Fergie
The Dutchess
on Interscope RecordsF

There's something about Fergie that begs any consideration of the Black Eyed Peas member to favor her antics over her recordings-her charisma, after all, is hardly a cult of personality.

Fergie joined the celebratory pop-rap group in 2003, and, thanks to hits like "Let's Get Retarded" and "Where is the Love?", the Black Eyed Peas became the largest crossover hip-hop act in the world. Their success, however, was at the expense of the approval of critics-not to mention their own genre. Kanye West joked in a Playboy interview this year that few rappers admit to liking the group.

But those Top 40 hits, and the Peas' mutinous jump to the mainstream, were eclipsed by Stacy Ferguson. Purportedly, she was the key to their success, but she never seemed in on the joke. Gossip blogs beamed when she peed her pants during a 2005 concert. That same year, she sang lead on "My Humps," with embarrassing lyrics ("My lovely lady lumps" ended the refrain) that were as entertaining as her vocals: She sounded like a hybrid between a crystal meth addict and a cartoon character patriated to South Central Los Angeles. In reality, she had been only one of those, of course.

Most luminaries would be content merely to record the worst pop song in recent memory. Not Fergie: on her solo debut, The Dutchess, she's outdone herself. The lead single "London Bridge" traipses through the same Baile Funk and reggae sounds employed recently by Paris Hilton and MySpace provocateur Lily Allen. Here, she's blithely sexual, but the produced reaction is disgust punctuated by amusement. How else could you respond to, "I'm Fergie Ferg, let me love you long time?"

The rest of the disc follows along the same lines. On the opening cut, "Fergielicious," producer and fellow Pea will.i.am produces and drops a few rhymes. His production is cold and proficient and sometimes inventive, but it can't compensate for his bandmate, who's as terrible a lyricist as she is a vocalist. The album's only saving grace is a collaboration with Ludacris, "Glamorous," in which Fergie sings through whispers to the sultry background of reverb-soaked trumpets. But the cut rests squarely at The Dutchess's center-25 minutes in and just past your attention span's threshold.