Big Ska Country. Seriously, can you imagine a ska version of Shelton’s “Honey Bee”?
Who knows, maybe these albums could become a reality someday. If we had to put our money on it, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Gwen give it a go in Nashville one day. After all, she is featured on Blake’s latest track “Happy Anywhere.” But oh, what we’d give to see Shelton sporting a green mohawk in real life.