Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 06/07/2011 at 4:33 PM News

The Popdust Files: gwen stefani, Interview, no doubt, retirement

Really, it’s been a long time since we’ve heard much of anything from Gwen Stefani—with or without the band that made her famous in the mid-’90s, No Doubt. Ten years since No Doubt’s last album Rock Steady, and five years since Gwen’s last solo effort The Sweet Escape, it feels like an entire era of pop music has passed since Gwen’s time as a star. Now The Neptunes are no longer popular, Eurodance-pop rules the airwaves and nobody has a fucking clue who the Harajuku Girls are. Would there still be a place for Gwen in today’s Dr. Luke and Lady Gaga-curated pop world?

Turns out, we might never have the chance to find out. According to a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gwen does not plan on returning to her solo career at any point in the immediate future, if indeed at all. “That was a moment in time,” Stefani reflected upon her distant memory of a solo career. “It went on a little longer than we all thought it would, because it was inspired and you have to go with wherever you’re at in that time in your life…[But] everything works out how it should.” It’s sort of a shame, since Gwen was certainly one of pop’s more interesting personalities while at the height of her solo powers, though if her solo retirement spares us from having to deal with clunkers like “Rich Girl” or “Wind It Up” again, it might not be the absolute worst thing.

What’s more, Gwen’s statement is apparently merely a prelude to a much bigger revelation coming in the upcoming No Doubt-featuring issue of EW—”The big news” is how the magazine refers to it—so hopefully an announcement of some actual new No Doubt music is on the way. C’mon, how hard is it to release a single or two in this day in age?