Suspicious Minds: No Doubt: “In My Head”

A sneaky-sounding guitar opens No Doubt’s “In My Head,” off their must-have 2001 release, Rock Steady. The lead singer, Gwen Stefani invites the listener inside her uncertain state of mind, ironic considering the name of the band.

Her “head is wicked jealous,” as she obsessively ponders her long-distance relationship and what’s happening on the other end. She attempts to calm her paranoid mindset by thinking about rainbows and big, fat roses. Not wanting—at all—to talk about ex-girlfriends, abandonment or the past, she warns her boyfriend to “use the right words when you talk to me.” The distrustful thoughts keep spinning, and by the bridge, she stands up and states: “I really think I have a problem/I really can’t control myself/Why do I get so suspicious?/Do you want someone else?/’Cause everybody wants everybody else… only in my head.”

As the song concludes, she’s still manipulating, wanting now to talk about the future, the wedding and “how much you like me/And all that.” There’s nothing like controlling the conversation so we can hopefully hear what we want to hear, to feel all’s right with the world, and more importantly, safe.

Just as much as the album chronicles the downs in a relationship: the skepticism of second chances (“Detective”; “Don’t Let Me Down”) and the questions surrounding realistic longevity (“Running”; “Rock Steady”), there’s the ups too: anticipating a reunion on “Making Out”; make-up lovin’ in the morning on “Start the Fire”; the bass-thumping masterpiece, “Hella Good.” Yet as the chorus in “Underneath It All” goes: “I’m really lucky underneath it all/You’re really lovely.” This is the lucid epiphany that he may, in fact, be worth all those temporary lapses in sanity.

Although Stefani may be a glamour goddess of pop and a confident front woman of rock, it’s her role as a writer where she gets to showcase yet another incarnation: an ordinary woman who’s not afraid to admit that sometimes, yes, she too has doubts… and lots of them.

Be sure to check out No Doubt’s 2002 Rock Steady Live DVD, filmed in Long Beach, CA.