Gwen Stefani says feminist anthem 'Just A Girl' is about 'power through your sexuality,' vulnerability
It's been 24 years since Gwen Stefani released the song "Just A Girl" with her band No Doubt. She said she had no idea the 1995 hit would become a feminist anthem today.
The Grammy-award winning singer told "The View" on Tuesday about her reaction to the hit song being featured in the "Captain Marvel" movie, which is about Marvel's first solo female superhero. She also spoke about her mindset when she wrote the song in her 20s.
"I was just so naive. I literally hadn't even written very many songs," Stefani said. "I didn't even knew who I was — nobody knew."
"I just kind of wrote this song because I felt like I was just getting in touch with that feeling that when you're born, if you're a female, you don't think about it, you're just human," the singer explained. "Then, through life, you sort of start to realize, 'Oh wait, someone just whistled. What does that mean?'"
Stefani, 49, said that at the time, she felt women could "get this power through your sexuality" while also being "vulnerable...because all of a sudden you're a victim."
"You have all these awarenesses as you're getting older and I just wanted to write a song about that," Stefani told "The View" co-hosts. "I thought the idea of 'Just A Girl' was like, sarcastic. So I never thought anyone would hear the song or that like we would be sitting here talking about it all these years later, but I feel proud of it"
After several tours — both with No Doubt and as a solo artist — the global icon has taken up a Las Vegas residency called "Just A Girl" slated to go through 2020. Thirty-five shows in, she said the experience has been "magical" so far.
"It's just different because as you can imagine when you're on tour you're like, 'Here's me in New York; we're here together.' This is like people from all over the world buying a plane ticket, getting a hotel room and making an event out of it," she said. "You're competing with Vegas so it's just a really tall order."
Stefani told "The View" that she thinks it's necessary to have the experience within the music industry that she has gained in order to perform in Vegas. She said the "show is basically my life boiled down to a stage show. ... It's just very intimate, it's very nostalgic. It feels like an exchange of love every night because everybody's living their version of whatever that song was in their life at that time."
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