Gwen and ME

I have a strange relationship with Gwen Stefani. She is one of my favorite musicians from when she was the vocalist of my favorite band No Doubt. I remember the first time I heard and saw her on MTV in the 90’s on stage during an episode of MTV Spring Break specials. I was Enchanted and Fascinated by her energy and music. The first CD I bought was No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom and I have bought most of No Doubts music. Before I had an iPod, I use to carry my complete CD collection and I that CD collection stolen. I am so happy for Itunes now that I hardly buy CD’s and when I do I make sure I put them into my computer.

I use to listen to No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom when I ran my first business as a Dog Groomer and her music motivated me to work. I would play the CD over and over again. To this day her songs never get old to me. Some of the best memories of my college years are brought back from No Doubt’s last CD Rock Steady. It is amazing how music can trigger emotions and bring back good and bad memories.

One of the first gifts @LucyMfel gave me was Gwen’s CD of Love, Angel, Music. I remember before I had an iPod I had this huge MP3 Player which ran on triple “A” Batteries and held 128mb of music. I was able to fit Cultura Profetica’s Album Diario and Gwen’s Love, Angel, and Music.

Since I was so home sick, I remember choosing “Diario” first since it is from the best Puerto Rican Reggae band  (Cultura Profetica) and was relaxing. It also made that 2 hour train ride a bit more comfortable and made me transport myself from Connecticut or Manhattan to the Tropics. Just about when I finished my train ride the album would finish and Gwen’s CD would start to play. Just about when I was walking in front of the Waldorf Astoria steps from my KPMG Office at 345 Park Avenue. The beat of Gwen’s music would start warming me up and made me put as 100% effort into what I was doing. I really enjoyed my job at KPMG and  listening to Gwen first thing in the morning got me in the right mind frame finishing every task.

Till this day when I get a bit unmotivated I search for Gwen on My iTunes and play the Love, Angel, Music album and for some reason it gets me motivated.

My guess is that I have the privilege to live in Puerto Rico and I have to work as hard as possible to stay here. Living on the Island has its privileges but they are well earned. Just the reminder of getting off that train in extremely cold weather to start my day in Manhattan, which I love as a tourist  but not as when you are going to work every day. Gwen’s music is a simple reminder of where I need to be and where I have been.

Do you have any type of music or artist that invokes these emotions with you?

If you do you do who is it and how does it make you more productive or even helps you relax?