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Nov 15, 2024Whilst still channelling her pop song writing tendencies, there is a distinct sense of emotional depth at the heart of ‘Bouquet’, which feels as though it finds Gwen Stefani at the peak of her songwriting craft.
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Nov 20, 2024Bouquet is fine as a first country album – there’s a relaxed sheen over the whole thing, and she sounds great as ever – it’s just disappointing for what we know Stefani to be capable of.
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Nov 15, 2024Stefani’s glide toward her garden of contentment is enjoyable enough, if a bit bland when inhaled all at once.
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Dec 2, 2024Bouquet is as odd as boring gets—an album inspired by her real life that nonetheless comes off as lifeless.
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Dec 4, 2024For the most part, however, Bouquet is a hollow shell of the artistry that Stefani once displayed at every turn. As basic, personality-free country-rock records go, Bouquet is perfectly serviceable.
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Nov 15, 2024Even more surprising is how middle-of-the-road the arrangements on Bouquet are. Stefani has said the album was inspired by the ’70s-era yacht rock she grew up listening to in the family station wagon, but the music here is about as unironic as her views on marriage.
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Nov 25, 2024The faults of Bouquet lie not in the genre lane-switch, but in the artist’s seeming disdain for her own talent, which by-and-large goes unutilised here in favour of an exceptionally flavourless, dirt-road bland, pop country excursion.
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Nov 15, 2024There’s nothing outright bad on Bouquet, but it’s more that it’s all so insipid and safe. Love and marriage are to be celebrated of course, but on this evidence they don’t make for the world’s most exciting music.