Gwen Stefani – “True Babe”

At this point, Gwen Stefani is deep into the legacy-artist portion of her career. She’s playing Vegas residencies. She’s singing her old hits at country-music awards shows. She’s addressing problematic past stages of her career in ways that are even more problematic. She’s about to do another season as a coach on The Voice. But Stefani clearly loves pop music, and when she’ll still drop a track that sounds like a potential hit. That’s what she’s done this morning.

Today, Gwen Stefani releases “True Babe,” her first new single since she came out with “Slow Clap” in 2021. Stefani recorded “True Babe” with Swedish team Jack & Coke and with LA producer KThrash, and she co-wrote the song with those producers and with young songwriter Nicole Rubio, who had Stefani in mind when she started writing the song. It’s a big, bright pop anthem that sounds like it could’ve been a circa-2010 Max Martin joint.

If the title “True Babe” looks egotistical, you’re looking at it wrong. Gwen Stefani’s not singing about herself. Instead, it’s a love song — Stefani singing that it’s true, babe, that she’ll be sleeping better next to you, babe. It doesn’t sound like a song about Blake Shelton, but the world is a funny place. Listen to “True Babe” below.

“True Babe” is out now on Insterscope. Read our We’ve Got A File On You interview with Gwen Stefani here.