Hungry (ft. Rick Ross): The intro is really fascinating, but a little confusing. From there, this song just kind of feels like discount Nicki Minaj. Honestly, this doesn’t even sound like Fergie, it sounds like someone’s been listening to way too much Nicki (and, to an extent, Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow") and they wanted to sound too much like a ripoff. Rick Ross’s verse didn’t win me over, and neither did the hook. And I’ll be honest, I listened to this one twice in a row and still don’t really like it that much. Damn, I’m already sensing disappointment for the rest of this.
Like It Ain’t Nuttin: I like the piano track on this one and it’s a rather funky throwback to 90’s hip-hop that’s unfortunately held back by a pretty terrible hook. It’s not catchy at all, in fact, it’s more annoying than anything else. No way will I be listening to this again after this review.
You Already Know (ft. Nicki Minaj): Alright, this is a bit more like it. I like the funkiness of this one, the flow on the verses, and Fergie’s performance is pretty good outside of the annoying “this is how I do” part of the chorus. Oh, and Nicki Minaj is featured on this track, and as you’d expect, her lyrics and performance on her verse are strong. That said, the interlude at the end comes damn close to killing the song entirely. Overall, it’s not a great song by any means, but it’s decent overall, and it’s better than the first two songs.
Just Like You: This definitely feels more Fergie to me, and I actually really like it. Fergie’s vocals and performance are strong, the hook is rock-solid, and the instrumental is pretty strong. This is probably the first legitimately good song on this album, and I think it might even stick with me after this review.
A Little Work: It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but I always say, I’m fine with a song sounding familiar if there’s some kind of charm or excitement to make it worth it, and I think Fergie’s strong performance and passionate vocals more than make up for the song’s “familiarity.” I also really like the lyrics and, even if they’re a bit cliché, the song as a whole is still a really nice listen.
Life Goes On: Another song that sounds pretty familiar, and while it’s kinda catchy, I’m not really crazy about the lyrics on this one. And again, even though Fergie’s performance is solid for most of the song, the third verse does start to break into that “discount Nicki Minaj” territory I was talking about earlier. And the outro on this thing is really weird. Not a bad song, not a great one though.
M.I.L.F. $: …what did I just listen to? Uhh, I’m very confused, so I’ll just say that the song isn’t good, Fergie again sounds like “discount Nick Minaj,” and the lyrics…yeah, next song, please!
Save It Til Morning: Huh? We went from whatever the hell M.I.L.F. $ was to an acoustic song? Odd. Either way, while this is another song that sounds familiar, I do like Fergie’s vocals and lyrics, and the lighter, acoustic guitar and instrumental as a whole are pretty strong. I’m not sure about this one as a whole, though, it might grow on me in the future.
Enchanté (Carine) (ft. Axl Jack): I thought it was cute that Fergie included her child speaking French in the intro. The instrumental on this one is très bien, and the song itself sounds great, but I just don’t think it’ll get many repeat listens out of me. Fergie’s performance just wasn’t really that memorable to me. En général, la chanson est décent, mais ce n’est pas fantastique.
Tension: This song actually gives me some old-school Fergie vibes, which is a really good thing in this case. The instrumental is really strong, the hook is good, Fergie’s performance is great, and again, the song just feels pretty fun. I really like this one!
L.A.LOVE (la la) (ft. YG): Unfortunately, after a standout track, this one is a bit of a step backward for me. It’s not a bad track, but again, we have Fergie with an unoriginal performance and a boring, unmemorable hook. Oh, and YG’s verse, while not bad, is nothing really worth listening to again. Not a terrible track, and far from the album’s worst, but also far from the best.
Love Is Blind: While this song is pretty interesting and different sounding from a lot of the other tracks on this thing, I can’t say I love it. Fergie’s vocals are good as usual, and the slower sound and instrumental sound pretty good, but I don’t find the hook very memorable and the interlude, beyond being unnecessary, just isn’t exciting. Probably not gonna go back to this song after this review.
Love Is Pain: What better way to end off an album than with a 7-minute track after a 5-minute one? Well, there’s a lot of other ways to end an album, but either way, this is a pretty nice finish to the record. Fergie’s broken, sad but still passionate vocals really add to the emotion of the song, the slower sound and beat on this one are really strong. That said, the ending of this track is downright scary and comes close to ruining the song for me. Did it need to be 7 minutes long? Maybe not, but either way, this is a pretty heartbreaking and very solid end to the album. I’m not sure I’ll be listening to this one a lot after the review, but it’s a pretty good track overall.
Overall, I’m a bit torn on what to make of this album. It started off extremely poorly and I immediately feared for the worse. Fortunately, things DID get better and this album luckily didn't fall into the bottom of the barrel, but even though there were some pretty memorable tracks, there were quite a few hiccups along the way *cough M.I.L.F. $ cough* and a lot of things just could’ve been tighter. It just didn’t feel like Fergie knew what she wanted to be. Though her more old-school sounding songs were great, I feel like Fergie didn’t feel comfortable just sticking to her guns, which is why she tried to “modernize” her sound with some songs that sounded like complete ripoffs of Nicki Minaj and (to a far lesser extent) other 2010s female rappers like Iggy Azalea and Cardi B. So, I think that the best term I can use to describe this album is “identity crisis.” Fergie doesn’t quite know what she wants to be, so she tries to blend both her old-school style and a new-school feel to this one. The result is that some of the album works, but some of it just kind of falls over itself. There were also some really weird, questionable interludes that nearly killed some of the decent tracks on this thing and also made the songs feel a bit too long. It definitely recovered from a terrible start, but unfortunately, this was a disappointing return for the Dutchess. You’d be better off just going back and listening to her old stuff.
Favorite tracks: Just Like You, A Little Work, Tension
Least favorite tracks: Hungry, Like It Ain't Nuttin, M.I.L.F. $
Rating: Okay
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