Bouquet is the upcoming fifth studio album by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani. It is expected to be released on November 15, 2024 through Interscope Records. The album serves as her first release since 2017's You Make It Feel Like Christmas and was preceded by the release of "Purple Irises", a duet with husband Blake Shelton, and lead single "Somebody Else's".
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] 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.[3] In a press release, Stefani commented that the album would return to her roots in reggae and ska music.[4] 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.[5][6][7][8]
Stefani began hinting at the album's namesake on September 6, 2024, posting a series of photographs featuring flowers, all prominently.[9] 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.[10] 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.[9][11] 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.[11]
Given the album's cover art depicting Stefani in a cowboy hat, critics predicted Bouquet would serve as her first country album.[12][13][14] The artwork used is a photograph of Stefani in a brown tartan suit, holding a singular white flower, sprawled atop a bed.[15] 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."[13]
Stefani described Bouquet as being full of "seventies pop-rock radio gems" with Nashville influence.[14] 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").[12][13] The album closes with "Purple Irises", a duet with Shelton, serving as the only collaboration.[13]
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"Purple Irises", a duet with husband Blake Shelton, was released on February 9, 2024.[16] The song's release came ahead of its live debut at the Super Bowl LVIII TikTok 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.[17] 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.[18][19] It also reached the top 40 on Billboard's Digital Songs Sales charts in the US and Canada.[20][21] An accompanying lyric video to "Purple Irises" was released to Stefani's YouTube channel on February 14, 2024.[22]
Following the album's official announcement, "Somebody Else's" was chosen as the lead single, and released digitally on September 20, 2024.[15]