Getty Gwen Stefani Celebrates "Tragic Kingdom" Anniversary
“The Voice” coaches and singers Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton celebrated their first wedding anniversary earlier this year, but Stefani celebrated another anniversary of her own this week.
The “Hollaback Girl” singer took to Instagram to mark the 27-year anniversary of the release of her band No Doubt’s third album, “Tragic Kingdom”.
“tragic kingdom dropped 27 years ago?! no way. thx for the reminder @tonykanal 💕 gx,” Stefani captioned the post.
Fans of the album, which includes the popular single “Don’t Speak”, celebrated along with Stefani in the comments. Read more about “Tragic Kingdom” and fan reaction to the album’s anniversary below.
Gwen Stefani on the Break-Up That Inspired ‘Don’t Speak’
Besides Gwen Stefani, No Doubt’s other members include guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Gwen’s brother, Eric Stefani, was a founding member of the band, but parted ways with the group before the “Tragic Kingdom” release, preferring the writing and recording process to going on tour and wishing to retain more creative control. Eric did, however, help work on “Tragic Kingdom” and its biggest hit, “Don’t Speak”.
According to The Independent, Gwen and Eric Stefani worked together on “Don’t Speak”, first writing it as a more uptempo love song, as Gwen was dating fellow No Doubt band member Tony Kanal. As time went on, the couple broke up, and the Stefani siblings took to rewriting the song. After multiple revisions, as well as notes from their producer, the song became the sadder version we know today.
Much of “Tragic Kingdom” focuses on Gwen and Tony’s split, People reports, and even now Stefani has a difficult time listening to the record without that old emotion returning.
“The whole purpose for the ‘Tragic Kingdom’ is the breakup, the heartbreak. There’s a lot of feelings,” the singer said, “‘Cause those songs were about a really sad time for me.”
Despite their split and the heartbreak Stefani feels, she and Kanal have been able to work together in No Doubt for years. Stefani also tagged her ex, thanking him for reminding her of the “Tragic Kingdom” anniversary when he shared the photo to his Instagram account.
Fans Are Calling for a No Doubt Reunion
Fans sent their love to Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal in the comments of their “Tragic Kingdom” anniversary Instagram posts.
“I was 9 years old 😢 and I still remember begging my dad to take me to tower records bro buy the CD,” one fan wrote on Stefani’s page.
“We need a new album. Been a fan since beacon street. Push and shove and shove was a hit. We need a reunion with new Gwen, Tony Tom, and Adrian,” another fan wrote on Tony’s page.
A lot of fans echoed this sentiment for a No Doubt reunion, saying they miss seeing the group together. Fans asked for a new album, a new tour, or both.
“WE NEED A REUNION,” one fan commented on Gwen’s post.
“Reunion tour, please!!!” echoed another fan on Tony’s page.
According to People, Stefani has spoken on this topic before with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, and has said “I have no idea what the future holds with that. You know what I mean? It’s impossible.”
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