After two successful albums with the Black Eyed Peas, Fergie goes solo with The Dutchess. Fergie, however, has said she'll be staying with the Peas and just working on her solo career in addition to work with her old group. Her debut keeps the Peas' style (Will.I.Am from the Peas produces many of the songs) while showing off her own talents.
The title, The Dutchess, is a misspelled version of the Duchess of York, the title previously held by Sarah Ferguson, with who Fergie shares a last name and nickname.
Making an offhand reference to a duchess is about as classy as this album gets. Fergie constantly throws conventions out the door amid lyrics so shallow they're irresistible.
She demonstrates this right away with her first single, "London Bridge" which takes nursery school rhymes and turns them into an expletive-filled club tune.
"London Bridge" was the love-it-or-hate-it song of the summer. Those who were against it must have missed the memo that Fergie's not trying to outclass anyone with lyrics like "I'm such a lady, but I'm dancing like a ho / 'Cause you know / I don't give a f---, so here we go!"
Instead, naysayers should've spent a little more time noticing the sassy vocals, thumping beat and the brilliantly simple refrain. Though if you didn't like the single, every track on the album has a style all its own. There's something for everyone.
Fergie demonstrates this knack of switching styles throughout the album and even within individual tracks. "Mary Jane Shoes" starts with as reggae, switches to blasting ska and finally ends as a piano jazz number. Fergie manages to make it all work while keeping it in her uplifting style
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