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If the dance production on The Sweet Escape were better, these hipster affectations would be easier to forgive, but they're not: they're canned and bland, which only accentuates Stefani's stiffness.
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BillboardAll spun together it works well, and maybe even better than on the debut. [16 Dec 2006]
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BlenderStefani gets her groove back when she sticks to two essentials: sex and the Neptunes. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.88]
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There is barely a note here that did not require a degree of bravery and chutzpah.
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Ultimately, Stefani isn't convincing as a dissatisfied diva.
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The handful of [balalds] isn't enough, though, and vapid lyrics and cluttered beats on the rest of "The Sweet Escape" makes for musical heavy lifting.
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There's such effortlessness in the confident pop music making here you get the sense she could keep knocking out hits this way in her sleep.
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The trouble is that in the two years since Love Angel Music Baby she doesn't seem to have moved on or evolved at all.
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Identity is everything in pop, but the majority of this record serves only to bury what made Gwen Stefani unique in the first place.
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Even Linda Perry, Swizz Beatz, Nellee Hooper and the Neptunes have their share of duff tracks, and it appears that's all they had to offer when Stefani came calling.
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There is little here to delineate her above her far less interesting contemporaries, Fergie and Nelly Furtado, both of whom have presented fresher minted records this year.
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One step forward, three steps sideways, one step back, The Sweet Escape continues in Stefani's proud tradition of being caught somewhere between the vanguard and the insipid.
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This album oozes wackiness.
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Escape‘s songwriting is woefully thin.
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Few mainstream artists can hope to produce an album as wonderfully weird as The Sweet Escape.
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Q MagazineWhile The Sweet Escape is not as garishly over-the-top as its predecessor, Stefani maintains an admirably off-kilter sound, catchy yet electronically edgy. [Feb 2007, p.106]
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She's doing the same thing she did last time, except it's not as much fun.
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It's not that The Sweet Escape is an unwelcome diversion or that it comes too soon on the heels of Stefani's debut (it's been two full years), but it's starting to feel like No Doubt's future—you know, the one left in question after 2001's Rock Steady, the band's third consecutive creative zenith—is being squandered amidst all the solo stargazing.
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No one listens to Gwen Stefani to hear her rap. Or sing a sentimental power ballad. In fact, if there’s a Gwen song that can’t be described by putting two (or more) genres together, I’d suggest skipping it altogether.
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It's the kind of album that drifts through '80s poolside jams and breathy trunk-bump bangers in all the best ways.
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Pharrell Williams' production and Stefani's fizzy personality make for an unexpected Christmas treat.
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Much of “The Sweet Escape” sounds forced and secondhand; it’s one thing to emulate Madonna, another to be playing catchup with Fergie. [4 Dec 2006]
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UncutDelivers much of the same. [Feb 2007, p.86]
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VibeErratic. [Feb 2007, p.126]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 151 out of 211
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Mixed: 22 out of 211
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Negative: 38 out of 211
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Apr 3, 2020
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stephenvDec 13, 2006best songs: early winter, 4 in the morning, wonderful life and the sweet escape. worst song: breakin' up.
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Aug 18, 2018Gorgeous iconic album, I don't know why people on here have been so negative.