Stefani first started work on the project in February 2020, writing a song called "Cry Happy", which was composed of various lyrics she had compiled onto her phone, and cited this event as her inspiration to continue writing new music for a fifth album.[1][2] The same year she collaborate with her husband Blake Shelton on country pop singles "Nobody but You" and "Happy Anywhere".[3] During initial reports of a new album from Stefani, critics predicted it would serve as her return to pop music, following her lineup of country and holiday music releases in previous years.[4] In a press release, Stefani commented that the album would return to her roots in reggae and ska music.[5] Stefani said she was inspired by world news events, such as the Me Too movement and COVID-19 pandemic, to create uplifting and positive music; she explained: "[Reggae] music was all about unity and anti-racism, and that was in the '70s. Then we (No Doubt) were doing it in the '90s. And now here we are, again, in the same old mess."[1] She released the single "Let Me Reintroduce Myself", musically inspired by her days with No Doubt, in December 2020, and the hip hop-accented "Slow Clap" in March 2021, both of which were expected to appear on Stefani's fifth album.[6][7][8][9]
Stefani began hinting at the album's namesake on September 6, 2024, posting a series of photographs featuring flowers, all prominently.[10] The album was officially announced on September 18, along with its cover art and title, Bouquet, her first release since 2017's You Make It Feel Like Christmas.[11] Stefani said the record has a "flower motif", evident in song titles like "Marigolds", "Empty Vase", and "Late to Bloom", and was inspired by "all the stuff [she] listened to in the station wagon on the way to church" as a child.[10][12] Despite the album's cover art depicting Stefani wearing a cowboy hat, she insisted Bouquet was not a country album and rather a yacht rock project influenced by 1970s pop radio hits. She created the record following a period of "healing [and] transitioning" that stemmed from the divorce to her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, part of the subject matter to her 2016 album This Is What the Truth Feels Like.[13][14] According to Stefani, she was unable to record the project in a consistent schedule due to her parental duties, but rather in "concentrated bursts of creativity". In an interview with NME's Nick Levine, she added: "I don't go to the studio every day and just self-indulge [...] It's like, hey, [the kids] are at school, I got three hours so let's see if I can get down there to write."[15]
Cover artwork
Given the album's cover art depicting Stefani in a cowboy hat, critics predicted Bouquet would serve as her first country album.[16][17][18] The artwork used is a photograph of Stefani in a brown tartan suit, holding a singular white flower, sprawled atop a bed.[19] In reaction, Nylon's Dylan Kickham anticipated that "Stefani [would] be riding the cowboy trend like a bronco with at least some of her new music."[17]
Music and lyrics
Stefani described Bouquet as being full of "seventies pop-rock radio gems" with Nashville influence.[18] The album opens with "Somebody Else's", a heartland rock song combining elements of Stefani's pop and Shelton's country sounds. 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").[16][17] The album closes with "Purple Irises", a duet with Shelton, serving as the only collaboration.[17] The love song was originally intended as a solo song, but was lyrically revised to include Shelton.[20][21][22] The couple sings about finding love with each other after past heartbreaks.[23] Stefani's lyric "It's not 1999 / But this face is still mine" refers to what she believes was a highlight in her life, and how she has changed since then.[22]
"Purple Irises", a duet with Shelton, was released months ahead of the album's announcement on February 9, 2024.[24] The song's release came ahead of its live debut at the Super Bowl LVIIITikTok Tailgate Show and just several days after Shelton's digital EP Love Language, which featured the other Stefani collaborations "Nobody but You" (2019) and "Happy Anywhere" (2020), was released.[25] It was accompanied by an airplay release to contemporary hit radio stations in the United States, reaching numbers 15 and 16 on the Adult Contemporary and Adult Pop Airplay charts, respectively.[26][27] It also reached the top 40 on Billboard's Digital Songs Sales charts in the US and Canada.[28][29] An accompanying lyric video to "Purple Irises" was released to Stefani's YouTube channel on February 14, 2024.[30]
Following the album's official announcement, "Somebody Else's" was announced as the lead single. It was released digitally on September 20, 2024, alongside an audio visual on YouTube.[19][31] The song was also serviced to contemporary hit radio, and in the United States it reached number 23 on the Adult Airplay chart.[27][32] In Japan, "Somebody Else's" appeared on Billboard Japan's Hot Overseas chart at number nine.[33] It had its first televised live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 1.[34] "Swallow My Tears" was released as the album's next single on October 25.[35]
Bouquet received generally mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 56, based on eight reviews.[36] Brendan Sharp of Clash described the album as a "country-inspired vibe", in which the singer "shows a real vulnerability in her soul-baring lyrics", founding that "there is a distinct sense of emotional depth at the heart of Bouquet, which feels as though it finds Gwen Stefani at the peak of her songwriting craft".[37]
In a less positive review, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine found that the lyrics showed a "regressive Stefani's views" about women, because "it's difficult to reconcile the woman who made her breakthrough with No Doubt's neo-feminist anthem 'Just a Girl'" and found the songs arrangements "middle-of-the-road".[41]
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