The *REAL* Official Gwen Stefani Thread

[explodingbird]

Is it just me, or, these days... basically, I've noticed, a lot of albums... their single covers are just pictures from the album's photoshoot, so those pictures show up in the album as well. Anyone else noticed that? Gwen didn't do that before, but with this album, definitely. And... I dunno. It kind of ruins things. I know physical singles aren't a big thing outside of Japan, and so covers aren't as big a deal either. But I wish they'd just... try something different, give us new pictures.

[Mad_Cactuar]

I realized that, but I kinda like it. It's like chapters ripped off from a book, has this whole "family" feel to the albums and singles. Look at Fergie. That wench didn't use the mock Fergalicious cover in her booklet and went with a worse one instead.

But the Japanese ones are cool, still. I love the elaborate photoshoots and designs for each single and album, it's so varied and individualistic. But the single designs often have nothing to do whatsoever with the album's art concept.

Unless you're Gwen Stefani and can somehow have a set of singles and album covers that are all different and unpredictable and still maintain cohesion and prettiness. Speaking of L.A.M.B of course.

I don't think Gwen will use more pictures from her album for the next single since the others are all similar to the cover. Which would be a mess, since she already used something from the album. She might as well used the crying picture for Wind It Up.

[Keishi]

Originally Posted by Weslicious

It's got a bit of Queens 'ANother One Bites The Dust'. It's not sampled as such and I don't think it's credited in the album booklet.

I think there's more other sampled beats other than that. I don't really recognize though, but HG is a really familiar song. o_O

Originally Posted by explodingbird

Is it just me, or, these days... basically, I've noticed, a lot of albums... their single covers are just pictures from the album's photoshoot, so those pictures show up in the album as well. Anyone else noticed that? Gwen didn't do that before, but with this album, definitely. And... I dunno. It kind of ruins things. I know physical singles aren't a big thing outside of Japan, and so covers aren't as big a deal either. But I wish they'd just... try something different, give us new pictures.

It has been done since like...long time ago, AFAIK.
On a random note, Angela Aki also did the same thing with her singles & album. The standing pose. The big font on the center.



And yeah, I doubt if she's going to use the 'album' promo pic as the next single's cover. Or maybe, the single cover is going to be her boobs & the key necklace.

[moombasista]

Maybe she'll use this one:

[..:Hot:Like:Wow:..]

God I hope not!

[Mad_Cactuar]

I like it, but her hand seems like it came from someone else. And why does she have to expose her teeth in photos? It makes her face look longer and more manly.

[Keishi]

The oily palm is scaring me.

















Anyway....
how cute is these kids?


found here.

[Mad_Cactuar]

^ Genius. Seems like the blogger has no idea too.

[explodingbird]

Gwen's got a greasy hand. Ew. And she looks ANGRYYYYYYYY.

And she kind of has Mariah Face going on there.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Damn, I'm SO NERVOUS. Ciara and the Dreamgirls are releasing on the same day, I hope Gwen does well! I saw Wiki, somebody added the chart position for The Sweet Escape that states #3 and I really hope that's false false false.

Ciara did 340,000 or so I've heard. Can Gwen really beat that? I hope hope hope so! OMG, anticipation! I'm more psyched up now than Secret (as Ayu never fails getting #1). SOMEONE TELL ME!! How did the album do? Shouldn't we all know by now?!

[explodingbird]

From what I understand, it's expected to hit #3 at around 250K. It was a pretty weak release week anyway, and I don't mind, since the album wasn't that great anyway. We should know for sure tomorrow, though.

[..:Hot:Like:Wow:..]

OMG! it has to better than that, even Janet managed to debut at number 2.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by explodingbird

From what I understand, it's expected to hit #3 at around 250K. It was a pretty weak release week anyway, and I don't mind, since the album wasn't that great anyway. We should know for sure tomorrow, though.

But for Ciara to beat that by 90,000 copies is... moronic. Her album was a lot weaker, IMO. Yeah, initial reviews have been a little better than The Sweet Escape, but I'm sure the negative ones will crop up by next week.

Gwen debuted at #5 last year with 309,000 copies I think. I don't mind if she debuted outside the Top 50, but she should be able to beat Ciara shouldn't she? Her singles have all been doing better than Ciara. Even with the dismal chart positions for What You Waiting For in the US enabled it to debut with over 300,000 copies, Wind It Up got #6 this time! I was expecting 600,000 y'know. Justin Timberlake can, why not Gwen?

Am I the only one who thinks that this album is another masterpiece? It's so awesome.

Hits Daily Double (US)
-- 3 GWEN STEFANI INTERSCOPE 252,264 -- THE SWEET ESCAPE

OH MY GOD. Now this sucks.

Curse them who leaked the CD!

[..:Hot:Like:Wow:..]

Originally Posted by Mad_Cactuar

Am I the only one who thinks that this album is another masterpiece? It's so awesome.

I think it's a masterpiece too, there is not a single song on the album that I hate and so many that I love. There were a few I disliked at the start but they grew on me. ATM i'm liking it more than L.A.M.B

[moombasista]

OMG Chris those are so cute!

Billboard

Ciara's "Ciara: The Evolution" leads three new titles onto the top three spots on The Billboard 200, bowing at No. 1 with 338,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The LaFace set achieves the R&B starlet's best charting position and sales week ever. Ciara's debut effort, 2004's "Goodies," entered at No. 3 with 125,000 and has sold 2.63 million to date.

The Shady/Aftermath/Interscope compilation "Eminem Presents: The Re-Up" lands at No. 2 with 309,000. Featuring a host of new Eminem tracks plus appearances from 50 Cent and members of the Shady Records roster, the album comes a year after Eminem's "Curtain Call: The Hits" opened at No. 1 with 441,000.

Gwen Stefani one-ups the peak position of her smash 2004 Interscope solo debut "Love.Angel.Music.Baby" with "The Sweet Escape," which debuts at No. 3 with 243,000. Its predecessor opened at No. 7 but eventually climbed to No. 5 thanks to the success of singles like "Hollaback Girl."

The soundtrack to Disney's "Hannah Montana" falls 2-4 in its seventh week on the chart despite a 47% increase in sales to 243,000. The Sony BMG Strategic Marketing Group/EMI/Universal/Zomba hits compilation "NOW 23" slips 4-5 with 185,000 (+20%).

Il Divo's "Siempre" (SYCO/Columbia) experiences a 128% sales boom, re-entering the top 10 with a 16-6 surge. Fueled in part by a Dec. 6 appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," the group's "Ancora" also rockets forward 161-87, a 174% increase, while "The Christmas Collection" moves 3-1 on the Top Pop Catalog chart with a nearly 200% boost in sales.


Chris Daughtry's 19 Recordings/RCA debut "Daughtry" falls 3-7 with 155,000, a flat sales change, while the new Beatles collection "Love" (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol) drops 5-8 with 152,000 (+3%). Sarah McLachlan's Arista holiday album "Wintersong" dips 7-9 with 137,000 and an 18% sales increase. Carrie Underwood, who won two Billboard Music Awards last week, inches up 13-10 with "Some Hearts" (Arista Nashville) on a 50% sales boost to 126,000.

Most of the performers from the event see increases for their albums that are larger than the 27.8% uptick of the overall market. Fergie's "The Dutchess" is up 62% at No. 19 while Nickelback (No. 21, up 42%), the Fray (No. 33, up 52%) and Mary J. Blige (No. 134, up 95%) also see gains. Even winners that accepted their trophies on the show but didn't perform also saw some spikes, including the soundtrack of "High School Musical" (No. 27, up 33%), Nelly Furtado (No. 49, up 64%), Chris Brown (No. 98, up 39%), Three Days Grace (No. 106, up 44%) and Kenny Chesney (Nos. 118 and 121, both up more than 30%).

Last week's chart-topper, Incubus' "Light Grenades," sets an undesirable record on The Billboard by dropping to No. 37, the biggest position drop ever from No. 1. Previously, Marilyn Manson's 2003 album "The Golden Age of Grotesque" held the record after sliding to No. 21 in its second week.

The Music World Music/Sony Urban Music/Columbia/ Sony Music Soundtrax soundtrack to "Dreamgirls," the single-disc "highlights" version," bows at No. 20 with 92,000. The longer two-disc version enters at No. 132. Other big debuts this week include Lil Scrappy's "Bred 2 Die -- Born 2 Live" (BME) at No. 24 with 82,000 units and R&B veteran Brian McKnight's "Ten" (Warner Bros.) at No. 32 with 63,000.

Besides Daughtry's, the only other album in the top 25 to experience a sales decrease was Jay-Z's "Kingdom Come" (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam), which slides 6-15 in its third week on a 27% sales decline to 101,000.

Overall, album sales are up 27.8% from last week's count and are down 1.9% compared to the same week a year ago at 18.86 million units. Sales for 2006 are down 5% compared to 2005 at 519.4 million units.

Originally Posted by Mad_Cactuar

Am I the only one who thinks that this album is another masterpiece? It's so awesome.

I think the album is awesome! It's modern, trashy, sexy and loud!

Its got attitude and the lyrics are good too.

Oh and yummy is so ****in' hot! I makes me wanna dance like a ho

[Halla]

I bought the Harajuku lovers DVD , and I think it's good. Gwen & the Harajuku girls put on a great show. Gwen sounds good live & the costumes & coreography are cool too.

the DVD has crappy extras tho , 'meet the band & dancers' feature is just a bunch of text bios.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Yep, I felt the same way at first. "OMG LAMB IS BETTER" etc. Now I like this CD a little more, but they're both awesome.

Ciara's The Evolution leaked 2 weeks ago, according to isohunt.
Gwen's The Sweet Escape leaked 3.3 weeks ago.

Damn it's so annoying. First Ayu debuts with terrible sales, now Gwen. Why are all the good guys getting the bad sales? I want 300,000 copies taken off from FutureSex/LoveSounds and added to The Sweet Escape. And I want Koda's Black Cherry to leak NOW.

[firefox]

4 in the morning is my only favorite...

[explodingbird]

Ehh, a lot of people think the album was mediocre. That's all there is to it. People like different music for different reasons.

And leaking really has nothing to do with sales. Mariah Carey's album got leaked a couple of weeks early and look how it did. Justin Timberlake? His new album leaked like... a month before the release date, I believe. It was very early in any case. People bought it because they liked what they heard.

A bunch of different things factor into why things sell the way they do, but why make a big fuss over it? Won't change the sales.

[Mad_Cactuar]

WOOHOO, got my copy. Not a special edition (heard that was an exclusive for Australia) but mine's good enough. Wish it didn't have that live track tacked on the end. Anyway, yep, confirmed, all tracks brilliant. Except the live track, I hate live tracks. I even avoid the mp3's, but this one is tacked on the CD. Damn.

Akon's appearance is extremely limited. He has like two lines in total, and even those are drowned out by the WOOOOs. Pharell is more audible in the other tracks but he's way better when he's not doing his solo crap.

The icy, ballady like tracks are simply beautiful. It's like being in a whole new world. Wonderful Life especially. And Yummy is just plain crazy frickin awesome it should have been the first single.

I want the singles to be:
1) Wind It Up
2) The Sweet Escape
3) Now That You Got It
4) Yummy
5) Wonderful Life

and if possible...
6) Orange County Girl
7) Breakin' Up

Swizz Beatz contribution was obvious from the "HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY!" in the background. Identical to his contribution to B'Day, Get Me Bodied.