Gwen Stefani moved from Southern California’s plaid-clad No Doubt to a high-fashion pop solo career with the help of The Neptunes, Dr. Dre, Andre 3000, New Order, and Linda Perry. Her 2004 debut Love. Angel. Music. Baby. is bubbly fun, transforming Stefani’s ’80s roots into what was then the future.
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The album’s first single, “What You Waiting For?” is a Linda Perry-penned track that borrows—purposely or not—from Weezer’s “Hash Pipe.” “Rich Girl” followed, cementing Stefani’s elite-class transformation from No Doubt’s bourgeois ska rock.
Reimagining Fiddler
“Rich Girl” reinterprets Louchie Lou & Michie One’s song. The British ragga duo released “Rich Girl” in 1993, where they reimagined a show tune from Fiddler on the Roof.
The musical’s protagonist, Tevye the Dairyman, sings “If I Were a Rich Man,” inspired by the 1902 Yiddish monologue Ven ikh bin Rothschild, translated as “If I were a Rothschild.”
If I was a rich girl
See, I’d have all the money in the world if I was a wealthy girl
No man could test me impress me; my cash flow would never ever end
’Cause I’d have all the money in the world if I was a wealthy girl
No Doubt had a hit with “Just a Girl,” but Stefani has bigger dreams in “Rich Girl.” Like Tevye the Dairyman, she imagines the comfort wealth would bring. Then she lists the things she’d buy, but happiness and contentment aren’t surefire endings to her story.
Think what that money could bring
I’d buy everything
Clean out Vivienne Westwood
In my Galliano gown
No, wouldn’t just have one hood
A Hollywood mansion if I could
Please book me first-class to my fancy house in London town
What she’s after is love, and endless bling won’t fill the void of a big, empty mansion in the Hollywood Hills stuffed with expensive goods and no one to share them.
All the riches, baby, won’t mean anything
Don’t need no other baby
Your lovin’ is better than gold, and I know
Chronic Pain
There was a lot of pressure on Stefani, breaking from the massively successful No Doubt to record a solo album. She approached Dr. Dre with songs she’d written, but he guided Stefani in another direction.
Dr. Dre suggested the Louchie Lou & Michie One rework of “Rich Girl.” Stefani, joined by Eve, whom she’d collaborated with on Eve’s banger “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” worked on the “Rich Girl” demo. But Dr. Dre remained unimpressed. Stefani told MTV he told her to “rewrite the whole thing again.”
She felt lost but had an epiphany on her treadmill. At a dinner party, she told 50 Cent about her experience working with Dr. Dre, and he said the doctor was hard on everyone. Stefani pushed to bury her ego and keep working. Eventually, she arrived at the luxurious alter-ego, a long way from No Doubt’s beginnings, practicing in her parent’s garage in Orange County.
Pirate Booty & Punk Fashion
David LaChapelle directed the music video for “Rich Girl.” Stefani and Eve are on a pirate ship, surrounded by booty—the stolen treasure kind. The Vivienne Westwood “Tied to the Mast” aesthetic inspired LaChapelle’s vision.
Westwood, the British fashion designer, is name-checked in the above lyrics. She is famous for bringing punk fashion to the masses. Westwood married impresario Malcolm McLaren, who managed the Sex Pistols.
Westwood and McLaren supplied the New York Dolls with designs from their boutique, Sex. Guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook shopped at Sex, leading to McLaren guiding them into what became the queen’s favorite band. The story goes that McLaren’s associate, Bernard Rhodes, discovered John Lydon wearing a Pink Floyd shirt with the words “I Hate” written on it. McLaren called him Johnny Rotten.
Rhodes also introduced Joe Strummer to Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, who formed The Clash with Keith Levene. Levene left The Clash in 1976 but formed Public Image Ltd with Lydon after the latter quit the Sex Pistols.
“Rich Girl” Backlash
Some critics panned “Rich Girl’s” narrative as disingenuous because Stefani’s band, No Doubt, was extraordinarily successful. According to them, Stefani’s successful high-end fashion brand L.A.M.B. made it hard to swallow the poor girl’s dream of riches story. And the line I’d get me four Harajuku girls is creepy.
But she didn’t present “Rich Girl” as autofiction. Whether she’s playing a character or thinking back to her time in Orange County before fame and success, Stefani and Eve created an escapist reggae pop track, marking Love. Angel. Music. Baby. as a creative peak for Stefani’s solo work. Pop music is full of bluster and myth, and “Rich Girl” works well as bling fiction.
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Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for CMT
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