Up until now, I always thought that Gwen Stefani had it pretty easy. I mean, how hard is it to sample The Sound Of Music, or to co-opt Japanese Harajuku style, or to print "L.A.M.B." on the back of some sweatpants and sell them for $50, or to dress like Jean Harlow trapped a technicolor nightmare? Not that hard, right?
But until I watched Stefani's recent HP commercial, I never took into account the incredible, infinite, weighty burden that Gwen Stefani shoulders in order to make those things happen: Creativity. And, contrary to what you might think, you can't just flip ideas for your new fragrance, or thoughts for new color schemes for your line of $71 white girl rasta hats, on and off like some giant light switch that illuminates sheer stupidity.
See, Stefani's creativity is there, all the time, gnawing just beneath the surface like a dull pain telling her, "Yeah. Wear a tank top with your son's name on it in an idiotic HP commercial. That's a good idea."
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Show, don't tell, Gwen.
This commercial would be more accurate if, instead of soft photographs floating in a mysterious breeze, Gwen Stefani's ideas were depicted as a trail of daggers in the shape of dollar signs aimed directly at our eyes.