"Hollaback Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, Love.

The single topped the charts in Australia and reached the top-ten in several other countries, including Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

A music video with Stefani as a cheerleader at a California high school was released on March 21, 2005, and was directed by Paul Hunter.

Stefani has performed "Hollaback Girl" on numerous occasions, including on all three of her concert tours, and on several televised appearances.

As part of Gwen Stefani's vision of creating "a silly dance record",[2] she had worked with the Neptunes (Pharrell and Chad Hugo) during the early stages of writing songs.

She remarked how the album was missing an "attitude song", and she recalled a derogatory comment that grunge musician Courtney Love had made about her in an interview with Seventeen magazine: "Being famous is just like being in high school.

[10] In an appearance on Campbell's YouTube talk show No Filter, Pharrell stated that she had responded to someone trying to speak, "I'm sorry, I have a name.

[14] Most of the harmonic content of the song revolves around a two-chord alternation which music theorists may regard as an L (leading tone) transformation, in which the root of the major chord is lowered by a half-step to form a second inversion minor chord on the third scale degree, a slight tonicization of B major, but resolving back to D♯ minor by having the same A♯, a perfect fourth down from D♯.

Music's Jennifer Nine described it as a "stomping, stripped-back" track,[20] and Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted that it had the "thumping, minimal beats" of the Neptunes.

Baby., Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone gave the song a positive review, writing that "Stefani's gum-snapping sass brings out the beast in her beatmasters, especially the Neptunes in 'Hollaback Girl'.

[24] On the other hand, Jason Damas, in a review for PopMatters, felt that the song sounds "almost exactly like Dizzee Rascal", and added, "Lyrically, this is where Gwen sinks the lowest here, especially on a breakdown where she repeats, 'This shit is bananas / B-A-N-A-N-A-S!'

[25] Eric Greenwood of Drawer B called the song "moronic and embarrassingly tuneless," while also writing "I'd quote the lyrics, but they're so bad, I almost feel sorry for her.

"[26] Nick Sylvester of Pitchfork also criticized the track, referring to it as a "Queen pastiche [...] which has about as much club potential as a 13-year old with a milk moustache and his dad's ID".

[34] It ended the nine-week run of 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" featuring Olivia, and maintained the number-one position for four consecutive weeks.

[47] "Hollaback Girl" was successful in Canada, where the song debuted and peaked at number 12 on the Canadian Singles Chart.

[48] However, Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), later argued that based on Canada's population relative to the US, the single should have sold around 120,000 copies and that the comparatively lower sales of 25,000 were a sign that the Canadian copyright law should be tightened to discourage non-commercial peer-to-peer file sharing.

[56] The music video for "Hollaback Girl" was directed by Paul Hunter and filmed in the Van Nuys and Reseda neighborhoods of Los Angeles, California.

Stefani and the Harajuku Girls then drive down Sherman Way past Magnolia Science Academy to Birmingham High School in a 1961 Chevrolet Impala, accompanied by the crowd.

[57][58] Stefani and the group cause a commotion when they disrupt a football game by walking onto the field and when they go to a 99 Cents Only Store and throw cereal and other food products down an aisle.

Throughout the video, there are intercut sequences of choreographed dancing filmed in a sound stage, intended to represent Stefani's imagination.

The complete version of "Hollaback Girl" featured in the music video was released commercially through CD singles and digital downloads.

[67] Stefani did not attend the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, prompting rumors that she was protesting her lack of nominations the previous year, her multiple losses to Kelly Clarkson, and her not having been asked to perform.

[68] Stefani denied the rumors, responding, "the only reason I am not attending the MTV Video Music Awards is because I will be recording and spending time with my family.

"[68] Stefani has performed "Hollaback Girl" on several occasions, including on two of her concert tours, in addition to several appearances on TV shows.

During the majority of the 2005 Harajuku Lovers Tour, Stefani sang the single as an encore performance, where she wore a drumming costume and encouraged the audience to sing along with her.

[70][71] During The Sweet Escape Tour, she performed the song in the middle of the show wearing sparkly red shorts and an argyle jacket atop a L.A.M.B.

[84] Stefani later requested to contribute vocals on "I Wanna Yell" from Atias's debut album Together as One,[85] and was featured on his song "Allnighter".

[86] "Weird Al" Yankovic reportedly had plans to record a parody of the song for his new album Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006, called "Holodeck Girl", but it never came to fruition.

Later that year, Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship recorded a parody of the song titled "Hollaback Boy".

[87] Stefani also performed a "countrified version" of Hollaback Girl part of a skit on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where the host portrayed the character Buck Pinto promoting a fictitious album Gwen's Gone Country.