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Underneath It All

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Wikipedia article




"'Underneath It All'" is a song by American ska band No Doubt from their fourth studio album 'Rock Steady' (2001). It was written by the band's lead singer Gwen Stefani and David Stewart. The song features a reggae production from Sly and Robbie and guest vocals from Lady Saw. The song received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics.

"Underneath It All" was released as the album's third single in July 2002. It became No Doubt's highest-charting US single, but was less successful elsewhere. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 46th Grammy Awards. The song was featured in the 2004 film '50 First Dates'.

Background and writing



The song was originally written by Gwen Stefani and David Stewart during Stefani's visit to boyfriend Gavin Rossdale in London. The two used backward string samples to write the song in only ten minutes."Underneath It All". Montoya, Paris and Lanham, Tom. 'The Singles 1992-2003'. Interscope Records. November 25, 2003. The song describes Stefani's relationship with Rossdale, and the line "You're really lovely underneath it all" comes from a journal entry that Stefani made after spending a day in the park with Rossdale.Strauss, Neil. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061005124435/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939747/no_doubts_anniversary_party/ "No Doubt's Anniversary Party"]. 'Rolling Stone'. January 31, 2002. Retrieved July 14, 2007. The band's guitarist Tom Dumont commented that Stewart's experience helped them keep the song simple because he "would have way overthought those chord changes."Edwards, Gavin. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071002100720/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/nodoubt/articles/story/5919655/no_doubt_make_party_music "No Doubt Make Party Music"]. 'Rolling Stone'. October 16, 2001. Retrieved October 22, 2007. When the band was working on the album in Jamaica, producers Sly and Robbie called Lady Saw to have her contribute a guest toast.Butler, Adika. [http://www.whereitzatlive.com/lady_saw.htm "Lady Saw"]. 'Where Itz At'. 2004. Retrieved August 10, 2007. After listening to the song, Lady Saw wrote and recorded her part on the spot."Deeper with No Doubt". VH1. January 24, 2002.

Music and structure



The song is a love song composed in the key of E major. It is written in common time and moves slowly at 69 beats per minute. Stefani avoids the heavy vocal vibrato that she often uses.Sanneh, Kelefa. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E1DF1E3CF935A15753C1A9649C8B63 "'Just a Girl,' Or Wishing To Be More?"]. 'The New York Times'. October 26, 2002. Retrieved October 28, 2007. Her vocal range spans under an octave and a half during the song, from F#3 to B4.Sheet music for "Underneath It All". Hal Leonard Corporation. 2001.

The song opens with a line sampled from Bob Clarke's Sunday radio show on IRIE FM.'Rock Steady' (liner notes). This same sample closes the song, but proceeds to become slowed down after a few seconds in. Interscope Records. December 11, 2001. The verses use a simple I-vi chord progression, alternating between a first inversion E major chord and a second inversion C# minor chord, played on the off-beats and switch to a IV-iii progression. Each verse is followed by the chorus, which uses a I-IV-V-IV progression. After the bridge, Lady Saw performs her toast. Stefani then sings the chorus twice, and Clarke closes the song after Stefani repeats the line "Mm mm mm underneath it all" four times.

Critical reception



"Underneath It All" received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. 'Rolling Stone' found its ska sound and Stefani's questioning whether or not Rossdale is her soulmate tired.Scheffield, Rob. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071001004143/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/215088/rock_steady "Rock Steady : No Doubt : Review"]. 'Rolling Stone', issue 887. January 2, 2002. Retrieved August 4, 2007. LAUNCHcast agreed the beat was one "that Sly & Robbie can do in their sleep" but added that the song "keeps its modern edge thanks to Lady Saw's cooling rap."Oliver, Lisa. [http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/l_reviews_a/23924.html "No Doubt - 'Rock Steady'"]. LAUNCHcast. February 14, 2002. Retrieved August 4, 2007. Kitty Empire writing in 'NME' also gave Lady Saw's toast a positive review, stating that it "does an excellent job of sexing up all the sugar."Empire, Kitty. [http://web.nme.com/reviews/no-doubt/6719 "No Doubt : Underneath It All"] . 'NME'. September 19, 2002. Retrieved October 28, 2007. 'Stylus Magazine' was pleased with Stefani's performance on the song, stating that "she lets her voice ride gently on top of the melody, pushed along by the gentle steel drums in the background."Delaney, Colleen. [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/no-doubt/rock-steady.htm "No Doubt - Rock Steady - Review"]. 'Stylus Magazine'. September 1, 2003. Retrieved August 4, 2007. 'PopMatters' commented that "No Doubt isn't afraid of working with new ideas" but that the dancehall of "Underneath It All" was unsuccessful and sloppy.Miller, Eden. [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/23769/nodoubt-rock/ "No Doubt: Rock Steady"]. 'PopMatters'. December 10, 2001. Retrieved August 4, 2007. In its review of 'The Singles 1992-2003', OMH Media described the song as "an embarrassingly self-conscious reggae pastiche, unimproved by a guest rap from Jamaican dancehall queen Lady Saw."McDonnell, Sara. [http://www.musicomh.com/albums/no-doubt.htm "No Doubt - The Singles 1992-2003"]. OMH Media. Retrieved October 28, 2007.

On their end-of-year list, The Village Voice named the song as one of the Singles of the Year for 2002.

Chart performance



"Underneath It All" peaked at number three on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 for two weeks,[http://top40-charts.com/songs/full.php?sid=4646&sort=chartid "No Doubt Underneath It All"]. Top40-Charts.com. Retrieved August 14, 2007. becoming No Doubt's highest charting US single; "Don't Speak" had not been allowed onto the Hot 100 as it did not have a commercial single release.[ "No Doubt > Awards > Billboard Singles"]. AllMusic. Retrieved August 14, 2007. It was successful in mainstream music, topping the Top 40 Mainstream and reaching number two on the Top 40 Tracks. The single was also successful in the adult contemporary radio market, reaching number two on the Adult Top 40 chart with a 2004 re-appearance atop the Top 40 Adult Recurrents and peaking at number 27 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It had some crossover success on urban contemporary and Hispanic rhythmic stations, reaching the top 40 on the Latin Pop Airplay and Rhythmic Top 40 charts, and number 23 on the Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay.[ "Rock Steady > Awards > Billboard Singles"]. AllMusic. Retrieved August 14, 2007. The single fared poorer on the Canadian Singles Chart, where it peaked at number 35.

"Underneath It All" debuted at number 18 on the UK Singles chart but was unable to reach a higher position. It was unsuccessful across Europe, only reaching the top 40 in Austria and Sweden. On the ARIA Charts, the single peaked at number 28 and remained on the chart for seven weeks.[http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=No+Doubt+feat%2E+Lady+Saw&titel=Underneath+It+All "No Doubt feat. Lady Saw - Underneath It All"]. Australian-Charts.com. Retrieved August 4, 2007. In New Zealand, the single peaked at number eight for two consecutive weeks and stayed on the chart for over four months.[https://charts.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=No+Doubt+feat%2E+Lady+Saw&titel=Underneath+It+All "No Doubt feat. Lady Saw - Underneath It All"]. Charts.org.nz. Retrieved August 4, 2007.

Music video





The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Sophie Muller and directing collaborative Logan.[http://mvwire.com/dynamic/article_view.asp?AID=10236 "Interview with Music Video Directors Sophie Muller & Logan"]. MVWire. Retrieved August 22, 2007. It opens with a sequence of Stefani, as shown on the cover of the single, removing several pieces of clothing and later lying on a bed. After a scene with her in front of a white heart with roses, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young play basketball while Stefani stands against the wall. Stefani is then shown against a sparkling sky, followed by a scene of the whole band bicycling during Lady Saw's toast. The video closes with a scene of Stefani jumping on a bed in white undergarments and without makeup.

Muller wanted to add more sexual themes to the look of the video to contrast with the innocence of the song's lyrics. The original idea for the video was to show Stefani with heavy makeup "really over done like a stripper" and have her remove her clothing throughout the video. Muller found that this complicated the video too much, so each sequence shows Stefani with progressively less makeup instead. Muller decided to use a color scheme with bright colors such as orange, lime green and pink, and the contrast was increased using Symphony in post-production. The bicycling scene was to originally show footage that the band shot while recording in Jamaica since Stefani wanted to include a Jamaican theme. Instead, the scene was created by filming the individual band members on a twelve-foot turntable in front of a bluescreen. Tracks were used to shoot two members riding next to each other and Logan used computer-generated imagery to show the entire band bicycling in Jamaica.

The video was successful on video channels. It debuted on MTV's 'Total Request Live' October 7, 2002, at number seven.[http://www.atrl.net/trlarchive/?s=debuts "The TRL Archive - Debuts"] . ATRL. Retrieved August 10, 2007. It reached number five on the countdown[http://www.atrl.net/trlarchive/?s=recap&y=2002&m=10 "The TRL Archive - Recap - October 2002"]. ATRL. Retrieved August 10, 2007. and was on the program for twenty-four days. "Underneath It All" peaked at number two on MuchMusic's 'Countdown' in September 2002. The video received nominations for Best Pop Video and Best Cinematography at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" and Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" respectively.[http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/2003/mtvvmas.htm "2003 MTV Video Music Awards"]. Rock on the Net. Retrieved August 4, 2007.

Track listing and formats



Maxi single

# "Underneath It All" featuring Lady Saw (Album Version) 5:03

# "Underneath It All" (Radio 1Live Acoustic Version) 3:44

# "Just a Girl" (Radio 1Live Acoustic Version) 3:30

# "Underneath It All" Video 5:03

2-track single

# "Underneath It All" featuring Lady Saw (Album Version) 5:03

# "Underneath It All" (Radio 1Live Acoustic Version) 3:44

Personnel



*Gwen Stefani - vocals

*Tom Dumont - guitar, keyboards

*Tony Kanal - bass, keyboards, saxophone

*Adrian Young - drums, percussion

*Gabrial McNair - trombone

*Lady Saw - vocals

*Ned Douglas - programming

*Robbie Shakespeare - additional melodic bass

*Andy Potts - saxophone

*Django Stewart - saxophone

Cover versions



* American rock band Zebrahead covered the song and released it as a single for their cover album Panty Raid.

* On November 25, 2013, Tessanne Chin covered the song on Season 5 of NBC's singing competition, 'The Voice' for the Live Top 8 round. She also deejayed Lady Saw's verse.

Charts



Weekly charts



Year-end charts



Certifications



Release history



References




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