Gwen Stefani's new song 'Slow Clap' snaps back to sassy Rock Steady vibes

A round of applause for the Orange County Girl is in order.

Gwen Stefani has dropped the infectious earworm "Slow Clap" as the second single from her upcoming album, and it's a bright, sassy fusion of classic No Doubt vibes with a fresh sonic direction set forth by her 2020 tune "Let Me Reintroduce Myself."

The song plays as a celebration of Stefani's maverick attitude when it comes to love and art, with sun-kissed, reggae-influenced strings and snappy hip-hop bass staging Stefani's quippy, playful verses about going from "underdog to the top of the world."

"I'll be David, you Goliath, set the rule and I'll defy it," she sings, before an early bridge harkens back to the echoey melody of her Rock Steady album's titular track. Stefani then roars back into the chorus with a fierce and fun proclamation: "Let me hear you get loud like surround sound. Clap clap, walk into the room like a boss. Slow clap, putting on a little extra sauce."

Stefani co-wrote "Slow Clap" with Ross Golan and songwriter Luke Niccoli, who also helped the three-time Grammy winner bring "Let Me Reintroduce Myself" to life last year.

Though Stefani has released three holiday singles (and a trio of duets with fiancé Blake Shelton, including the Platinum-certified top 40 hit "Nobody But You" in 2020) since 2017, prior to "Let Me Reintroduce Myself," she hadn't dropped a solo pop track since "Misery" from her 2016 LP This Is What the Truth Feels Like.

"I'm not trying to force myself on anyone, and I'm not trying to have a comeback," Stefani recently told EW of her new approach to music. "I'm simply going to do some music without feeling defensive about it. Whoever likes me can listen. If you don't like it, you can actually say you don't like it! I don't care. I just want to put music out."

Listen to "Slow Clap" above.

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• Gwen Stefani on her new single, returning to her reggae and ska roots, and the legacy of Tragic Kingdom
• Gwen Stefani sings 'bananas' again on new song 'Let Me Reintroduce Myself'