Although no one should really be all that surprised at this point by Gwen Stefani’s ability to not quite grasp the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation, they still are. But probably not as surprised as Stefani continues to be when she’s accused of it. Case in point, her latest video for a remix of a single called “Slow Clap.” Enlisting the presence of Saweetie to help bolster the track (and “legitimize” the visuals), Gwen is back in the confines of a gymnasium where that “Hollaback Girl” foot-stomping vibe can be recreated. Alas, the only thing that the internet (and sheer objectivity) believes Gwen has actually recreated is her longstanding affinity for “grafting” elements of other cultures.
The assault happens from the moment the video, directed by Stefani go-to Sophie Muller, commences. Gwen, adopting a look that we know she thought to herself screamed, “Ghetto girl” (because she’s still allowed to say “ghetto” in her mind) is wearing giant gold hoop earrings, “hip hop-inspired” gym wear and flashing an over-the-top set of acrylic nails. In the same opening seconds, we see that Gwen is the only white chick around, seeming to wield Black folk as “just the extras” in her landscape. And, of course, because they’re Black, they should be Double Dutching and playing basketball, right? Watching all this unfold solely because “Slow Clap” is supposed to be a “gym anthem” in the spirit of “Hollaback Girl,” we desperately wish that only Toni Basil could have the monopoly on such things.
“Are you rooting for me, like I’m rooting for you?” Gwen asks at one point while she continues to showcase Black backup dancers employing the moves she can’t quite “carry off” herself (leave it to the “young’uns,” one can picture her telling Muller). While some have also been prone to making the ageist remark that Gwen, “at her age,” has no business continuing to attempt promoting the “youthful” image connoted by hanging out in a school gym, that isn’t the real issue here (it lacks originality, sure, but it’s not like famous male musicians in their fifties haven’t appeared in more incongruous situations). It’s the fact that Gwen, after all this time and so many faux pas regarding cultural appropriation under her belt, still hasn’t learned. Still hasn’t seemed to gain any insight into why wearing a bindi, treating a quartet of Japanese women like her pets designed to help product promotion or dressing up for a video that promotes the “cowboys vs. Native Americans” stereotype is, well, patently wrong.
Some might argue that the appropriation in “Slow Clap” is “subtler.” Well, sure, compared to all the other abovementioned grandiose forms she’s participated in. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still, you guessed it, appropriation. The other argument is that if it’s “true” appropriation, then why would Saweetie and other people of color get involved? Bitch, are you gonna say no to money and exposure? Of course not. This is America—pimping yourself out at any price is the name of the game. Who has time to argue about their principles when Stefani is offering up the check? Perhaps part of the reason Saweetie shrugs, “I ain’t no hollaback bitch/Now I got it, I ain’t gotta act rich.”
Saweetie marks the second singer of late, following Dua Lipa (who interpolated Gwen into her Club Future Nostalgia version of “Hallucinate”) to express a reverence for “the meaning” of “Hollaback Girl” to them, which is what “Slow Clap” is intended to harken back to. Alas, if one recalls the video for that as well, Gwen also finds herself in a similarly appropriative setting (complete with the intro that features her taking a picture of “her” four Harajuku girls and shouting, “Super kawaii!”). The difference is that the year was 2004—peak conservative Bush time—and a pop singer could get away with just about anything offensive short of releasing something that didn’t chart well. We’re supposed to have come farther than this by now. And yet, Gwen staunchly refuses to receive the memo. Even when her “message” is met with crickets, she is determined to brush it off with, “I’m throwin’ a Hail Mary to no one else/That’s why I’m cheerin’ for myself.”
That’s not the only fitting lyric of “Slow Clap” to her entire mindset. “I don’t wanna go to the back of the line/No, I put in my time,” Stefani sings at one point, in a moment that echoes her 2003 duet with Eve, “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” during which she declares, “It took a while to get me here/And I’m gonna take my time.” In other words, Gwen seems to feel she’s earned the right to do “whatever” because apparently it was a slow crawl to the top.
What she doesn’t account for is that, in order to stay there, some level of evolution and understanding of “the marketplace” needs to occur. All we’re seeing is Stefani’s reliance on old tricks that no one (save for unblinking blancos) was ever really that convinced of in the first place. But Gwen will likely continue about her business, shrugging, “You be angry/I’ll be quiet.” It’s worked well enough for her career so far.
