Listen to Florence + the Machine cover No Doubt song ‘Just A Girl’
‘Just a Girl’ was a watershed moment for No Doubt. After spending nearly a full decade making their way through the ska scene of Orange County, California, the band hand finally solidified itself with their third studio album, 1995’s Tragic Kingdom. Now under the creative leadership of lead singer Gwen Stefani, No Doubt shifted to a pop-rock sound that became their signature in the years to come.
“I just wanted to write a song to express how I was feeling in that moment and I never in my wildest dreams thought that anyone would hear it,” Stefani explained in 2018. “I remember coming up with every single line [and] I have a really bad memory, but I really, really remember that moment and feeling I could really relate to myself and this song … I felt like it really echoed exactly how I felt.”
Stefani wrote the song when she wasn’t far removed from the days of needing her parent’s permission to stay out late. Their overprotectiveness proved to be a major influence on the song. “I can remember thinking, ‘Wow, I’m in the car right now, I’m driving home, it’s like one in the morning, and if something did happen to me, I’m vulnerable because I’m a girl,’” Stefani added. “And you start to think, ‘Wow, maybe people actually look at me different because I am a female.’”
As the first single from Tragic Kingdom, ‘Just a Girl’ quickly became the band’s highest-charting single up to that point. Not long after, the song’s success was usurped by another Tragic Kingdom track, ‘Don’t Speak’. However, since ‘Don’t Speak’ wasn’t released as a commercial single, it wasn’t eligible for inclusion on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time. It almost certainly would have been a number-one hit, but No Doubt had to wait until 2002’s ‘Hey Baby’ to score their first top-ten single.
With its inclusion in films like Clueless and Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion, ‘Just a Girl’ continues to be one of No Doubt’s most easily-identified tracks. One of the young women who the song reached was Florence Welch, lead singer for British indie folk icons Florence + the Machine. The band recently covered ‘Just a Girl’ to soundtrack the trailer for the second season of the show Yellowjackets. Part of the show’s story takes place around the time that ‘Just a Girl’ was a massive hit, so the crossover is uncanny.
“I’m such a huge fan of Yellowjackets and this era of music, and this song especially had a huge impact on me growing up, so I was thrilled to be asked to interpret it in a ‘deeply unsettling’ way for the show,” Welch explained in a statement. “We tried to really add some horror elements to this iconic song to fit the tone of the show. And as someone whose first musical love was pop-punk and Gwen Stefani, it was a dream job.”
Check out the cover of ‘Just a Girl’ down below.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.