“I was just learning to play – I started strumming the chords and ran upstairs and said, ‘Guys, I think I just wrote a song!’”: Gwen Stefani on the only No Doubt song she's ever written on guitar

Gwen Stefani emerged onto the scene – and into the public's consciousness – as the larger-than-life vocalist, founding member, and frontperson of No Doubt.

With charisma and on-stage presence in abundance, Stefani helped propel the band to dizzying heights at their peak, with their ska-punk, pop-rock, and alt-rock sensibilities carrying over, to some degree, into Stefani's pop solo career.

No Doubt's fourth album, 2000's Return of Saturn, stands as a testament to her songwriting capabilities, with the Stefani-penned Simple Kind of Life being the only single from that era to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, amidst a tumultuous period for the band.

“That song is a gift from God because I just received it,” Stefani recalled in a recent interview with The Guardian. “I was just learning to play guitar, started strumming the chords and ran upstairs and said: ‘Guys, I think I just wrote a song!’ It’s the only song I’ve ever written on my own or on guitar, but I love it.

No Doubt - Simple Kind Of Life - YouTube

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“I can’t listen to the Return of Saturn album now because there’s too much PTSD and too much truth for me. I was revealing everything, yet at the time I couldn’t even see it, but I’m so happy that that song resonates with somebody.”

As the album's standout track, it helped secure Return of Saturn a nomination for Best Rock Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards, and contributed to its debut at number two on the US Billboard 200.

Stefani and No Doubt reunited for the first time since 2015 at this year’s Coachella festival, an outing that guitarist Tom Dumont described as absolutely nerve-wracking in his recent Guitar World interview.