Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani – You Make It Feel Like Christmas (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 37:23 minutes | 480 MB | Genre: Pop, Christmas
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UMGRI Interscope

It’s only September but Gwen Stefani’s celebrating Christmas early! On Monday (Sept. 18), Stefani announced she had something big planned for the holidays. Now she finally confirmed her first Christmas album, released Oct. 6, called You Make It Feel Like Christmas. The album is a collaboration with her country star boyfriend Blake Shelton and features classics like “Jingle Bells,” “Santa Baby” and “Silent Night,” as well as some original holiday songs.

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Gwen Stefani – This Is What The Truth Feels Like (Deluxe) (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 59:02 minutes | 730 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Interscope

A singer and songwriter since childhood, Gwen Stefani has sold close to 30 million records as the front woman for the band No Doubt and as a multi-platinum solo artist. Gwen took her time to carefully craft her new album This Is What The Truth Looks Like, her most personal work to date. With intimate songs such as Make Me Like You , Misery Truth and Used To Love You combined with the stellar productions from producers Mattman & Robin, Greg Kurstin, JR Rotem and Stargate, there is an emotional through line to the album that highlights Gwen s songwriting and impassioned themes of love and loss that are universally felt worldwide. Deluxe Edition features 5 bonus tracks.

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Gwen Stefani – You Make It Feel Like Christmas (Deluxe Edition) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 57:43 minutes | 704 MB | Genre: Pop, Christmas
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Interscope Records

Showbiz has been in Gwen Stefani’s blood since the start of her career, which is the reason why she, unlike many ’90s alt-rock veterans, can seem at home within the confines of the televised musical competition The Voice. Her very presence on The Voice, one of the last genuinely popular franchises on network television in the 2010s, guaranteed the existence of an album like You Make It Feel Like Christmas, one that’s pitched directly in the mainstream. You Make It Feel Like Christmas plays upon her romance with co-host Blake Shelton, making her bouncy duet with the country singer the album’s title track and first single. “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” bops along to a Motown beat, just one of many intentional nostalgic nods at the past — “Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes” grooves to a simmering ’60s soul groove, her version of “Santa Baby” has a mid-century swing, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” is given drippy strings that turn it into a girl group number — but the record is surprisingly heavy on new material for a holiday album. Occasionally, this means Stefani veers into territory that doesn’t feel strictly seasonal: “When I Was a Little Girl” plays like a diary entry, not a memory of Christmases past, “My Gift Is You” is a love song bearing the faintest hint of mistletoe, and “Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes” has only a tangential relationship with Christmas. They don’t seem out of place, since they’re given the same bells and whistles as “Let It Snow” and “White Christmas,” but they also diminish the album, making it seem smaller than the season. Still, the moments that work have a coquettish charm that is appealing, which is reason enough to warrant a listen.
– Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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