For her upcoming third album, American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani released her second single titled “Baby Don’t Lie” on Oct. 10. The song is a midtempo pop and reggae-pop track and is a breath of fresh and interesting air for Gwen Stefani fans. After her solo in 2008 titled “Early Winter,” Stefani got back with to her band called No Doubt. After six years of working with them, she released “Baby Don’t Lie” as a precursor to restart her career as a solo artist.

As of now, the song is available to the public and is clearly acting as Stefani’ first and decisive strike meant to show that she can hold herself up solo. However, for a decisive attack it is very confused, and perhaps a sign of desperation for approval and fame.

But first let’s list the positive aspects. The song is fast paced and fun. It is great for dances in parties, clubs or proms. The song keeps a steady beat throughout and works in a repeating pattern making it just right for synchronized dancing.

The lyrics, unfortunately, fall in the same trap as many other great artists’ songs do. “Baby Don’t Lie” ends up as another love song in a market that is overflowing with artists singing about love. However, for all the lyrical issues it has, the words are at least memorable, perhaps because of how often they are repeated. And this catchiness shows, as the song ranked number 22 in the US Mainstream Top 40 of Billboard magazine on Oct. 20.

The strangest thing about the song are the visuals of its official video. Stefani uses a mix of 1940s/50s fashion mixed with surrealist art. This looks interesting at first, but what is the purpose? The song doesn’t prompt any of this. It’s about a girl questioning a boy if he loves her. At no point is any surrealism required. The only sensible reason to use this style is to gain attention and to impress the audiences by looking weird.

Looking weird just to gain attention isn’t a good thing. In both popular media and real life it just comes off as desperate and needy, and such behavior only leads me to believe that Gwen Stefani is worried she doesn’t have much in store.