Somebody Else's (song)

"Somebody Else's"
Single by Gwen Stefani
from the album Bouquet
ReleasedSeptember 20, 2024 (2024-09-20)
Genre
Length3:44
LabelInterscope
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Scott Hendricks
Gwen Stefani singles chronology
"Hello World (Song of the Olympics)"
(2024) 		"Somebody Else's"
(2024)

"Somebody Else's" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her upcoming fifth studio album Bouquet (2024). Interscope Records released the song on September 20, 2024 as the album’s second single alongside the album's announcement. It was produced by Scott Hendricks and written by Stefani, Fred Ball, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Nick Long, Madison Love, Jake Torrey, and Henry Walter. Love developed the song after a series of vulnerable writing sessions with Stefani where they discussed their lives.

The soft rock and new wave song was considered by critics to be influenced by the country music output of her husband, singer Blake Shelton. Its lyrics describe moving on from a previous relationship, and were considered to be referencing Stefani's former marriage to British musician Gavin Rossdale.

Background and release

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In 2020, Gwen Stefani began work on her upcoming fifth studio album, influenced by her roots in reggae and ska music. She released the singles "Let Me Reintroduce Myself" (2020) and "Slow Clap" (2021), and collaborated with Jamaican musicians Sean Paul and Shenseea on "Light My Fire" in 2022.[1] Stefani took a short hiatus from music where she married American singer Blake Shelton and rejoined the cast of the American reality competition television series The Voice for its twenty-fourth season.[2] Her 2023 single "True Babe" was a musical departure from her early 2020s work where she felt motivated by various global events to "put [...] something out".[3] Stefani's fifth studio album, Bouquet, was eventually announced in September 2024, along with news of "Somebody Else's" on its track listing. Because of the album's cover artwork, Bouquet was predicted by critics to be Stefani's venture into country music.[4][5]

American musician Madison Love began developing "Somebody Else's" following writing sessions where she and Stefani would engage in "a lot of confession and just talk about life and where we're at now, and where we were"; she eventually sent Stefani the start of the song via text, who was unsure of "giv[ing] that any energy" during creative sessions for the album, but ultimately changed her mind after writing more songs for the project and realizing "you needed to see a little bit of the dark to see the light".[6]

"Somebody Else's" was eventually announced as Stefani's upcoming single on September 18, 2024, one week after she had previewed the official audio on her social media accounts.[7] The song was later released on September 20, as the lead single from Bouquet, following the collaboration "Purple Irises" with husband Blake Shelton earlier in the year.[8]. It was released digitally for download and streaming, and an accompanying audio video was uploaded to Stefani's YouTube channel the same day.[9][10] The song was produced by Scott Hendricks and written by Stefani, Fred Ball, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Nick Long, Love, Jake Torrey, and Henry Walter.[11]

Composition and lyrics

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Critics have classified "Somebody Else's" in several genres within the context of both Stefani's pop and Shelton's country sounds.[5][12][7] Joey Nolfi of Entertainment Weekly called the song a hybrid of soft rock and new wave music.[12] Describing it as a heartland rock song, Stereogum's Abby Jones said Stefani was "quite susceptible to the country boom that's going around with pop stars now" given her marriage to Shelton.[5] Emma Keates from The A.V. Club called it "country-adjacent", acknowledging that Stefani herself said Bouquet was not a country album.[13]

Its lyrics describe letting go of a former relationship ("I don't know what a woman like me / Was doing with a man like you" and "If I could go back in time I would erase you / But I could never go back there") and getting over the ex.[5][14][15] Critics believed it referenced Stefani's former relationship with singer Gavin Rossdale, whom she was married to for thirteen years and split from in 2015.[14] Stefani also references her new marriage to Shelton: "I found the real thing, you don't compare / And I don't care."[12] Nolfi considered that "though Stefani doesn't explicitly name anyone in the track's lyrics, fans will naturally connect the song to her highly publicized former relationships"; in the chorus, she sings: "Look at me blossom / You're somebody else's problem."[12] In an interview with Rolling Stone's Daniel Kreps, Stefani admitted it was "interesting that this song rose [to become the new single], because the rest of the record has nothing to do with that subject."[6] Kreps called "Somebody Else's" the perfect segue from Stefani's last pop album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), to Bouquet, with Truth serving as her divorce record preceding her marriage to Shelton.[6] Forbes' Chris Malone Mendez contrasted the song's lyrics to "Purple Irises", calling the latter a "celebration of love".[16]

Release history

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Release dates and formats for "Somebody Else's"
Region Date Format(s) Label Ref.
Various September 20, 2024
Interscope [9]

References

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  1. ^ Mier, Tomás (July 13, 2022). "Gwen Stefani and Shenseea Join Sean Paul for a Retro Dayger in 'Light My Fire' Video". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  2. ^ Chiu, Melody (September 27, 2023). "Gwen Stefani Gets Candid on Rock Stardom, Motherhood and Blake Shelton: 'He's Changed My Life' (Exclusive)". People. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  3. ^ Smith, Carl (June 22, 2023). "Gwen Stefani interview: 'Music is the fire behind everything I've ever done'". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on June 22, 2023. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  4. ^ Gregory, Allie (September 18, 2024). "Gwen Stefani Details New Album 'Bouquet'". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Jones, Abby (September 20, 2024). "Gwen Stefani – 'Somebody Else's'". Stereogum. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Kreps, Daniel (September 20, 2024). "Gwen Stefani Talks New Song 'Somebody Else's,' Gardening, and the Journey to Her 'Bouquet'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  7. ^ a b DeSantis, Rachel (September 18, 2024). "Gwen Stefani Announces Her Fifth Album Bouquet Will Be in 'Full Bloom' in November". People. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  8. ^ Aniftos, Rania (September 18, 2024). "Gwen Stefani Announces Fifth Studio Album 'Bouquet'". Billboard. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Somebody Else's" (Spotify digital single). Gwen Stefani. Interscope Records. September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2024.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ^ "Gwen Stefani – Somebody Else's". YouTube (US). September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d Nolfi, Joey (September 20, 2024). "Gwen Stefani takes aim at 'semi-psychotic' ex in blistering new song: 'You gaslit my world'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  12. ^ Keates, Emma (September 20, 2024). "Gwen Stefani insists she hasn't gone country, despite new country-adjacent single". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Avila, Daniela (September 20, 2024). "Gwen Stefani Details Finding 'the Real Thing' with Blake Shelton After Gavin Rossdale Divorce on New Song 'Somebody Else's'". People. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  14. ^ Kickham, Dylan (September 18, 2024). "Everything We Know About Gwen Stefani's New Album". Nylon. Archived from the original on September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  15. ^ Mendez, Chris Malone (September 20, 2024). "Gwen Stefani Previews 'Bouquet' Album With New Single 'Somebody Else's'". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 22, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
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