“The Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani (ft. Akon)

“The Sweet Escape” is centered on Gwen Stefani’s effort to restore the love in a shaky relationship. She appeals to her partner to give them a second chance while fantasizing about a place where they wouldn’t have to deal with so many problems.

The singer confesses that she should be blamed for the issues in the relationship because she has been putting up an unpleasant behavior, which she likens to sour milk. Gwen plays on the lyrics as she concurrently blames her partner for her attitude, saying that he didn’t shut the refrigerator. This could represent an ongoing conflict between them or could hypothetically explain the spilling of the milk in the earlier lines. She admits that she has been cold, signifying her insensitivity towards her lover.

Gwen in the end, expresses her guilt for hurting her boyfriend, and wishes she could make it up to him by escaping to an unknown place where they could be perfect with no problems.

Music Video

Prolific music-video director Joseph Kahn worked on the official visual for this song. And it features Gwen Stefani’s backup dancers, the Harajuku Girls.

Facts about “The Sweet Escape”

This the title song of Gwen Stefani’s second-solo album. And it came out with the rest of the project, via Interscope Records, on 1 December 2006.

Stefani co-wrote this track along with her co-star, Akon, in addition to Giorgio Tuinfort.

And the latter two artists also produced “The Sweet Escape”.

It was Jimmy Iovine, the CEO of Interscope Records, who especially encouraged this collaboration between Gwen and Akon. Akon was more down with the idea than Stefani herself.  However when they did finally meet up, they went on to write “The Sweet Escape” within the time span of 10 minutes.

The track went on to be nominated for a Grammy, specifically for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, in 2008.

Indeed it was one of the most-successful tunes of 2007, topping the UK R&B Chart, Billboard’s Pop 100, the European Hot 100 and music charts in Australia and New Zealand.

And overall it charted in approximately 25 nations, including peaking at number 2 on the both the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100.

And countries in which “The Sweet Escape” have been certified Platinum are Australia and the United Kingdom.