Гвен Стефани - "Luxurious" туралы

2005 single by Gwen Stefani
the 2005 song

"Luxurious" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). Written by Stefani and fellow No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal, the track contains a sample of the Isley Brothers' 1983 song "Between the Sheets". In addition to the Isley Brothers sample, the song features use of keyboards, synthesizers, and electric guitars. "Luxurious" is a R&B ballad whose lyrics describe the persona's desire to be rich in love, simultaneously comparing her lover with luxuries. The song also features Stefani's then husband Gavin Rossdale who opens the song in French. The song was released as the album's fifth single in October 2005 along with a remix featuring rapper Slim Thug. A music video was also released which featured Slim Thug, as well as the Harajuku Girls. The track received mixed reviews from critics, who generally found it less impressive than the previous singles. It charted within the top 40 in several countries, but had mediocre success overall and was less popular than the previous singles from Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

Stefani had an emotional breakdown from difficulties collaborating with many other artists and songwriters, so No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal invited her to his house. Kanal had been working on a track, which later became "Crash", the sixth single from the album. However, the two were unable to write anything following that, because they had differing ideas of how the music should sound. The two experimented with combining various melodies and including what Stefani referred to as "this really kinda fast rappy part". After Stefani and Kanal finished writing "Luxurious", they visited record producer Nellee Hooper, who suggested a sample of the Isley Brothers' 1983 song "Between the Sheets". The song had previously been sampled in several songs such as Da Brat's "Funkdafied", Jim Jones' "Summer wit Miami", Keith Murray's "The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World", The Notorious B. I. G.'s "Big Poppa", and Whitney Houston's "One of Those Days". Stefani was reluctant to use the sample because it would mean losing some of the publishing rights to the song. Nevertheless, she decided to use it because "it sounded so amazing and meant to be". It is written in common time in the key of A minor. The song uses a descending i vii VI V chord progression. The lyrics of the song include descriptions of wealth and riches, what one reviewer called "a world of Egyptian cotton, cashmere, tuberoses, and, of course, diamonds". Stefani stated that "[the] song really is more about a love relationship. If you really listen to the lyrics, it has nothing to do with money or luxury. It has to do with love, being rich in love. I just wanted to think of a clever way to express how you have to work really hard for the rewards of that." The song begins with Stefani's then husband Gavin Rossdale speaking in French PopMatters' Jason Damas found the track uninteresting and stated that Rossdale's appearance "sounds like a blinged out Saint Etienne". Alex Lai from Contactmusic. com called Stefani's performance "as seductive as ever, and the production extremely polished, but it lacks the infectiousness of her other releases"; he found Slim Thug's remix unnecessary and viewed the single's release as "a money spinning exercise". Laura Heaps from MyVillage agreed, stating that the single "just doesn't stand out" and that Stefani "doesn't do hip hop as well as she does quirky pop", Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine called the lyrics "surprisingly sharp"; Nick Sylvester of Pitchfork Media disagreed, dubbing the song a "soulless Nellee Hooper 90s R&B vanity affair" and a "zombied buy LAMB clothing mantra". In August 2013, Complex magazine placed "Luxurious" at number 19 on its list of "The Best R&B Songs by White Singers in the 2000s".

In the United States, "Luxurious" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 80 on the issue dated November 5, 2005. It failed to reach the top 20, peaking at number 21 five weeks later, and remained on the chart for 20 weeks. It received very little promotion in the UK and continued the trend of Stefani's lower charting singles since "Hollaback Girl" when it debuted at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks on the chart. Stefani had generally developed music video concepts while writing the song, but since she had not expected "Luxurious" to become a single, she had not given much thought to a music video for the song. The image she had for her persona was a high school girl named Mercedes, who she described as "very inspiring": It peaked at number seven and left the countdown after only five days. After its October 21 debut on MuchMusic's Countdown, it peaked nine weeks later at number 11, remaining on the chart for 13 weeks. The video was featured on an episode of MuchMusic's Video on Trial, where the reviewers found it a superficial attempt to market to various races.

+ Release dates and formats for "Luxurious" Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref. (Reference) United States October 11, 2005 Contemporary hit radio Interscope Australia December 5, 2005 CD Universal Music Australia United Kingdom Interscope