Music Review: No Doubt "Looking Hot"

No Doubt

Looking Hot

Album: Push and Shove

Year: 2012

           Gwen Stefani puts all her energy into her appearance in the limited  “Looking Hot.”

             Confused synths open the single but any thinking is drowned out by now thundering synths, setting a witless tone. She checks the right side of the street. It’s clear. She turns her head to left to see other side and she notices a guy checking out. She lifts up her shoulder a bit and flips her hair. She holds it for about ten extra seconds or so to give him a view of her neck. She choose her outfit really carefully in the morning. Cutoff shorts, to show off her lean, long legs and a camisole. A little more skin, the better. She knows she’s attractive and looks for any opportunity to emphasize it. (“Go ahead and look at me/Cause that’s what I want/Take a good look won’t you please/Cause that’s what I want/I know you wanna stare/You can’t help it and I don’t care/So look at me/Cause that’s what I want.”)

            In the pre-chorus, she is constantly asking her friends and sister if her outfits will catch a guy’s eye. (“Do you think I’m looking hot?/Do you think this hits the spot?/How is this looking on me, looking on me?/Do you think I’m looking hot?/Do you think this hits the spot?/How is this looking on me, looking on me?”)

         In the chorus, she sees a guy look her way and poses for him, hoping he’ll take a photo and post it on his Facebook page. If ten guys think she’s sexy, then she knows it to be true. (“Go ahead and stare/And take a picture please, if you need, yeah/I think that says it all.”)

           She doesn’t know how she got started. Maybe in middle school when she began experimenting with makeup and guys started talking to her? She is always poring through fashion magazines and spending most of her shopping hours at the makeup counter. She doesn’t necessarily want a relationship and sometimes the guys end up scaring her some. (“I’m chasing it and I don’t know why/I think about it a lot/Better hurry, running out of time/I think about it a lot/I can’t tell anymore/I don’t know what I’m looking for/You know what I mean/I think about it a lot.”)

           The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

            In the bridge, she feels horrible today. However, she plastered every bit of makeups she has. A guy tells her how beautiful she is. However, he doesn’t know that last night she was throwing up and was finally able to get out of bed in the morning. She has given the impression that she’s put together even though she doesn’t feel it. She doubts he would actually figure it out. (“Running on empty/But I have had plenty/You’re complimentary but I’m just pretending/Uniform, hide behind/This is my diversion/Go ahead and start at my ragamuffin/Feel it, so fake it/I dare that you take it/One eye in the mirror/Put on my venera/Could have sworn/It’s a sure shot/Are you under my convoy/Go ahead and stare at my ragamuffin.”)

           The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

           The pre-chorus is sung again to end the single.

          Stefani’s self-important vocals study her cosmetics as though she were going to take an exam on it the next day. She values men’s approval and has bought into everything her magazines have told her. It is something she would know and not be so puzzled by if she displayed any intellectual curiousity ayt all.

        The oblivious “Looking Hot” should really know better.