Watch any Black Eyed Peas video or performance, and it's hard to miss ghetto fashion plate and singer Fergie. She's the one who's typically prancing around like a stripper, chiming in on the odd line and singing the chorus.
Despite her ever presence, however, Fergie's individual artistic identity has remained nearly invisible.
Since she joined the Peas in 2003, her polished vocals and buxom model looks were widely credited with helping transform the group. Beyond giving them a touch of sexy elan, her contributions are somewhat nebulous as the Peas have had two multi-platinum records and become A-list producers with a virtual hip-hop/dance hit assembly line. They're now among the most recognized faces on every red carpet event. But, her offerings were always in a group context and no songs could clearly be identified as baring her personal stamp and sensibilities.
So, it's interesting that for her first foray as a solo artist, Fergie is musically all over the place. Her new album, "The Dutchess," covers an array of styles, from artificial funk and reggae knockoffs to '80s metal power ballads and R&B wailers. This isn't a cohesive record, but a series of well-produced tracks. Not all of them are singles, but each is cannily targeted toward appealing to a subset demographic of those who might buy pop records. This approach can make the record more interesting by keeping listeners off balance, but it also makes it inconsistent.
Beyond being a bonus for her label's marketing department, the variety of genres on "The Dutchess" also deemphasize the fact that Fergie (real name Stacy Ferguson) is more of a Madonna figure than a vocal powerhouse. Like Gwen Stefani, Fergie's personality and indelible vocal mannerisms (think of a low-wattage Mariah Carey) largely outshine her delivering power or dexterity. By changing the musical scenery, however, producers Will.i.am (Peas bandmate) and others keep their star in advantageous positions and stay any creeping sense of vocal sameness.
Another kind of sameness serves the record well. The disc contains several tracks that could pass muster as Black Eyed Peas songs. The red-hot single "London Bridge" is a true a slice of elephant funk. Sounding like a marching band headed toward a dance club, the song is built on a bass drum that booms between a menagerie of muttering horns and baritone saxophone and her fellow Peas' recurring shoutouts. Always the seductress, Fergie raps in her sexiest voice and sells the album's most undeniable hook.
Similarly, the danceable "Fergalicious" is all clean, synthetic beats and tidy instrumentation. Will.i.am hotwires the news theme song from a New York TV station for the chorus but leaves most of the musical heavylifting to electro bass notes and other mechanical, fluttering sounds. Fergie rap/sings about her hip-hop pinup status and rejects anyone who thinks her toying with her sexuality makes her slutty, but she offers no candid reasons why she constantly plays the tease.
Other Will-produced songs are less enjoyable. "Here I Come," which is a P. Diddy-ish update of the Temptations' "Get Ready," is a readymade single. However, the track is so strong because it has that song's great Motown rhythms to drive it -- Will adds additional drums and bass -- but little truly original material. All Fergie really has to do though is keep with the song's pace. She could sing about seducing Osama bin Laden and this song would hit home.
"Clumsy," which features a sample of Little Richards' "Girl Can't Help It" during the chorus, is less obvious thievery but also less catchy. It feels that way because the verses have a minimalist electronic squawking that give the song an identity that separates itself in opposition from the sample's boogie-woogie intrusions. Beyond the mismatched tempos of the verses and choruses, another problem with the song is the uneven lyrics. While the plot of the song -- love is making Fergie embarrass herself -- could go somewhere, it features an embarrassing dull spoken-word bridge that should never have been born.
While the album's crashes can hog listeners' attention initially, there are several solid tracks, like "Losing My Ground," "Glamorous" and "Velvet," that are right below the album's top tier but are crowded to the record's shadows because they aren't as flashy or high energy.
Likewise, "Mary Jane Shoes" is a pleasing song, but it won't win Fergie any humanitarian awards. A love song to her favorite footwear, this cut could easily be a No Doubt demo sung with a sultry voice. The track has a traditional reggae rhythm created by pounding, thin piano chords and electronic syncopation. An extra perk are some lovely vocal harmonies from I-Threes, Bob Marley's former backup singers (including his widow). For the final third of the track, however, Fergie and the band give up the Jamaican charade and really channel No Doubt's rocking side with punk guitar riffing and peppier drumming. It's a twist but comes across more as a part tacked onto the end of a meandering song instead of growing organically out of it.
Even more curious is "Big Girls Don't Cry." The cut is part acoustic guitar ballad (akin to Extreme's "More Than Words") before the beats kick in and a string-filled, sweeping chorus gives us the signal to get a lighter out. The song is cheap and lightweight that merits any note only because of the odd lyrics. "I'm gonna miss you/Like a child misses that blanket," Fergie sings with much gravitas, which is a surprisingly insulting way to dismiss an ex.
Album closer "Finally" is big R&B production number that seems fitting for uber divas like Mariah and Whitney. Fergie sings powerful but stays within one range for almost all of the song, as a stately piano and swelling strings play lushly around her. To be blunt, she is more than a bit overmatched by the track's sentimentality and cinematic scope.
Scope is something of which "The Dutchess" has heaps. But what this record really tells us about Fergie's musical identity could be confusing. At varying points, she wants to be a crooner, a rapper, a sexy pop sprite and a sultry chanteuse. The true answer, however, is right before us. She wants to be a pop star.
For More Info: Previous Columns:Note: David's music column, Soundbytes, appears Wednesdays in our Entertainment section. He welcomes your questions and comments
