Ten years after the release of her Love. Angel. Music. Baby. album, Gwen Stefani defends her use of the Harajuku Girls, the group of Japanese backup dancers that accompanied her on tour and throughout the promotion of that record
On Sundays in the Japanese city of Harajuku, teenagers dress up in provocative or extreme clothes and walk the streets. When Stefani was promoting her album, there were accusations of racism in Stefani's use of such dancers.
"There's always going to be two sides to everything, “ Stefani recently told Time magazine, defending what some critics saw as an example of crass cultural appropriation.
“For me, everything that I did with the Harajuku Girls was just a pure compliment and being a fan. You can't be a fan of somebody else? Or another culture? Of course you can."
"It's like I say in the song Harajuku Girls: it's a ping-pong match. We do something American, they take it and they flip it and make it so Japanese and so cool. And we take it back and go, 'Whoa, that's so cool! That's so beautiful.' It's a beautiful thing in the world, how our cultures come together.
“I don't feel like I did anything but share that love. You can look at it from a negative point of view if you want to, but get off my cloud. Because, seriously, that was all meant out of love."
