Push and Shove

Background and development

No Doubt released their fifth studio album, Rock Steady, in December 2001. The album sold three million copies and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In April 2003, No Doubt went into hiatus to take a break to spend time with their families before starting to compile Everything in Time; The Singles 1992–2003, a greatest hits album featuring songs from their previous studio albums; and Boom Box, a box set compiling The Singles 1992–2003, Everything in Time, The Videos 1992–2003 and Live in the Tragic Kingdom, which would all be released on the same date. The main reason to go into hiatus was that in early 2003, lead singer Gwen Stefani started work on her 1980s-inspired new wave/dance-pop music side project, under which she released two solo albums: Love. Angel. Music. Baby. on November 22, 2004 and The Sweet Escape on December 4, 2006.

While Stefani was promoting The Sweet Escape, the other band members began initial work on a new album without her and planned to complete it after Stefani finished her The Sweet Escape Tour. Stefani revealed in March 2008 that the songwriting process for the album had begun, but was being done relatively slow on her end because she was, at the time, pregnant with her second child. The band's manager Jim Guerinot announced that the album would be produced by Mark "Spike" Stent, who helped produce and mix Rock Steady. However, the sessions stalled as the band suffered from writer's block, and they decided to return to touring. Through their website, No Doubt announced their 2009 Summer Tour with opening acts Paramore, The Sounds, Janelle Monáe, Bedouin Soundclash, Katy Perry, Panic! at the Disco, and Matt Costa, all while finishing their upcoming album, which was set for release in 2010. As a special promotion for the tour, the band was giving away their entire music catalog as a free digital download with purchase of top tier seating.

Recording

When the band finally began to slowly write songs, it became anxious to start recording them. The group entered the studio in May 2010 to begin recording Push and Shove, and Stefani stated publicly that she wanted to complete the project by the end of the year. On January 4, 2011, Tom Dumont posted on the band's official website that they had spent most of 2010 writing and making demos, and that the "real" recording sessions had begun that same day. The band's process was very informal, with Stefani jokingly describing it as "a series of accidents and mistakes."

Release and promotion

No Doubt announced on May 4, 2012 that their then-untitled sixth studio would be released on September 25, 2012. A month later, the band announced the album's title to be Push and Shove. "Push and Shove" was released as a promotional single for the album on August 29, 2012. A limited edition of 2500 (individually numbered) Speaker Box Sets and a Deluxe Edition were also released at the same time. The Deluxe edition contained four additional tracks and a hardbound 24 page booklet which includes information on the birth of the concept for the Settle Down video as well as Lance Slaton's concept artwork for the video. The Speaker Box set contained three bonus tracks for a total of fourteen tracks along with a slew of other items in a "hand assembled" working audio speaker box with a standard mini-jack connection. The items included were a custom 4GB flash drive containing album audio in .wav and .mp3 formats with digital booklet, the hardbound 24 page booklet with CD, a pearlized guitar pick featuring black foil stamping including facsimile printed band signatures, commemorative laminate with printed lanyard (collector's item - no backstage access), a fold-out poster, accordion fold 5 postcard set, vinyl sticker all in a custom-cut charcoal foam contents tray.

The cover artwork for the album was created by graffiti artist Miles "Mac" MacGregor ("El Mac") based on a photo shoot he had taken of the band.

Singles

"Settle Down", the album's lead single, debuted on July 16, 2012. The music video, which was shot over the week of June 11, 2012, was directed by Sophie Muller, who had previously directed many of No Doubt's music videos including "Don't Speak" and "Underneath It All". They released a behind-the-scenes video of the set of "Settle Down" on June 30, 2012. No Doubt performed the song live for the first time during the 2012 Teen Choice Awards on July 22. Following this, they also performed the song on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on July 26 and on Good Morning America on July 27.

"Looking Hot" was released as the official second single from Push and Shove. The song was sent to contemporary hit radio in the United States on November 6, 2012. The band performed the song on The X Factor UK on November 4, 2012. One day after the premiere of the "Looking Hot" official music video, No Doubt announced on their website on November 3 that they had decided to pull down the video due to its possible offensive nature to Native Americans, despite their efforts to include expert input on Native American culture.

Critical response

Push and Shove has received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 61, based on 23 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic compared it favorably to Stefani's solo albums, stating, "[T]hat's the interesting thing about Push and Shove, for as much as there are clever contemporary flourishes [...] this is a modest, mature comeback, highlighted by the band's keen awareness of their strengths and subtle, unstated acknowledgment of encroaching middle age." Entertainment Weekly's Melissa Maerz commented that on Push and Shove, Stefani "pogos as hard as she did in her Anaheim-strip-mall ska days. But she's also just as neurotic, which adds depth to her love songs." In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood opined, "At its best, Push and Shove channels some of the infectiously restless energy of Rock Steady [...] And it further polishes a bold mix-and-match aesthetic that feels familiar today in part because of records such as Tragic Kingdom."

Sarah Grant of Consequence of Sound stated that "there is plenty to enjoy as you push and shove right to end of the album", and noted that "Push proves that country is another possibility for the band that's never cowered from a genre risk". Theon Weber of Spin concluded, "This isn't a great album, but it is a good one, in a year quietly blessed with a small crop of good records (Metric, Gossip) with dreamy synths and girls up front. It's also—in its confidence, its playfulness, and the slightly stoned degree to which it is relaxed—No Doubt's most accomplished party." Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani wrote, "By and large, the more interesting tracks are stacked on the front end of Push and Shove, and the songs on the second half of the album are comparably safer, blurring together upon first listen." Ryan Reed of Paste claimed that "No Doubt has always been more than a platform for a gifted frontwoman, a fact Push and Shove seems to forget at times, downplaying the band's fluid chemistry in favor of soaring hooks and 'cranked to 11' dynamics", adding that the album is "still a welcome return, even if it's a tad exhausting."

In a mixed review, Helen Brown of The Daily Telegraph viewed that "too much of the record sounds like generic, Katy Perry-esque power-pop." The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan felt that "this record simply takes up where 2001's Rock Steady left off", but ultimately stated, "As a comeback, this is nice work." The Independent's Andy Gill commented that the album finds No Doubt "making only the most tentative divergences from previously tried and tested strategies, which gives Push and Shove a character that could be described as either dated or timeless", while noting that "the title-track offers a fun, ebullient return to their ska-punk roots". Rolling Stone critic Jody Rosen expressed that "[t]he songs are catchy, but Gwen Stefani doesn't have the voice, or the gravitas, for grandiose tunes. And do we really want a 'mature' No Doubt record, anyway?" Maria Schurr of PopMatters panned the lyrics as "abysmally bad" and remarked, "After 'One More Summer'—which has a gigantic chorus perfectly suited for Wet Seal's speakers—and the inconsistent but decent title song, the album becomes so filler-centric that even the tracks' titles [...] are interchangeable." Joseph Viney of Sputnikmusic critiqued that "[t]he very elements that made No Doubt popular in the first place have disappeared."

Commercial performance

Push and Shove debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 115,000 copies in its first week. The album debuted at number sixteen on the UK Albums Chart, selling 6,635 copies. In Canada, the album entered the Canadian Albums Chart at number five with first-week sales of 8,000 copies.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Push and Shove.

Personnel

Credits for Push and Shove adapted from deluxe edition liner notes.