Writing Process
Stefani and Eve had previously collaborated on the 2001 single "Let Me Blow Ya Mind". When Stefani first began recording solo material, Eve expressed interest in working with Stefani again, saying, "She's fly, she's tight and she is talented. It's going to be hot regardless." The two decided to work together again after talking in Stefani's laundry room during a party. After Stefani had co-written more than twenty songs for her solo debut, she approached Dr. Dre, who had produced for her twice before. Dre had produced "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" as well as "Wicked Day", a track that was excluded from No Doubt's 2001 album Rock Steady.
After playing some of the songs on which she had been working, Dr. Dre told her, "You don't want to go back there." Instead of using one of the tracks, Dr. Dre instead suggested using English reggae duo Louchie Lou & Michie One's 1993 song "Rich Girl", which itself interpolated "If I Were a Rich Man" from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof. Stefani and Eve helped each other with their parts, but when they presented Dr. Dre with the demo, he told them to rewrite the song, suggesting that Stefani play a character in the song.
Since she had not seen the musical since she was a child, Stefani went to Broadway to better understand the theme that "even if you're poor and you have love, you're rich." The idea which became the final version came to Stefani while brainstorming on her treadmill. She commented that the troubles in writing the song came because "Dre was really pushing me to write in a new way", but when she presented him with the song, "he just totally tricked the track out."
Read more about this topic: Rich Girl (Gwen Stefani Song)
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