Is there another mainstream pop star who flits between lights-on likeability and pouty-lipped empty vesseldom as dramatically or frequently as Gwen Stefani? In the three years since abandoning the MTV rock ghetto she inhabited with No Doubt, and her subsequent self-reinvention as a certifiable pop celeb and fashionplate mogul, she's been doing wind sprints between these two incompatible personae.

樂壇里是否還有像Gwen Stefani那樣的主流流行歌星，能在聚光下頻繁做出標(biāo)志性的噘嘴動(dòng)作，美麗與戲劇荒誕的化身？在離開她在“No Doubt”樂隊(duì)時(shí)所在的MTV搖滾區(qū)，以及隨后她作為一個(gè)公認(rèn)的流行歌星和時(shí)尚大亨，在自我重塑之后的三年里，她一直在這兩個(gè)互不相容的角色之間風(fēng)馳電掣。

?Nonetheless, since going solo with 2004's patchy but single-rich Love.Angel.Music.Baby., Stefani's remained above the fray of the ongoing clusterfuck between commerce and art-- and she's done it by brand-building in both the abstract sense (via her quest for pop cultural memes) and in the more traditional sense (with her clothing line L.A.M.B. scoring bonus cross-promotional hits with every in-song mention).

盡管如此，自2004年歌曲質(zhì)量參差不齊?但單曲熱度爆棚的首專起，雞瘟就不去關(guān)注商業(yè)和藝術(shù)之間不斷碰撞的影響，她通過抽象意義上的品牌建設(shè)（通過她對(duì)流行文化模因的探索）和更傳統(tǒng)意義上的品牌建設(shè)（通過在歌中提及她的服裝系列L.A.M.B.，每一首歌都會(huì)獲得額外的點(diǎn)擊率）。

Of course, Stefani also deserves credit for her gutsy musical choices. The spazzy, overcaffeinated electro of past singles like "What You Waiting For?" and the sparse drumline squibbles of "Hollaback Girl" suggest she's not content to merely rack up hits; she also wants her game to be the freshest around.

當(dāng)然，Gwen Stefani在音樂上勇敢的選擇也值得稱贊。像“What You Waiting For”這樣怪誕，令人high爆的電音?和《Hollaback Girl》中稀疏的鼓點(diǎn)皆暗示著?她不僅僅滿足于追求點(diǎn)擊率；她還希望自己的事業(yè)是最新鮮的。

That's a desirable instinct in a pop star, and despite her predilection for hijacking what feels like every single empty space on The Sweet Escape to play her own hypegirl ("How sick is this?" she beams in the intro to "Breakin' Up",)

對(duì)于一個(gè)流行歌星來說，這是一種令人向往的本能，盡管她喜歡在二專中的每一空白處見縫插針的展現(xiàn)雞瘟式的大肆炒作（“How sick is this？”她在“Breakin' Up”的前奏中唱道）

?minutes before declaring "Don't Get It Twisted" "the most craziest shit ever"), her single-minded interest in smuggling the weirdest sounds onto TRL results in some of The Sweet Escape's finest moments.

幾分鐘后，她宣布“Dont get it twisted”“The most crazist shit ever”)她執(zhí)意地把這最奇怪的聲音偷偷的加到TRL上,成就了《The Sweet Escape》最佳時(shí)刻。

Case in point: Lead single "Wind It Up", which wraps a "Lonely Goatherd" yodel sample from Stefani's beloved The Sound of Music around a wriggly Neptunes beat. As mainstream singles go, it's an absurd-sounding concoction that skates perilously close to the edge of utter ridiculousness, but something about the sheer nerviness of the idea ultimately sees it through.

例如：首單《Wind It Up》在雞瘟鐘愛的電影《Sound Of Music》中采樣了《The?lonely Goatherd》的尤德爾歌曲，歌曲《Wind It Up》的旋律圍繞著一個(gè)令人舞動(dòng)的The?Neptune式的節(jié)拍展開。作為主打單曲，聽起來像荒謬的混合物，觸手可及到完全荒謬的境地，但單曲中前衛(wèi)的極具彈性的想法終看穿了它。

?If I had to guess at a single from this year that eventually ingratiated itself to the highest number of first-time haters, this would probably be it, and in Stefani's world, that's like the Holy Grail. Unlike most pop singers, Stefani aims to win you over with oddity. (There's a reason Alice in Wonderland was her last album's most recurrant theme.)

如果硬要猜測(cè)今年哪一首單曲有最多的黑轉(zhuǎn)粉，這可能就是它，在雞瘟的世界里，這就像圣杯。不像大多數(shù)流行歌手，雞瘟的目標(biāo)是用怪誕來贏得你的芳心。（這也是首專中的愛麗絲夢(mèng)游仙境主題反復(fù)出現(xiàn)的原因）

It's a high-risk, high-reward strategy, but most of The Sweet Escape's other gonzo pop songs yield some degree of payout. "Now That You Got It" surfs on a loping hip-hop beat and a staccato piano sample while Stefani splits wailing time with a chorus of alarms.

這是一種高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)高回報(bào)的戰(zhàn)略，但二專中其他怪誕的流行歌曲可以帶來一定程度的回報(bào)。"Now That You Got It" 以一種輕快的嘻哈節(jié)奏和斷奏的節(jié)奏登場(chǎng)，而雞瘟則用放大的警報(bào)聲來分割哭聲。

The Neptunes-produced "Yummy" earns Best Song status by moving from a skeletal rhythmic backbone and resounding "Milkshake"-pinching triangle hit into a spiralling melody line that sounds like a Sherman Brothers outtake.

由The Neptunes制作的"Yummy"在我們看來是本專的最佳歌曲，"Yummy"以梗概的強(qiáng)節(jié)奏支撐歌曲，將響亮的"Milkshake"（如三角形般擠壓的熱單）轉(zhuǎn)變成一條螺旋上升的旋律線，這也聽起來像The Sherman Brothers的棄曲。

Also, "Don't Get It Twisted" sounds like reggaeton-polka.

還有?"Don't Get It Twisted"聽起來像雷佳頓-波爾卡舞曲

Thing is, it takes real time to wring genius out of the obscure and unseemly, and time is not a luxury that Stefani the entrepreneur affords herself. As such, most of The Sweet Escape's problems arise as a result of her schedule-dicated slog back towards middle ground.

問題是，從默默無聞與難以發(fā)掘的普通人中尋找出天才很是費(fèi)時(shí)間，而時(shí)間不是雞瘟（專輯的創(chuàng)造者）可以負(fù)擔(dān)的奢飾品，例如，這張專輯的大多數(shù)問題產(chǎn)生于?她按照緊張固定的時(shí)間表?艱難地做出了張中規(guī)中矩的專輯。

With the exception of the spazzy, Akon-produced doo-wop track "The Sweet Escape" and the Keane-penned "Early Winter"

但Akon制作的杜沃普搖滾樂歌曲"The Sweet Escape" 和Keane樂隊(duì)寫的歌曲"Early Winter"是例外。

-- which proves that Stefani still has the ability to elevate an otherwise ordinary rock song to another level-- everything else here has the vague whiff of tossed-off album fattener.

兩首單曲都證明了雞瘟依然有能力將普通的搖滾樂提升至更高的境界。而專輯的其他歌曲隱隱約約感覺是上張專輯留下的爛東西。

The unofficial sequel to "What You Waiting For?", "Orange County Girl" boasts another self-writing lyric ("Don't know what I'm doing back in the studio/ Getting greedy cause he said he had another sick flow/ So I had to hollaback cause I didn't get enough/ Still feel the Wonderland, Alice and the tick tock")

非官方的"What You Waiting For?"續(xù)集歌曲, "Orange County Girl" 中自吹自擂的歌詞又對(duì)應(yīng)了另一首也是雞瘟自己寫的歌曲的歌詞?(對(duì)照："Don't know what I'm doing back in the studio/ Getting greedy cause he said he had another sick flow/ So I had to hollaback cause I didn't get enough/ Still feel the Wonderland, Alice and the tick tock")

that, in a Charle Kaufman-aping stylee, mistakes meta for content. Elsewhere, "4 in the Morning" and "U Started It" exhume the ghosts of S Club and Debbie Gibson respectively, in turn destroying the mallpop cred that Stefani accrued with L.A.M.B.'s impeccable "Cool".

歌曲"Orange County Girl" 一種?Charle Kaufman-aping的風(fēng)格，將原先模仿歌曲的精髓用錯(cuò)了地方。其他單曲4 in the Morning"和?"U Started It" 皆分別挖掘了S Club 和Debbie Gibson的靈魂，進(jìn)而摧毀了?雞瘟在完美毫無瑕疵的單曲Cool上積累大街小巷的好感.

By now you get the point. One step forward, three steps sideways, one step back, The Sweet Escape continues in Stefani's proud tradition of being caught somewhere between the vanguard and the insipid. Considering this is the same person who once rolled out "Hollaback Girl" and the Harajuku girls in one fell swoop, it's not the least bit surprising, but the pockets of brilliance here are compelling enough to warrant holding out hope that Stefani's best as a boundary-pushing pop singer still lies ahead.

到這里你就差不多懂了吧，向前走一步，靠邊走三步，向后退一步。二專延續(xù)了雞瘟引以為豪的在前衛(wèi)先鋒與無趣乏味并存的傳統(tǒng)。考慮到雞瘟是可以同時(shí)發(fā)行出?"Hollaback Girl" 和Harajuku girls 的女人，這一點(diǎn)都不奇怪，這不是一點(diǎn)驚喜都沒有，但同時(shí)期待雞瘟最好的一面，作為一個(gè)前衛(wèi)先鋒的歌手繼續(xù)前行，取得輝煌的成就。

網(wǎng)易云音樂專欄：2020.2.12

Bilibili：2020.2.13

翻譯人：網(wǎng)易云網(wǎng)友@Jaychen-_2020 和我【GwenStefaniLOVE】