Push and Shove is the sixth studio album by Americanrock bandNo Doubt. It was released on September 21, 2012, byInterscope Records. The album serves as a comeback album for the band, as their last album,Rock Steady, was released 11 years prior. A deluxe edition ofPush and Shove featuresacoustic versions and remixes of several tracks, as well as "Stand and Deliver", a song No Doubt had covered in 2009.
The album debuted at number three on theBillboard 200 with 115,000 copies sold in its first week. "Settle Down" was released in July 2012 as the album's lead single, debuting and peaking at number 34 on theBillboard Hot 100. The album'stitle track featuresMajor Lazer and Jamaican reggae artistBusy Signal, and was released as a promotional single the following month. "Looking Hot" was released as the second single from the album.
While Stefani was promotingThe Sweet Escape, the other band members began initial work on a new album without her[8] and planned to complete it after Stefani finished herThe Sweet Escape Tour.[9] 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.[10][11] The band's manager Jim Guerinot announced that the album would be produced byMark "Spike" Stent, who helped produce and mixRock Steady.[12] However, the sessions stalled as the band suffered fromwriter's block, and they decided to return to touring.[13] Through their website, No Doubt announced their2009 Summer Tour with opening actsParamore,The Sounds,Janelle Monáe,Bedouin Soundclash,Katy Perry,Panic! at the Disco, andMatt Costa, all while finishing their upcoming album, which was set for release in 2010.[14] 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.[15]
When the band finally began to slowly write songs, they became anxious to start recording them.[13] The group entered the studio in May 2010 to begin recordingPush and Shove,[10] and Stefani stated publicly that she wanted to complete the project by the end of the year.[16] 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.[17] The band's process was very informal, with Stefani jokingly describing it as "a series of accidents and mistakes."[18]
No Doubt announced on May 4, 2012 that their then-untitled sixth studio would be released on September 25, 2012.[19] A month later, the band announced the album's title to bePush and Shove.[20] "Push and Shove" was released as apromotional single for the album on August 29, 2012.[21] A limited edition of 2500 (individually numbered) Speaker Box sets and a deluxe edition were also released at the same time. The deluxe edition contains 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 contains three bonus tracks for a total of 14 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 five-postcard set, vinyl sticker all in a custom-cut charcoal foam contents tray.
The cover artwork for the album was created bygraffiti artist Miles "Mac" MacGregor ("El Mac") based on a photo shoot he had taken of the band.[22]
"Settle Down", the album's lead single, debuted on July 16, 2012.[20] The music video, which was shot over the week of June 11, 2012, was directed bySophie 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.[23] No Doubt performed the song live for the first time during the2012 Teen Choice Awards on July 22. They also performed the song onLate Night with Jimmy Fallon on July 26 and onGood Morning America on July 27.[24]
"Looking Hot" was released as the official second single fromPush and Shove.[25] The song was sent tocontemporary hit radio in the United States on November 6, 2012.[26] The band performed the song onThe X Factor UK on November 4, 2012.[27] 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 toNative Americans, despite their efforts to include expert input on Native American culture.[28][29]
Push and Shove received generally positive reviews from music critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received anaverage score of 61, based on 23 reviews.[30]Stephen Thomas Erlewine ofAllMusic compared the album favorably to Stefani's solo albums, calling it "a modest, mature comeback, highlighted by the band's keen awareness of their strengths and subtle, unstated acknowledgment of encroaching middle age."[2]Entertainment Weekly's Melissa Maerz commented that onPush and Shove, Stefani "pogos as hard as she did in herAnaheim-strip-mall ska days. But she's also just as neurotic, which adds depth to her love songs."[32] Mikael Wood of theLos Angeles Times opined, "At its best,Push and Shove channels some of the infectiously restless energy ofRock Steady [...] And it further polishes a bold mix-and-match aesthetic that feels familiar today in part because of records such asTragic Kingdom."[35] Sal Cinquemani ofSlant Magazine found that "the more interesting tracks are stacked on the front end ofPush and Shove, and the songs on the second half of the album are comparably safer, blurring together upon first listen."[39]
Theon Weber ofSpin concluded, "This isn't a great album [...] It's also—in its confidence, its playfulness, and the slightly stoned degree to which it is relaxed—No Doubt's most accomplished party."[40] Ryan Reed ofPaste dubbed the album "a welcome return, even if it's a tad exhausting", adding that "No Doubt has always been more than a platform for a gifted frontwoman, a factPush and Shove seems to forget at times, downplaying the band's fluid chemistry in favor of soaring hooks and 'cranked to 11' dynamics."[36] In a mixed review, Helen Brown ofThe Daily Telegraph felt that "too much of the record sounds like generic,Katy Perry-esquepower-pop."[31]The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan remarked that "this record simply takes up where 2001'sRock Steady left off", but ultimately stated, "As a comeback, this is nice work."[33]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 givesPush and Shove a character that could be described as either dated or timeless."[34]Rolling Stone criticJody Rosen expressed, "The songs are catchy, but Gwen Stefani doesn't have the voice, or the gravitas, for grandiose tunes."[38] Maria Schurr ofPopMatters panned the lyrics as "abysmally bad" and remarked, "After 'One More Summer' [...] and the inconsistent but decent title song, the album becomes so filler-centric that even the tracks' titles [...] are interchangeable."[37]
Push and Shove debuted at number three on theBillboard 200, selling 115,000 copies in its first week.[41] The album debuted at number 16 on theUK Albums Chart, selling 6,635 copies.[42] In Canada, the album entered theCanadian Albums Chart at number five with first-week sales of 8,000 copies.[43]
^"Czech Albums – Top 100".ČNS IFPI.Note: On the chart page, select39.Týden 2012 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
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