"The Real Thing" is a song by American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani from her debut studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). It was produced by Nellee Hooper and written by Stefani, Linda Perry, and Stefani's then-husband Gavin Rossdale, who is credited under the moniker GMR. In 2005, the song was released as a promotional single in the Philippines, where Interscope Records distributed a CD single. Inspired by the music of New Order, Stefani approached the group with the idea of collaborating. Despite initially declining, they eventually changed their minds and lent members Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook to perform background vocals and bass, respectively. American duo Wendy & Lisa also contribute to the song's instrumentation, playing guitar and keyboards, and created a "Slow Jam Remix" of the song which appears on the select editions of the parent album.
"The Real Thing" has been described as a synth-pop, Europop, and new wave ballad influenced by the music of the 1980s. It contains romantic lyrics and was referred to as a love song about Rossdale. It received generally positive reviews from music critics, who frequently called it one of the best songs on Love. Angel. Music. Baby.. Other critics felt the decision to collaborate with several high-profile musicians paid off. However, some critics considered the lyrics to be cheesy. The song was featured in Stefani's first two solo concert tours, the Harajuku Lovers Tour in 2005 and the Sweet Escape Tour in 2007. She also included it in her promotional MasterCard Priceless Surprises Presents Gwen Stefani (2015–2016) concert series. American group Vitamin String Quartet recorded and released a cover of "The Real Thing" in 2005.
Background and release
In 2004, American singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani released her first solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby.. She referred to the project as a dance record that would fulfill her idea of completing a side project outside of her band No Doubt. She began work on the project in 2003, following the end of her work promoting No Doubt's fifth studio album, Rock Steady (2001). "The Real Thing" appears on Love. Angel. Music. Baby. as the album's ninth track and was first released on November 12, 2004. The song was written by Stefani, Linda Perry, and Stefani's then-husband Gavin Rossdale, who is credited under the moniker of GMR. Production was handled by Nellee Hooper, with Mark "Spike" Stent serving as an additional producer. Stefani recorded the song at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood and at her home studios in London, where Stent mixed the track at nearby Olympic Studios.
When she met with Perry to initiate songwriting sessions, Stefani had difficulty sticking to Perry's faster work pace, resulting in incidents of emotional distress. After successfully writing debut single "What You Waiting For?" (2004), the two began having more creative experiences together. In celebration of the album's fifteenth anniversary, Billboards Bianca Gracie interviewed Stefani, who reminisced about her collaboration with Perry on "The Real Thing": Linda really wanted to do what I wanted and was all about praising me. It was beautiful because I could tell her, 'I really love this song and I want to sound like this so bad.' I would come in the next day and she would've done it. She would do the music part, I'd write the lyrics and we'd write the melodies together. I'm very specific about lyrics – that's the one thing I wouldn't really collaborate on.
While developing a concept for Love. Angel. Music. Baby., Stefani felt inspired by the music of Prince, New Order, Club Nouveau, and Madonna, and wanted to create a feel-good dance-pop album. During songwriting sessions for the album, she approached New Order with an idea that they would collaborate with her on a song. Because they were in the process of creating original lyrics for their eighth studio album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005), they declined her offer, leaving Stefani to write a song in the style of the group instead. However, after hearing the track she wrote, they decided to play on it, explaining that they admire Stefani as an artist and were also recently impressed by a remix of her debut single "What You Waiting For?". Stefani ultimately enlisted members Peter Hook to play on bass, and lead vocalist Bernard Sumner to provide background vocals on "The Real Thing". Due to the song's many collaborators, Niall McMurray from Into the Pop Void assumed that Stefani was likely unable to work with them all simultaneously.