Gwen Stefani Declares “I’m Japanese” in Controversial Interview
Gwen Stefani is the center of attention nowadays, and it is not for her music or her beauty brand GXVE but for a statement she made in an interview.
It was an interview with Allure magazine about her beauty brand. When the topic of her first beauty line, “Harajuku Lovers,” came up, Stefani was asked how she felt about the era.
If you are not aware, Harajuku Lovers was Stefani’s original beauty brand that she released four years after her first solo album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby.
Stefani recalled that her fragrance was inspired by Japan’s Harajuku culture, received a lot of backlash, and was termed a case of cultural appropriation. She further stated that her father worked for Yamaha and frequently traveled to Japan. He told her stories about the far-off land, which intrigued her and piqued her interest.
Referring to the influence of her father’s stories on her, Gwen said, “That was my Japanese influence, and that was a culture that was so rich with tradition, yet so futuristic [with] so much attention to art and detail and discipline, and it was fascinating to me.”
And when she traveled to the country, she told the magazine, “I said, ‘My God, I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it.’” She further went on to say that she was a “superfan” of Japanese culture and that there was only “innocence” in her devotion to Harajuku culture.
“If [people are] going to criticize me for being a fan of something beautiful and sharing that, then I just think that doesn’t feel right,” Gwen continued. “I think it was a beautiful time of creativity… a time of the ping-pong match between Harajuku culture and American culture.”
“[It] should be okay to be inspired by other cultures because if we’re not allowed, then that’s dividing people, right?” she continued.
In the interview, Gwen calls herself Japanese twice. She further went on to say that she was a little bit of an Orange County girl, a little bit of a Japanese girl, and a little bit of an English girl.
She further continued, saying, “The music, the way the girls wore their makeup, the clothes they wore, that was my identity. Even though I’m an Italian American—Irish or whatever mutt that I am—that’s who I became because those were my people, right?”
Her claiming herself to be Japanese even after having an Italian American father and an Irish American mother did not sit right with netizens or with Allure reporter Jesa Marie Calaor.
She made a big statement by mentioning that she was an Asian woman living in America, and unlike Gwen, she had to accept both parts of being an Asian woman. She said, “I envy anyone who can claim to be part of this vibrant, creative community but avoid the part of the narrative that can be painful or scary.”
Calaor noted that a representative of Gwen called the next day and said that the singer has been misunderstood. However, Stefani declined to add any “on-the-record comment or clarification” about her initial remarks following the initial interview.
