Background and Writing
During the night of the 2003 Grammy Awards, Perry forced Stefani into a chokehold, and demanded that they were "gonna write songs together!", to which Stefani reluctantly agreed. Soon after, Stefani finished the Rock Steady Tour with her band No Doubt, and took a call from her label, who informed her that Perry was in a studio ready to collaborate, and that Perry "only five days out of the whole year to work with ." Stefani has since admitted that she was frustrated by not being able to see her husband Gavin Rossdale, and was intimidated at the thought of collaboration, in particular with Perry, who she did not feel was qualified to write dance music. Stefani was exhausted by the recently completed tour, and shortly afterwards suffered an emotional breakdown, which she spent in bed crying.
During their first day of work, the two wrote a song titled "Fine by You", which Stefani later described as "a stupid love song, but really good". Perry remarked that the song "wasn't right", and the track was excluded from the album. The session was unproductive, due in part to Stefani's self-consciousness and writer's block, and she at one stage broke down in tears in the studio. Stefani has since admitted that writing songs without her band members felt "humiliating and intimidating even if they're sweet and excited, because you're drowning in their creativity".
That night, Perry began work on another track, which she played for Stefani the next day to motivate her. Stefani was impressed with the track, and Perry asked her, "What are you waiting for?" According to Perry, Stefani took the question as a dare, replying, "You're totally challenging me, right?" The two began writing lyrics for the New Wave-styled song based on Stefani's writer's block and fears about making a solo record, and it grew into "What You Waiting For?"
Stefani came up with the idea of the Harajuku Girls while writing the song. Stefani first saw the women of Harajuku, known for their unique style drawing from Gothic Lolita and cyberpunk fashion, in 1996 and had admired them since. She decided to mention them in the line "You Harajuku Girls, damn you got some wicked style", and the concept grew into a running theme on Love. Angel. Music. Baby., which went as far as to feature one song named after and dedicated to them.
Read more about this topic: What You Waiting For?
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