by Mimi Madeline

Created on: March 11, 2008

I personally love Gwen Stefani. I think she has been so unique in the music industry, ever since the early nineties when she was the lead singer of No Doubt. I think there are similarities between her and Madonna, but neither of them would thrive to be like anyone else. Gwen went through different stages just like Madonna. Her taste in fashion changed, her hair went bleach-blond to pink and back, she started her own fashion line, and even adopted four Japanese girls.

The Harajuku Girls definitely caught attention. She named them, wrote a song about them, used the acronym L.A.M.B. for her clothing line, gave them their own clothing line; Harajuku Lovers, put them in her videos, made dolls after them, etc. Love, Angel, Music, Baby was even the title of her first solo album so they must have been a huge inspiration.

Madonna and Gwen both inserted fashion into their lyrics. Madonna had Vogue, Gwen had Rich Girl with Eve, a sort of remake from the song in Fiddler on the Roof.

Recently, both women have been branching out to duet with other popular artists. Gwen joined forces with Pharrell and Akon in 2006 and Madonna very recently worked with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. This shows their diversity and may help increase their fan-bases even more. Being able to have different sounds within one album is rather rare.

Gwen got married and had a baby and hasn't lost her sanity. Madonna is nearing fifty and doesn't look a day over thirty. These are traits of a couple of women who have a lot going on, whether they know it or not.

While Madonna had the song Like a Virgin, Gwen has songs like Wind it Up which are purely sex appeal but in a cute way only Gwen can sell.

Madonna was always pushing the limits, causing controversy, and making issues heard. She carried a stage presence no one else had at that time. While she was a non-conformist, Gwen was also a feminist, putting her band on the map in '95 with Just a Girl.

Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. I think we should all keep an eye out in the next 5-10 years to see if the same thing happens to Gwen; when these coincidences start to seem like more than just that.

Madonna's craze was twenty years ago and Gwen's craze is very current considering just last summer everyone was singing "Wooohoo! Yeeehoo!" to The Sweet Escape. Yet, when you're as popular as Madonna there's no telling what she'll come up with to top that.

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