Gwen Stefani Revealed She & Akon Wrote "The Sweet Escape" In 10 Minutes
She went into that studio and made history.
Sometimes, a ton of work goes into creating a hit song. And other times, the perfect earworm just magically appears out of thin air. Gwen Stefani has experienced both sides of this process in her nearly four decades in the music industry, she revealed in her April 8 NYLON profile, and one of her most successful singles materialized in what “felt like 10 minutes.”
Stefani opened up about one of the most stressful periods of her life to NYLON, describing the overwhelming pressure and guilt she felt trying to balance her career with becoming a new mom in the mid-2000s. When her firstborn son Kingston was only 9 weeks old, called her to return to the studio for a recording session with Akon.
Understandably, Stefani was conflicted about the decision, but upon meeting Akon, she instantly wrote and recorded her hit song “The Sweet Escape.” The collaboration not only topped the charts upon release, but it became so pivotal to Stefani that she made it the title track of her 2006 album.
The super-impromptu recording session also allowed Akon to come up with what is now the most memorable part of the song in an instantaneous ad-lib. Stefani shared that he threw in the iconic “Woo-hoo, yee-hoo” refrain as a last-minute idea.
“We’re sitting there, it’s done, and Akon goes, ‘Wait, I got one other idea.’ He walks in the booth like: ‘Woo-hoo!,’ Stefani said.
The pop star went on to reveal her reaction to listening to “The Sweet Escape” now is much different than most fans would probably expect. The upbeat, doo-wap tune actually hides some of Stefani’s darkest lyrics, as she poured out her romantic anxieties amid her divorce from ex-husband Gavin Rossdale.
“It makes me cry,” Stefani admitted. “I listen to the lyrics of that song, and it’s like: ‘Whoa!’ There was so much loaded f*cking stuff in that song that was going on in my private life that it’s just crazy. It’s foreshadowing the future.”
