Gwen Stefani lost confidence

11 September 2016

Gwen Stefani lost her confidence as a songwriter before working on her new album.

Gwen Stefani

The 46-year-old singer released a new LP, 'This Is What the Truth Feels Like', in March, and though the subject matter was inspired by the breakdown of her marriage to Gavin Rossdale - the father of her sons Kingston, Zuma, and Apollo - she is thankful she had something to write about because she had been struggling creatively for so long.

She said: "At the time, not only did my family fall apart but my kids were taken away half the time. That was devastating. But if I didn't have that time, I wouldn't have written the record. I wouldn't have healed.

"I had already lost so much of my confidence, even before all the tragedy. You don't understand how far gone I was.

"There was a time when I was desperate to write. You have a long career and you don't want it to end.

"You start to become competitive with what you've done before and competitive with things people have done after you, that are like you.

"So many times I've gone into the studio and people are excited about me being there, yet don't have the confidence I can do anything any more.

"I had been praying I would find something. For this album I had the right team. When I wrote 'Used to Love You', that was a huge turning point."

While 'Used to Love You' was written about Gavin, Gwen - who is now dating Blake Shelton - admits she hasn't spoken to him about the song.

Asked how Gavin felt about the song, she told Cosmopolitan magazine: "I don't know. I didn't talk to him about it. But everything switched at that point, because I started falling in love, which was completely unexpected. I still can't believe it."