Gwen Stefani and Jimmy Fallon Reimagine 'Hollaback Girl' Using Classroom Instruments — and It's Bananas

Mar. 15, 2025

Jimmy Fallon, Gwen Stefani and The Roots on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’.Photo:Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

Gwen Stefaniain’t no hollaback girl.

On Tuesday, Nov. 26, the “Cool” singer,Jimmy FallonandThe Rootsjammed out to her 2004 hit song “Hollaback Girl” on classroom instruments — and it was indeed bananas.

Stefani, 55, aptly used a banana as a microphone. Fallon, 50, started with a kazoo and banged on a drum. The Roots also performed with child-friendly instruments and with silver pompoms in hand as a wink to the lyrics.

The song was accentuated with a handheld xylophone, maracas, tambourine and hand clappers, making for a playful rendition of the beloved pop classic.

“Every time I have to spell the word ‘bananas’ I sing this song to help me remember how many ‘nana’s are in it,” another added.

“Thanks to this song many people learned to spell bananas, thank you for the education Gwen,” a third said.

Jimmy Fallon, Gwen Stefani and The Roots in 2024.Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

This is the first time Fallon brought the classroom instruments segment back since March 2024, whenBill Murray and Ernie Hudson performed theGhostbusterstheme song.

Previous segments included theBackstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” in 2018,Ed Sheeran singing “Shape of You"in 2017, andAdele’s “Hello"in 2015.

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“I had made a style Bible. This is before we had internet the way we do now, but I had torn every magazine, everything from makeup images, to hair, to clothes, to musical references. Everything was collected.”

As for “Hollaback Girl,“The Voicecoach said she “knew what kind of song I was going to write.”

Gwen Stefani performs on Nov. 18, 2024.Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

“I had been so put down that I was like, ‘I’m just going to show them what I got.’ It was that attitude when I went in the studio, and I was like, ‘OK, this is the cheerleader I always wanted to be, and I want it to sound like a marching band.’ Then he goes, ‘I’m going to go eat. I’ll be back. Finish up.’ "

“Then we did the ‘bananas’ part, and we knew after we wrote it — we just made a cultural collision,” she continued. “We were jumping up on the couch, and we got the champagne.”

source: people.com