Gwen Stefani is being accused of cultural appropriation.
Like everything else that is being dug out of the grave these days, the singer and performer is facing questions for an era gone-by.
Nearly 15 years ago, when Stefani released her hit project – ‘Love.Angel.Music.Baby’, she also kickstarted her Harajuku Girls-era, always accompanying herself with four Japanese girls who worked as her backup dancers on tour.
Gwen took inspiration from the Harajuku district in Tokyo and incorporated a lot of the ‘look’ and ‘moves’ into her overall USP at that point.
15 years later, this is leading people to accuse her of ‘cultural appropriation.’
In a recent interview with Billboard, Stefani took the time out to address the new controversy:
“When it first came out, I think people understood that it was an artistic and literal bow down to a culture that I was a superfan of. This album was like a dream. I went in thinking I’m going to make something that could never be possible—me doing a dance record—come true … When the Harajuku Girls came out, it was like, you’re not even real, you’re a dream. It wasn’t like, ‘You’re not real because you’re Asian.’ Are you kidding me? That would be horrifying!”
She further added:
“My dad went there [Tokyo] a lot because he worked with Yamaha motorcycles, so I had a fascination from a young age. When I got there and saw how fashion-obsessed they were, I thought they were my people, because my style was so unique. I get a little defensive when people [call it culture appropriation], because if we didn’t allow each other to share our cultures, what would we be? You take pride in your culture and have traditions, and then you share them for new things to be created.”
Good point Gwen.
You can ready her full interview here.
What do you think?