Karen O says Jimmy Iovine hoped she’d be the next Gwen Stefani
nme.comKaren O has said that Jimmy Iovine hoped she’d become the next Gwen Stefani after Yeah Yeah Yeahs signed to Interscope Records.The New York trio released their first four studio albums through the major label – which was co-founded by Iovine in 1990 – beginning with their classic 2003 debut, ‘Fever To Tell’.Earlier this year, it was confirmed that YYYs had signed a new deal with Secretly Canadian.
The band will release the highly-anticipated ‘Cool It Down’ – their first record in nine years – tomorrow (September 30).In a recent interview with Vulture, frontwoman Karen O talked about how “the music industry couldn’t be more different now” compared to the early-to-mid-’00s. “It’s a matter of survival for a lot of labels, and rock is not really a priority for them anymore,” she said.“It actually felt like a fluke for our little crew of colleagues back in 2003 – it was such a flash in the pan as far as labels actually championing that and feeling like, ‘Wow, this could be the next Nirvana or something’.”The conversation then turned to O’s past concern about “Gwenomics”, a term she’s said to have used in relation to the No Doubt singer’s pivot into a solo pop career with ‘Love.
Angel. Music. Baby’ (2004).“I don’t remember saying ‘Gwenomics’, but maybe,” O responded.“It sounds like I could’ve come up with that term.
I assume that it probably had to do with this female-led pop-slash-rock mould that maybe they were trying to slot me into. Interscope had these really big prestige acts that were sort of off the cuff but still made it huge.”She continued: “Jimmy Iovine was hoping I would be the next Gwen.
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