READ A BIT OF POP MUSIC’S FULL DOUBLE DUTCHESS ALBUM REVIEW

Fergie announces second album and drops two new tracks
Whatever happens next month, Fergie will go down in history as one of the artists with the biggest gaps between dropping the first single of an album and actually releasing the album itself. Back in September 2014 she released the single ‘L.A. Love’ and now she finally announced that her second studio album Double Dutchess will arrive on the 22nd of September. Three years, ladies and gentlemen! Either way, it is a victory in itself that Fergie managed to get an official release date for the record as an early version already leaked. Singles ‘L.A. Love’ and ‘M.I.L.F. $’ only achieved moderate success, while ‘Life Goes On’, the best of the singles so far if you ask me, failed to make any impact. Now she tries again with a double single release ‘Hungry’ (featuring Rick Ross) and ‘You Already Know’ with Nicki Minaj.

‘Hungry’ will serve as the album opener of Double Dutchess, which explains why it has a relatively long intro and feels more like some sort of interlude than a full track. Therefore I am not so sure this works as a promo single. The lyrics however, fall short anyway. I can see they were intended as inspirational and powerful to show that Fergie still has ambitions, but to me they come across as stale. “Hungry, starving, not thirsty, just hungry, ambitious, still hungry”, just falls flat, no matter how confidently Fergie delivers it. Rick Ross delivers a decent rap that does not manage to change the course of the track.

There was a time where a Nicki Minaj feature would secure you a hit, but as she is coming dangerously close to overexposure as a guest rapper (this year alone she featured on singles by Jason Derülo, Katy Perry, David Guetta, Major Lazer, DNCE and more), this is not a given anymore. Having said that, ‘You Already Know’ does have some potential. After a few spins, the chorus becomes infectious and Fergie uses her voice in a different way, singing in a higher register. At times, the tone of her voice reminds of Kiesza of ‘Hideaway’ fame. At the same time, the track could have done with a bit more back bone in the production, both vocally as well as in the instrumental. From all the tracks Fergie released in the past three years though, this one appears to be the most current and hit worthy. Double Dutchess will be released on the 22nd of September, while the visual side of things Double Dutchess: Seeing Double will be shown in selected American theatres on the 20th.