Carpool Karaoke with Gwen Stefani

Everybody’s favorite skit from James Corden’s lively talk show recently showcased No Doubt’s front-lady, the queen of ska, Gwen Stefani for a special edition of Carpool Karaoke.

This raucous ride delivers more than you’d expect with surprises and laughs around every corner. It shifts straight into high gear with a sampling of a hit from the past, “Don’t Speak”, which Gwen sings with all her Diva glory… and James Corden isn’t so bad himself.

Soon after, James can’t help himself from asking Gwen the obvious; “How do you stay so young?!”, because heaven knows this woman hasn’t missed a step in either her voice, looks, nor funkiness. After some thought, Gwen actually shares her secret recipe for tapping into the fountain of youth.

Without missing a beat, we find ourselves singing along with Stefani’s massively successful track, “The Sweet Escape”. However, James quickly hits the pause button after he falls into the typical trap of singing garbled improv murmur. Something we are all guilty of when faced with cryptic lyrics found in songs like “The Sweet Escape”.

Luckily, Stefani attempts to debug the doo-wop, ska, diddly doo for Corden and kindly breaks down the lyrics at about fifty percent speed, while staying in-rhythm. Corden is then forced to enter college-exams-cram-mode, memorizing each and every lyric—and it pays off! They back it up and hit play, nailing every word together with perfect pitch. If Corden can do it, you can too…

Corden even makes Gwen imitate emojis, which she pulls off pretty well until she stumbles on the “eggplant” and makes a hilarious segue into the title of her new album, “This is What the Truth Feels Like”.

The Surprise

This particular episode of Carpool Karaoke wasn’t just special because James and Gwen had such a great time together, but halfway through there’s an even more satisfying twist. How can Corden turn an already amazing format with cutting edge musicians and sing-along bliss turn into something even better? Well, by adding more star power to the in-car concert, of course.

After getting stuck in rush hour traffic Corden decides they need to satisfy the 4-person carpool limit so they can jettison into the carpool lane. To do so he nonchalantly calls up his bff George, aka Mr. Clooney, to see if he can help them fill up the car. George is a friend indeed and goes on to help James find a 4th wheel by calling up his oscar winning pal, Julia Roberts.

NOW we have a karaoke band together that is worthy of calling the situation for what it is: BANANAS, which coincidentally comes up next on the playlist. George then takes the lead by demonstrating his command of the English language, with full-on Gwen Stefani mannerisms and tries to impress Gwen with his Wikipedia knowledge of “Hollaback Girl”. But like any true artist, Gwen leaves us guessing. Looks like we’ll never find out what was really in her head when she wrote those lyrics (aw).

The episode is everything we love about carpool karaoke. Just singing and chitchatting with friends and people who love being themselves, no matter who they are or what they do.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go play Gwen Stefani’s entire discography and avoid doing chores!

This episode of Carpool Karaoke is going to be difficult to top, but we can’t wait to see Corden try.

video source:
The Late Late Show with James Corden (May 9, 2016) – “Gwen Stefani Carpool Karaoke (w/ George Clooney & Julia Roberts)”