Music: What You Waiting For?

Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock. It is one of my favorite elements in music when an artist puts out a song that is directly inspired by their own life or feelings. "What You Waiting For?" is a brilliant example of this.


The song was the first single from Gwen Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. released in 2004. L.A.M.B. (also the name of Stefani's fashion line) originally began as a small side project that grew into a full album.

Stefani was inspired by the 1980s and artists like Madonna, New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam and Depeche Mode. I remember reading a quote from Stefani and laughing in which she told Madonna that she was making an 80's pop album and Madonna just rolled her eyes. Most songs on the album focus on the theme of fashion and wealth, just like the 1980s. It also brought a lot of attention to the highly fashionable and trendy Tokyo district of Harajuku.

When production began on what may or may have been a solo album, Stefani met with Linda Perry. However the meeting was pretty unsuccessful. She was consumed with a combination of self-consciousness and writer's block. Perry is pretty much a genius at extracting those feelings out of an artist and putting them into music (see Christina Aguilera's Stripped), and the next day the two took all those fears and insecurities and wrote "What You Waiting For?".

The actual composition takes a similar cue from Janet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" in which Stefani sings at different ranges to suggest different characters or personality's on the song. One personality singing in a higher range in first person, the other more confident personality singing lower in second person.

Lyrics like "Look at your watch now, you're still a super hot female" translate as Stefani persuading herself to abandon her reluctance to debut as a solo artist. This continues with other lyrics like "Life is short, you're capable" and my personal favorite, "Take a chance you stupid ho".

But what does this all have to do with my month of Storybook? Cue the video!

The video is Stefani's take on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She portrays several characters from the novel including Alice, the Queen of Hearts and her own dual versions of the Mad Hatter. The pool of tears, tea party, smoking caterpillar and flamingos are all present.

Take a look for yourself and get inspired!