Gwen Stefani Talks How No Doubt's Hit 'Just A Girl' Came to Be

Before she was on The Voice, Gwen Stefani was just a girl in a ska-punk band.

Since breaking off from No Doubt and developing her own solo career, the songstress has amassed great success but she admits that her early days of writing “Just A Girl” still resonates with her to this day.

In an exclusive behind-the-scenes video, Stefani, 47, shares the story behind the Southern California band’s 1995 smash hit. “I just literally started songwriting, I didn’t even know that I knew how to song write,” she recalled.

“My parents were quite strict with me and I was living at home, even into my 20s. And I would have to come home and knock my parents’ door. And it was frustrating because I was already like older,” Stefani remembered about what inspired her to pen the lyrics.

“I can remember thinking, ‘Wow, I’m in the car right now, I’m driving home, it’s like one in the morning and if something did happen to me, I’m vulnerable because I’m a girl.’ And you start to think, ‘Wow, maybe people actually look at me different because I am a female,'” she said.

“I just wanted to write a song to express how I was feeling in that moment and I never in my wildest dreams thought that anyone would hear it,” the mother of three admitted.

“Just A Girl” was No Doubt’s second successful single, behind 1994’s “Squeal.” The band had been together for eight years (since 1986) before they were skyrocketed to fame with their third album, Tragic Kingdom, which featured “Just A Girl” as the first single.

As for how she feels about the single in the present day, the song takes her back to those days in Anaheim, California with her former bandmates Tom Dumont and Tony Kanal.

“That song has been incredible and I remember coming up with every single line,” Stefani proudly shared. “I have a really bad memory but I really, really remember that moment and feeling I could really relate to myself and this song … I felt like it really echoed exactly how I felt.”

Adding, “I think that when I do that song now, it still feels like it represents, it’s beyond an age, it just represents a feeling so I feel really proud of it.”