翻譯搬運(yùn)自：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qxm1tSYIly4z-Q5VehjbxA

原文鏈接：https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/gwen-stefani-this-is-what-the-truth-feels-like

They say that great writers don’t wait around for inspiration—that they work on their craft daily: Ernest Hemmingway wrote every morning; Franz Kafka wrote in the evening; Maya Angelou rented a local hotel room and worked from 6:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., reviewing what she wrote each night and often discarding it. Gwen Stefani, who’s never been shy about her struggles with artistic motivation, seems to have turned that old axiom on its head. It took a high-profile gig on The Voice to impel her to finally resuscitate her dormant solo career, reuniting with producer Pharrell Williams, among others, for her first album in a decade, before scrapping the whole thing when her 13-year marriage to Gavin Rossdale disintegrated.

他們說，偉大的作家無需等待靈感到來 - 他們只是每天堅(jiān)持磨練自己的手藝：Ernest Hemmingway每天早晨都寫作；Franz Kafka則每晚寫作；Maya Angelou在住地旅館租了房子便于每天從早上6:30到下午2點(diǎn)回顧前一天晚上的作品，勤于刪減。從不羞于與藝術(shù)動(dòng)機(jī)抗?fàn)幍腉wen Stefani似乎顛覆了這條格言。她在The Voice演出期間高調(diào)宣布復(fù)出，重燃本已蟄伏的獨(dú)唱事業(yè)，和制作人Pharrell Williams重聚，并發(fā)行她10年來的首張專輯。而這一切發(fā)生前，她也結(jié)束了與Gavin Rossdale一起13年的婚姻。

That, it seems, was the inspiration Stefani was waiting for. Back in the ’90s, Stefani’s split with No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal was, famously, fodder for the band’s breakthrough Tragic Kingdom, and the unapologetically autobiographical This Is What the Truth Feels Like similarly wastes no time asserting its status as a breakup album. Lead single “Used to Love You” is as emotionally raw as the singer’s been since “Don’t Speak,” both vocally and lyrically, and pointed barbs presumably aimed at Rossdale are scattered throughout the album: “Thinking that nobody knows, but I got your number, I got your codes,” she quips on “Naughty,” suggestive of media reports that she found out about the former Bush frontman’s infidelity via the family iPad. While an artist converting personal tragedy into creative capital is hardly new, the nakedness with which Stefani assesses the ruins of her relationship is stark, especially compared to the self-proclaimed guilty pleasures of Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and The Sweet Escape.

不過這似乎正是她所等待的靈感。早在上世紀(jì)90年代，Stefani和No Doubt樂隊(duì)成員Tony Kanal和的‘著名’決裂，就曾作為素材成就了樂隊(duì)的突破性專輯“Tragic Kingdom”，而非常相似的，這張毫無歉意的自傳式“This Is What the Truth Feels Like”迫不及待自我標(biāo)榜為分手專輯。首單“Used to Love You”中未經(jīng)加工的情緒可與前期的“Don't Speak”比肩，在演唱及歌詞中隨處可見貌似指向Rossdale的內(nèi)容:“你總認(rèn)為沒人知道，但我有你的電話，也知道你的區(qū)號(hào),”她在“Naughty”中如此嘲弄到，暗指她在家用iPad讀到媒體報(bào)道Bush主唱的不忠。盡管將個(gè)人悲劇當(dāng)作創(chuàng)意資本已并不鮮見，Stefani在處理本歌中關(guān)系結(jié)束的坦白還是讓人咋舌，與前期“Love. Angel. Music. Baby.” 以及“The Sweet Escape”中自我標(biāo)榜的內(nèi)疚快感相比尤甚。

Much of the album is, however, about the discovery of new love. “You’re in so much trouble,” Stefani warns on the standout “Misery,” yet despite the implication of the song’s title, her target isn’t Rossdale, but a prospective lover. “They’re all gonna say I’m rebounding, so rebound all over me,” she sings on “Truth,” and playful puns aside, one instantly worries for the obviously vulnerable Stefani, ever the hopeless romantic, falling all over again. “I can love whoever I want/Say whatever I want/Do whatever I want,” she declares on “Me Without You,” capturing the sense of relief and possibility that can often line the dark clouds of a painful breakup.

這張專輯的大部分內(nèi)容卻是關(guān)于發(fā)現(xiàn)新愛?！澳懵闊┐罅恕盨tefani在“Misery”中警告道，雖然這首單曲充滿暗示意味，其目標(biāo)并不是Rossdale，而是某個(gè)未來的情人。“他們都說我在反彈，那么請(qǐng)彈到我身上吧，”她在“Truth”中唱到。俏皮的雙關(guān)語暫且不提，人們不禁立刻擔(dān)心起無疑已經(jīng)很脆弱的Stefani，這個(gè)曾經(jīng)無可救藥的浪漫主義者，再次在愛中跌倒?！拔铱梢詯畚蚁霅鄣?說我想說的/做我想做的，”她在“Me Without You”說道，“盡力捕捉一切可能的解脫和希望，試圖擺脫分手的陰影。

That track, along with most of the rest of the album’s back half, foolishly tries too hard to recapture the attitude and urban-leaning beats in abundance on Stefani’s first two albums. “Red Flag” is a cathartic, eccentric oddity that finds Stefani tempering her anger with irony, her cries morphing into laughter, but the dated “Asking 4 It,” featuring Fetty Wap, and bonus tracks like “Obsessed” are no more worthy of Stefani’s emotional exorcism than 2014’s stale “Start the Fire,” which was wisely left off the album. It’s easy to chastise aging pop stars for chasing trends or trying to recapture past glories, but those efforts here are thrown into sharp relief by the maturity of the album’s first half. Understated pop songs like the buoyant disco-rock “Make Me Like You” and the midtempo “Truth,” which, rather than blast off, chugs along unassumingly, give Stefani the sonic space necessary to mourn the loss of her partner and dream of her future with a new one.

這首歌，連同專輯后半部大部分歌曲，均近乎愚蠢而過度努力地企圖重溫前兩張專輯中所充斥的態(tài)度和城市化節(jié)拍?！癛ed Flag”是一支充滿宣泄和怪異的另類，Stefani在其中通過諷刺平息她的憤怒，她的吶喊變成了笑聲，但同為Stefani的情感驅(qū)魔咒，與Fetty Wap合作毫無新意的“Asking 4 It”以及專輯贈(zèng)曲“Obsessed”并未好于2014年的過時(shí)單曲“Start the Fire”，后者未被收錄于新磚可謂明智之舉。人們很容易指責(zé)過氣明星跟風(fēng)流行或者希望重回巔峰，但這種批評(píng)因?yàn)閷］嫵墒斓那鞍攵味眲【徑?。專輯中低調(diào)的流行歌曲， 無論是輕快disco-rock的“Make Me Like You”還是midtempo的“Truth”，平穩(wěn)自然流露且毫無激烈情緒，賦予Stefani足夠的聲音空間緬懷失去舊愛之痛，夢(mèng)想未來找到真愛。