It’s been fifteen years since Gwen Stefani released her debut solo album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby, which featured an ode to her love of the Tokyo neighborhood, Harajuku, and its influence on the fashion world. While she has been criticized for cultural appropriation in the years since, Gwen Stefani says she doesn’t regret her “Harajuku Girls” era, and that it was a decision made out of love for “a culture I was a superfan of.”

The singer reflected on Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in a recent interview with Billboard, in which she revealed that she gets “defensive” when people accuse her of cultural appropriation for her 2004 album and promotional campaign. “When [the album] first came out, I think people understood that it was an artistic and literal bow down to a culture that I was a super fan of,” Stefani told the magazine, referring to the district in Tokyo and the colorful, over-the-top style culture it created.

“This album was like a dream. I went in thinking I’m going to make something that could never be possible — me doing a dance record — come true,” she said. “When the Harajuku Girls came out, [my reaction] was like, you’re not even real, you’re a dream. It wasn’t like, ‘You’re not real because you’re Asian.’ Are you kidding me? That would be horrifying!”

“I wanted to write a song that talked about my love for Harajuku,” Stefani explained about the origins of her song, “Harajuku Girls” and the group of backup…