A Deeper Look At 'The Dutchess'
Before Fergie became the hip-swinging, torso-popping, Grammy-winning pop royal she is today, she was a Wild Orchid, a voice-over talent and, most famously, a cast member of "Kids...
To be Released
09.19.2006
A Deeper Look At 'The Dutchess'
- 01 Fergalicious (feat. Will.I.Am) (4:52)
- 02 Clumsy (4:00)
- 03 All That I Got (The Make Up Song) (feat. Will.I.Am) (4:06)
- 04 London Bridge (4:01)
- 05 Pedestal (3:23)
- 06 Voodoo Doll (4:23)
- 07 Glamorous (feat. Ludacris) (4:07)
- 08 Here I Come (3:21)
- 09 Velvet (4:53)
- 10 Big Girls Don't Cry (4:28)
- 11 Mary Jane Shoes (feat. Rita Marley and the I-Three's) (3:55)
- 12 Losing My Ground (4:08)
- 13 Finally (feat. John Legend) (4:53)
Full Description
Before Fergie became the hip-swinging, torso-popping, Grammy-winning pop royal she is today, she was a Wild Orchid, a voice-over talent and, most famously, a cast member of "Kids Incorporated." She was also briefly a drug addict and struggled with a few dysfunctional relationships. And all these different Stacy Fergusons get a chance to speak out on The Dutchess (due September 19), the singer's "very autobiographical" first solo album and a childhood dream come true.
"Every song has its own character," she tells MTV News. "They use different pieces of my voice and that's what I want to express, 'cause it's fun."
Fergie says "London Bridge" was an obvious pick for the first single, "because it was so strong and aggressive" -- two of the many dimensions of her personality that she explores on a set that showcases "a lot of vulnerability."
"It's funny, because I'm a singer and this single doesn't have a lot of singing to it," Fergie says about the song, noting that she has "very eclectic taste." "It's more of a chant-y type of record."
Bob Marley's widow Rita contributed vocals to "Mary Jane's Shoes." Fergie gushes that having Marley on the track was "quite an honor for me. I kind of get to play Bob Marley in that song," which she calls a "beautiful reggae song."
Elsewhere, Ludacris makes an appearance on "Glamorous," while Cypress Hill's B Real shows up on "Thriller Man," which is Fergie's take on his group's track "How I Could Just Kill a Man." "Basically she took the song and switched the story around to suit it to her and put the female touch on it," B Real explains. "She did the same chorus, she even did my same rhyme style, but she sung it. She did it justice."
According to Fergie's fellow Black Eyed Pea Will.I.Am -- who executive-produced the disc -- "Fergalicious" is a song where the singer is "just being sassy and flaunting her stuff from a strong female perspective, paying homage to Salt-N-Pepa."
On other tracks, Fergie takes on female empowerment from more serious angles: "[It's] her singing for young girls to be strong, and what they're going through in life, just growing up in this world of uncertainty," he says. As Fergie puts it, "This album is kind of introducing myself to people who don't really know who I am. I don't know if a lot of people know what I've been through and all the different phases of my life."
The album is also a reflection of the different phases of her current life. Because the Peas were on the road for so much of the year, Fergie wound up recording in some unusual locales: "'Clumsy' was recorded in the John Lennon bus [a traveling music education lab run by the John Lennon Songwriting Contest] -- like in a parking lot in Pittsburgh right next to Shakey's [Pizza Parlor]," she recalls. "To be able to record on the road, that's a task and a half."
-- provided by MTV News
"Every song has its own character," she tells MTV News. "They use different pieces of my voice and that's what I want to express, 'cause it's fun."
Fergie says "London Bridge" was an obvious pick for the first single, "because it was so strong and aggressive" -- two of the many dimensions of her personality that she explores on a set that showcases "a lot of vulnerability."
"It's funny, because I'm a singer and this single doesn't have a lot of singing to it," Fergie says about the song, noting that she has "very eclectic taste." "It's more of a chant-y type of record."
Bob Marley's widow Rita contributed vocals to "Mary Jane's Shoes." Fergie gushes that having Marley on the track was "quite an honor for me. I kind of get to play Bob Marley in that song," which she calls a "beautiful reggae song."
Elsewhere, Ludacris makes an appearance on "Glamorous," while Cypress Hill's B Real shows up on "Thriller Man," which is Fergie's take on his group's track "How I Could Just Kill a Man." "Basically she took the song and switched the story around to suit it to her and put the female touch on it," B Real explains. "She did the same chorus, she even did my same rhyme style, but she sung it. She did it justice."
According to Fergie's fellow Black Eyed Pea Will.I.Am -- who executive-produced the disc -- "Fergalicious" is a song where the singer is "just being sassy and flaunting her stuff from a strong female perspective, paying homage to Salt-N-Pepa."
On other tracks, Fergie takes on female empowerment from more serious angles: "[It's] her singing for young girls to be strong, and what they're going through in life, just growing up in this world of uncertainty," he says. As Fergie puts it, "This album is kind of introducing myself to people who don't really know who I am. I don't know if a lot of people know what I've been through and all the different phases of my life."
The album is also a reflection of the different phases of her current life. Because the Peas were on the road for so much of the year, Fergie wound up recording in some unusual locales: "'Clumsy' was recorded in the John Lennon bus [a traveling music education lab run by the John Lennon Songwriting Contest] -- like in a parking lot in Pittsburgh right next to Shakey's [Pizza Parlor]," she recalls. "To be able to record on the road, that's a task and a half."
-- provided by MTV News
