Gwen Stefani thought her stardom would fade. It didn't, and it's because she's far savvier than many realize

In late March, Gwen Stefani achieved a music milestone that only a dozen or so artists before her had accomplished: she hit No. 1 on the Billboard album chart as a solo artist after having previously done so with a band. The first time it was with No Doubt in the late 1990s; this time it was on her own with This Is What the Truth Feels Like. The other musicians who’d charted with a group and on their own required just single names to be recognized: Clapton, Beyonce, Lennon, McCartney, Joplin.

At 46, Stefani might now have a permanent place at the top of the music business, but she’s always banked on the opposite to happen: that her stardom would fade, that what came before couldn’t be repeated. And so she’s been more savvy than many of her peers of continuously branching out. In 2004, she started her L.A.M.B. clothing line and had designs sent to her daily, even while touring; 12 years later, her clothing is now sold around the world and has spun off less expensive lines. She signed on as “creative consultant” for HP in 2005 and helped sell a line of cameras. She had Target film her video for Make Me Like You live at the Grammy's and worked with Mastercard to foot the bill for her comeback concert (it’s been 10 years since her last solo album). In exchange for paying for tour production and marketing, the credit card company got prominent branding and allowed select customers to meet the star before her Tokyo kickoff. Imagine Joplin or Lennon crafting such deals.

Stefani dropped by our New York office to talk about longevity in the music business; who she turns to for advice (and how she decides when and when not to listen); and why even though the music industry is now a singles business, chasing singles is a suckers game. Watch the video here.

Some edited highlights:

On moving from artist to marketing mode
I don't really think in a marketing sense too often. It's weird because my dad is a marketing research guy. That's what he does, study groups. It is interesting to me. [But] I hear more about that in the design world… Like, "Oh by the way, that color, people did really go for that."  That can influence you the next time around designing, or not. But with music, everything just comes right from my heart.

On taking feedback
I usually just go by my gut. But an example [of where I didn’t] would be [when the record company said] "Gwen, the record feels too personal. And we think you should just put out, like, an artistic body of work, you know?"  At that point, they were probably right. You know, because I hadn't written the rest of the record. So instead of listening to that and quitting at that point, I went back in and I wrote Used To Love You the next day.

I sent it to them and then they called me. And for the first time, somebody from a record company was calling me to say that they thought I had a big record. I was like, "Can I tweet this right now?”

Another example was when I did the artwork [for the album]. I had this picture and I was like, "Wow, yeah, I loved how it turned out."  And everybody seemed to like it. But it was just a pretty picture. It wasn't anything else. And that felt weird to me. It's not a pretty picture in my life, right now.

So I did these drawings and doodles on top of it. It took me kind of a while, because I wasn't in a place where I could do it. Like, it was due and I literally had a pencil with no sharpener and no eraser and I was, like, trying to do this project in the this remote area.

And I was so excited when it was done. And [the record company] called me and were like… "We wanna talk to you about this. We think that you shouldn't put the doodles on.”

I talked to my right-hand man, who's my girl that does all of my art, and we always agree. And even she was like, "I don't know, Gwen, I kinda like the pureness of this one."  And I was like, "Oh my god, I can't believe we're actually not agreeing on this."

But at the end of the day, I had this great opportunity to do two different covers, so I got to compromise.

On the declining importance of the album in music
It doesn't bother me. I feel so blessed. I got to experience so many versions of this industry, so many different versions of it, you know?

And I think that singles — there's lot of opportunities when you have that platform to just put out one song. Right now, if I wanted to, I could be like, "Guess what I'm doing this weekend? I'm going to write a new song."  And if I really wanted to, I bet I could just put it up on iTunes. It's a lot more spontaneous.

On why chasing hits isn't worth it
I think that singles are a mystery and you can think about 'em as much as you want. It doesn't mean you're going to ever have one. It doesn't matter if you work with the greatest hit-maker of the moment, which I've done. And it didn't mean that that song made it. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't work like that. There's a magical piece to it.

I think that people should always do things from what's genuine to them and their heart. And try to be true to themselves because people, especially with music, see right through that stuff. And I think that for me, I never in my wildest dreams ever thought that I would be anywhere outside of my dad's garage.