As my editor handed me Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson’s first solo album, “The Dutchess,” I smiled in anticipation and excitement of hearing her sing alone. The morning after I received the CD, I played it expecting to here upbeat hip-hop songs similar to “My Humps,” which she did with her bandmates, the Black Eyed Peas. Unfortunately, if this were true, it probably would’ve made the album better.

The first track of the album, the already popularized, “Fergalicious”, and the fourth track, “London Bridges” are reminiscent of “My Humps.” These tracks may have been decent, but who would want to listen to songs that have the same topic and similar beats continuously? Eventually people are bound to get bored with Fergie singing about her body and how “[she’s] such a lady but [she’s] dancing like a hoe.” It’s not exactly like these song are solos either, they both feature bandmate Will.I.Am. The majority of the other tracks were abysmal. I meant to workout to the music, not crawl up in ball and cry in pain while trying to rip out my ear drums.

The only other song I managed to enjoy was “Glamorous”, sung with rap artist Ludacris. In this song, Fergie sings about the glamorous life of being a star, and how she still is the same person she was before the fame. Although I enjoyed the song, I couldn’t help but to think of J.Lo’s “Jenny from the Block.”

The strangest song would have to be the 11th track on the album, “Mary Jane Shoes.” The track begins with a slow Caribbean beat and then switches to a more upbeat rock tempo. The Caribbean beat makes me think of sipping juice from a coconut and tanning on the beach, not a pair of shoes. The change in music was surprising, but it still couldn’t save the song. It’s a completely unoriginal idea and is growing to be a cliché; how many times do we have to listen to someone sing about shoes? There’s been Run D.M.C. with “Adidas”, Nelly with “Air Force Ones”, and more recently, The Pack with “The Vans Song.” Sure I love my collection of shoes, but I don’t intend to write a song about each of them.

When “Finally”, the last track, ended I thought to myself, finally it’s over. The song had a slow, somewhat classical tempo, which is unexpected from Fergie. It had to be the worst song on the album. The song is about Fergie’s inner growth and beginning to hold faith. Although this may sound like a great thing to sing about, it seemed like Fergie struggled just to hit the high notes singing corny lines such as “Something strange and new is happening, Finally, Now my life doesn’t seem so bad, Its the best that I’ve ever had.” Well, of course it’s the best you’ve ever had Fergie, it’s the only life you’ve ever had.As much as I love Fergie, I was completely disappointed with her solo album. None of the songs or ideas seemed original. Hopefully, if there’s any attempt for a second album, it will be better than this one.

Rate: 2 out of 5 stars