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 LADY SOVEREIGN
Fergie Flies Solo With Her New Album The Dutchess
As The Black Eyed Peas wind down from touring, Fergie, the group’s sweetheart, i striking out on her own. What better time to call her at boyfriend Josh Duhamel’s house than the day after the first single off The Dutchess has topped the charts?
INSTINCT: Hey, Fergie! Congrats on “London Bridge” hitting number one!
FERGIE: Thank you! It’s so wonderful going to number one. I cried! I was a big baby all morning when I found out. It was absolutely the most wonderful thing.
Are you out celebrating?
I’m at my boyfriend’s house. I’m just in the final stages of doing my album. I was in the studio till 6 in the morning.
What’s up with this new song, “Fergalicious”?
It’s kind of a throwback to J.J. Fad. “Fergalicious” is a song that goes: [Singing] Fergalicious def-i-nition make the boys go loco / They want— [Laughs] They want my—
Oh, dear. This isn’t one for Grandma’s ears...
[Laughs] They want my treasures so they get their pleasures from my photo.
Oh, okay. So it’s a romantic ballad. Was it hard to tell the other guys in Black Eyed Peas that you wanted to do a solo record?
Oh, no. It wasn’t the plan that I was going to be in the Black Eyed Peas—that just sort of happened organically because we started working together musically and became really good friends. It’s been my life’s dream to have a solo record. It just took a while to get there. I was always in bands. It’s my time to spread my wings.
You’ve said before that people tend to think of you as more of a tomboy. Are you more in
between being girlie and being a tomboy?
Definitely. Right now, I’m in my Nike Cortez, my baggy jeans and my wife-beater, but tomorrow one of the band members is getting married, and I’m going to be wearing a little black dress. For me, it’s no big deal. I’ve been through many phases in my life, some more girlie than others. I feel good in all of the looks. In the video for “London Bridge,” I played with that a little bit. I’ve always wanted to do that androgynous thing, so we kind of toyed with that. I come in dressed as a boy…but with red heels, of course!
Do the guys in the band ever offend you?
Oh, when they’re talking about their bathroom issues, that’s my exit cue. [Laughs] But they talk about women all the time, of course, and their video game battles. But now I’m building my little gang. I’ve got my chola bodyguard. That’s a theme throughout my album. I wanted to not do the typical “Okay, let’s get a bunch of dancers” kind of thing. I wanted to have my own niche. I thought, What am I inspired by? And I’m inspired by that whole lowrider, cholo culture.
Were you raised around that in California?
I wasn’t dead-center in the middle of it, but I did experience some of it. I was very, very intrigued by it all. I had a lot of different types of friends and I wanted to pay homage to all that. That goes with a couple of the songs on my record, “Clumsy” being one of them: “Clumsy” because I keep falling in love. It samples “The Girl Can’t Help It,” an old song by Little Richard. I’ve got a Temptations sample. “All That I Got” is a beautiful love song. I’ve got more ballads on this album than a Black Eyed Peas album would.
It sounds a bit more diverse for you.
Yeah! With Wild Orchid, the gay community was so supportive. So some people know—but a lot of people don’t know—that I’m a singer first. Even though I love doing songs like “My Humps,” “Fergalicious” and “London Bridge”—because those are like a lot of idols I had when I was younger, like Queen Latifah and all the female MCs—I also loved Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, you know?
You’ve spoken before about the Wild Orchid period not being the best time in your life. What were a few of the good experiences from then?
There were lots of them! I’m actually writing with Stefanie now! We’re friends. The girls and I are cool. They were my sisters. I mean, opening for Cher was unbelievable! That was a huge tour and big experience for us. That gave me a taste of hugeaudiences, and her shows are just so elaborate.
Crystal meth is a problem in the gay community and something that you’ve struggled with in the past. How did you overcome all that?
It’s really fun and cute at first, but then it gets really not fun and ugly at the end. I just want to say to anyone who’s thinking about doing it, if you pick it up, know that you’re getting into that and it’s very addictive. And I didn’t know how addictive it was. I have a couple of songs dealing with that on my record as well: “Voodoo Doll” and “Losing My Ground.” Getting into it was because of my childhood—I was a child actor, so pleasing people was a big part of it. I didn’t know how to leave Wild Orchid or express my feelings. I wasn’t finding any more creative outlets in Wild Orchid at the time, so I went into other realms and other ways of doing that. For me, it was creative expression, and I found it in the underground club scene, along with theater prior to that. I think theater was a much healthier choice! [Laughs] So, for anyone out there, I think fi nding a better, creative outlet that isn’t so damaging would be a smarter choice.
Last question.We always try to ask our “Chicks” if there’s a chick you’d switch for?
Oh my God! Hmm. Let’s look through my catalog.
We get a lot of “Angelina Jolie.”
I’m sure! Probably Dita Von Teese.
Yeah, she’s pretty Fergalicious.
Robbie Daw dishes out pop music news and sass daily on his site Chart Rigger .
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