Does Fergie have any talent whatsoever?

[XemaSab]

:shrug:

[Odin2005]

1. I like her.

:shrug:

[Skittles]

2. this gal?

[Kali]

7. OMG

:wow:

[Blue_Tires]

24. If only more women got that excited about their chosen careers...

[jobycom]

3. Yes. nt

[JCMach1]

4. She is WillIam's muse! She must keep the poet of our time going

:sarcasm:

[Iggo]

5. She has a beautiful singing voice.

I'm not a fan of BEP music. But the girl can sing.

[Orrex]

6. I was slow in coming to that realization, but I believe that you're correct

Lots of character and range to her voice, even without autotune.

[Iggo]

8. Yeah, the autotune.

I understand it when they use it on disneypop singers. Those kids just can't sing. They got the gig cuz of their Tiger Beat looks.

But the BEPsters seem to be using it, as far as I can tell, because they like the sound of it. If that's what they're doing then they need to get the hell off my lawn.

[JonLP24]

9. Yes

[nickinSTL]

10. yes - unfortunately, lots of BEP songs are stupid

asinine and pointless.

A couple of her own are, as well (London Bridge, anyone?) - however, she has a couple songs that show she really does have talent.

She could be a really successful solo artist if she dumped some of the stupid, silly crap she sings.

[Captain Hilts]

26. I think of BEP kind of like the B-52s. They are fun. And that's got value. nt

[MiddleFingerMom]

11. Cementing my old-guy status...

.
...every time I see the name "Fergie", I think
of "Sarah, Duchess of York" and think to myself
how "abominably and commonly ODD it is for one
of Royal stature to have embarked on career in
entertainment".
.
I sample lots of stuff and am often delighted by
new musical experiences and styles in all sorts
of different genres, but I'm rarely am interested
in listening to pop "stars".
.
Never heard her work.
.
Not elitist -- just a little more selective in
what I'll spend time on now.
.

[MrCoffee]

83. I think the same exact thing!

I get all excited about the Dutchess of York, then it's the singer, and I get all disappointed that it isn't Sarah Ferguson.

So I have a bit of a thing for Sarah Ferguson, so what?

[MilesColtrane]

12. She's got her "lady lumps".

She's got those goin' for her.

[azmouse]

13. Who?

[blueamy66]

14. Yes.

She can sing and she can dance.

And she is hot!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

15. Hell no.

[leeroysphitz]

16. .

[LeftyFingerPop]

17. Yes, indeed she does.

And certainly, much more talent than anyone on DU has.

[graywarrior]

18. Everytime I've heard her sing live, she was off key

I am not a fan of that type of singing. But then, I like Tiny Tim.

[XemaSab]

19. It doesn't seem like singing to me

It seems like chanting. :shrug:

[Captain Hilts]

27. We're getting to the point where there are few top ten women who AREN't using autotune....

I think that leaves Mary Blige, Sade and Susan Boyle.

That's about it.

[ScreamingMeemie]

20. Yes, she can pee her pants on stage and still dance.

That's pretty talented.

[Danger Mouse]

21. No. In fact, she is a black hole of talent. Witness the Black-Eyed Peas...

a group featuring some real talent. Like, serious talent. Enter Fergie, and suddenly they start to suck, hard.

Yeah.

[Captain Hilts]

25. That's what I've heard. nt

[Orrex]

42. Ask the members of the BEP if they'd rather return to their pre-Fergie careers

Whatever might be said of their before-and-after talent, it can't be argued that their commercial success has exploded since her addition to the group. I wonder if the other members would happily sacrifice that success in favor of returning to their critically lauded past?

[XemaSab]

43. Why not write good songs for her to "sing"?

Also, if I got untold riches based on the T&A of the woman in the band, as opposed to writing and performing what I believed in, I'd be depressed. :(

[Orrex]

46. It's a sad fact that one measure of a song's "goodness" is whether or not it sells

By that measure, their current catalog is much "better" than their pre-Fergie stuff.

And who's to say that they aren't currently writing and performing what they currently believe in? Do you suppose they originally set out to be critically successful but commercially obscure paupers?

[Danger Mouse]

51. They chose money over quality. Simple as that.

[Orrex]

52. So?

Would it be better if they were starving (or at least grossly underpaid) while recording their "quality" music?

How so?

[Danger Mouse]

54. Not judging, or saying I wouldn't have done the same.

:shrug:
But I don't have to like her, or the music they put out.

I don't think Fergie has talent. I think the other members of the Black-Eyed Peas DO have talent.

[Orrex]

55. Fair enough.

I think, when you get right down to it, many (if not most) artists in the past few decades have sacrificed elements of their artistic vision for the sake of finance, at least the artists that have any name-recognition beyond their fanbase.

[redqueen]

74. Oh but James Cameron should just be poor, though...

right?

[Orrex]

79. So you're saying that anyone who enjoyed Avatar should like Fergie?

Interesting.

It also seems to me that there's a difference between a product that cost a third of a trillion dollars to make and pretty much anything else that didn't cost a third of a trillion dollars to make.

[applegrove]

22. "my humps my humps my lovely lady humps" LOL!

[XemaSab]

23. Check it out!

:o

[Richardo]

28. I'm old enough that when I see the name 'Fergie' I still think of the Duchess of York first.

SO much better.

[blueamy66]

29. You're kidding, right?

Sarah? Ugh.

Fergie is hot. Sarah is blah.

[Richardo]

32. Any woman who describes herself using the words 'humps', 'lumps' and 'bumps' will never be hot...

...in my book. God that's some horrible shit.

[blueamy66]

38. Thank goodness

not everyone feels the same as you do.

Bring on the music Fergie!

[redqueen]

67. LOL

[seabeyond]

30. me too.... lol. nt

[peekaloo]

31. Fergie

Jenkins!

[Richardo]

33. !!

[Inchworm]

39. Doh!

I passed this thread 100x thinking the same :rofl:

I'm just a pup! (honest) ;)

:hi:

[Lurks Often]

34. Not really

In 5 years, maybe 10 tops, she'll be gone and people will be saying "Fergie? You mean the Duchess of York?"

Just another in a long list of manufactured stars, who owe their success more to their looks then any actual talent. If Fergie weighed 350 pounds and was ugly, would she still be a star?

[Orrex]

41. That same criticism can be made about nearly everyone in entertainment

Honestly, in the whole spectrum of film, music, and television, how many ugly 350-pound stars can you name? In fact, can you name any 350-pound ugly stars in the past 50 years of entertainment? Let's omit Orson Welles and Marlon Brando, because both of them established their bona fides long before their weight got out of control.


In essence, that criticism is facile and meaningless, because it applies equally to talentless hacks and sublime geniuses. At least, it's not a useful criticism of the performers; it may be a valid criticism of society, but even that is open to debate.

[Lurks Often]

58. Missed the point

there was a certain amount of sarcastic exaggeration in " how many ugly 350-pound stars can you name?".

The point I was trying to make is that currently the entertainment industry values looks over talent and that Fergie is yet another in a list of attractive people with at best, average talent.

[Orrex]

77. "Sarcastic exaggeration?" Not really.

You charged that Fergie has a level of talent wouldn't render her popular if she were 350 pounds and ugly. To assess the fairness of your critique, I asked you to name a star in the last 50 years of the entertainment industry who was 350 pounds and ugly.

If you can't name any, then you're holding Fergie to a standard to which you don't hold others.

You don't think that she has sufficient talent to offset ugliness and a 350-pound physique? Fine. In the entertainment industry, who, in your view, is sufficiently talented to offset such physical characteristics? Anyone? Anyone at all?

[Lurks Often]

80. Let's see

Jane Monheit
The Rolling Stones
Frank Sinatra
Otis Taylor
BB King
Etta James
Mark Knopfler
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Dinah Washington
Ella Fitzgerald
Shirley Manson
Los Lobos
Sarah Vaughn
Van Morrison

And of that list, only Jane Monheit and Shirley Manson would probably be considered above average in looks

[Orrex]

82. You're skipping half of your criteria

Of that list, how many were/are 350 pounds?


I eagerly await your followup.

[Crabby Appleton]

35. Well, she can do this

[mkultra]

36. i like her humps

[Rambis]

37. He can put them away

[redqueen]

70. LOL... that's who I think of first when I hear the name as well.

Lovely result from the Rovers game. :7

Pity Bolton couldn't do us a favor, though. x(

[Rambis]

76. Up the Arse!

openly routing for the gunners to win the title since Liverpool football club have imploded!

[TZ]

40. Yes. She can actually sing

However given the crap she chooses to sing, it really doesn't appear that way. She really irks me, becaue unlike Brittany Spears she does HAVE talent, she just squanders it.

[blue_onyx]

44. I love how people...

feel the need to bash Britney Spears in topic that have nothing to do with her. I guess it makes some people feel superior.

BTW, Britney does have talent. One doesn't become as successful as she has been with no talent.

[TZ]

45. She has talent with auto tune.

I've heard her sing live. She cannot stay in key! I'll give her being a fantastic performer, but whatever singing ability she had as a child has disappeared. She's heavily studio produced. Its common now. Even people like Madonna who once could sing live can't anymore.

Have you ever heard her when she's not lip synching? I would bet you haven't. Even in concert she doesn't perform live.

[blue_onyx]

49. Yes, I have heard her sing live

She sounds pretty much like the CD version. Here's a few live performances I think are good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uliW3Uek7NU

http://video.nate.com/clip/view?video_seq=205124398

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63ycag5iIkE&feature=related

She certainly isn't the best singer but these are live performances without auto-tune. She sounds like she does on the CD. You may not like how she sounds on the CD or live but these performance show that what you get on the CD is what you get live.

She usually sings using playback at her concerts (singing along with a pre-recorded track). So she is singing but not completely live. She does lip-sync too but so do many, many singers. For some reason, she's the only one that people criticize for that.

Her voice is different now than when she was a child. I've read that her record company felt her voice wasn't pop/commercial enough and worked with her to help her sing in a higher pitch.

[mvd]

57. I'm with you to a degree on Britney

I think sometimes it's the material that's better than her as a talent, but there are certainly worse singers (Miley Cyrus IMO). I'd say Britney's voice is underrated.

Ke$ha, who I like more than Britney, also has an underrated voice. I think pop is too often automatically criticized.

Back to Fergie: she can sing a little better than Britney, but has no "Baby One More Time." You know one of my favorite Britney songs that isn't mentioned much? "Brave New Girl." In fact, I like most of In The Zone. Usually Britney is hit and miss for me.

[TZ]

59. I personally think Christina Aquilera is more talented

than either Britney and Fergie. I still think that singing is NOT Britney's big talent. AND I wonder how much of her career got a boost from being a mouseketeer. That was a built in audience right there.
I don't think success and talent have as much correlation as people think. There are many very talented but unsuccessful artists and many successful but not very talented artists as well.
I think in many ways, luck is more important than hard work as well.
I've heard much better vocals performing in local nightclubs, to be honest.
As for only Britney getting criticized for lip sync...Not true. Look at Madonna and whats Ashlee Simpson sister that really CANNOT sing live...And got justifiably criticized lip syncing on SNL.

[blue_onyx]

62. Her career got very little help from being mouseketer

She was 11 when she was on the Mickey Mouse Club. Her first CD came out when she was 17. I doubt most people would've even remembered she was from the MMC if it wasn't for the media mentioning it.

I don't like Christina Aguilera. Her voice is great but her music isn't very good. Her new song (Not Myself Tonight) sounds like a song that wasn't good enough to make Britney's Blackout CD. Dance/pop doesn't fit her voice well.

"As for only Britney getting criticized for lip sync...Not true."

There are a lot of people who have had lip-synced and don't get criticize, including Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, and Justin Timberlake. It seems some get overlooked for lip-syncing.

[mvd]

64. I agree on Christina

Vocally, yes, she's pretty good. I still maintain that there are better vocalists, though. I give her credit for trying something different on Back To Basics, but thought the CD was pretty front-loaded with the good songs.

[blue_onyx]

68. I thought Back to Basics was pretty bad.

I didn't like it at all. There was only one song, Hurt, that was ok.

Her first CD wasn't very good either. Genie in a Bottle was the only song I liked. I thought Stripped was a good CD. I liked Dirty and Fighter.

I'm not a fan but I do like some of her songs so I will give her new CD a listen. I hope it's better than Not Myself Tonight. From what I've read, she tried to work with producers who weren't very popular. The problem is the first single ended up sounding like a typical, generic dance/pop song.

[mvd]

71. I also like "Genie In A Bottle"

I like Back To Basics a little more than Stripped, but like you, I think it will be interesting to hear what the new album is like. Haven't heard the fist single yet.

[blue_onyx]

72. The first single is posted on her website.

In case you want to hear it.

[mvd]

73. Thanks - the new single isn't very good IMO. Falls flat.

"Genie In A Bottle" and "Fighter" are much better IMO.

[blue_onyx]

63. I completely disagree about Kesha

She's one of the only singers that I change the radio station to avoid. Her voice in whiny and annoys me. The chorus of Tic Tok doesn't bother me but I usually can't make it that far before changing the channel. I don't think she'll have a long career.

Yes, I like "Brave New Girl." In The Zone was her best CD. I love "Breathe On Me" and wish it had been released has a single.

[mvd]

65. To each his own

We like pop music, but don't always agree about it. Ke$ha, to me, has some of that early Madonna catchiness, and the album is very fun. But even though we disagree sometimes, I enjoy having someone here to talk pop music with. :hi:

[Orrex]

47. A friend of mine several years ago made a great observation:

"Even if you have the best boobs and ass in the business, you don't get to where she is without being talented and working really hard."

When I hear her older (pre-autotune) vocals, I'm still impressed by her pipes. She's not the best singer ever, but she could certainly hold her own.

Besides which, anyone who thinks that the music business is solely (or even primarily) about singing hasn't been paying attention for the last 40 years or so.

[blue_onyx]

50. Good observation

Your friend is right. She has worked hard and given up a lot to achieve the success she has.

She use to sing live most of the time when she first started performing. I guess you have to prove yourself when you first start out. Singing live is difficult. I've heard great singers (Mariah Carey, for example) sound awful live. A lot people lip-sync but Britney is the only one who gets criticized.

[TZ]

60. Dude.

I've heard so many many better voices in local clubs its not even funny. And yeah, it hasn't been about vocal talent for awhile. And I'm pretty sure that there's a whole lot of luck involved. I know plenty of attractive, talented musicians who work really hard who will NEVER be famous.

[Orrex]

66. Well, in other threads I've discussed how luck is the second biggest factor in success.

The first being "make sure that your parents are rich or well-placed," which is also a function of luck, of course.

Sure, there are countless talented singers out there, and no one will deny that. Ms. Spears has been at this since she was a toddler, though, so it can't be said that she hasn't been working the industry for nearly all of her life.


But even if we reduce it simply to a question of luck and hard work (in whatever ratio), that's very different from some people's complaint that this or that singer only achieved success by virtue of T&A.

[TZ]

69. True. I however am beginning to see the point of resident lounge music snob Symarip

The more I explore the underground/independent music scene the less impressed I am with mainstream "talent". There are some really wonderful musicians out there that will NEVER get attention from the population at large.

[Orrex]

75. A valid point, and sadly it's always been that way.

As a more extreme example, a lot of non-mainstream black musicians have been wholly overlooked by the various format conversions (LP to tape, tape to CD, etc.) Some of these are available via online radio, but these are rare, and in many cases the copyrights are still held by big labels who don't want to bother remastering and reissuing them, so the artists are effectively forgotten to music history.

Hell, the same basic idea is true of lots of artistic endeavors, unfortunately.


Just think of what a successful author I could be if I had better boobs and knew how to shake my ass.

[Rabrrrrrr]

48. She has the talent that all talentless pop stars have: the talent to fool people

and to pander to the lowest common denominator and profit off the stupidity of people.

[mvd]

53. Doesn't have a bad voice, but her songs are lacking

My favorite BEP song by far is "I Gotta Feeling," and she isn't the lead singer.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

56. Taste Test: The mega-hyped Jagger / U2 / Will.i.am / Fergie "Gimme Shelter"...

The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert, Oct. 30th, 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzgJ6Mkkd-w

...Compare Fergie's performance in the clip above to this one (The Stones with Lisa Fischer, Paradiso 1995, from the "Stripped" film):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JePvjyZ9K0A

[XemaSab]

78. I was deeply underwhelmed by Fergie in the first clip

She's not breathing correctly, her whole throat/mouth configuration is all off, and she really misses a few notes due to the aforementioned deficiencies.

That's Lisa Fischer? Girl can SANG. :D

[burrfoot]

61. I can't believe nobody

has mentioned Elephunk. Great album, Peas including Fergie.

I'm prepared to be attacked by pre-Fergie BEP-ers, but I stand by it. :evilgrin:

[Divameow77]

81. Yes

A talent for hiding the adams apple... Sorry I think she has a great body and a really unattractive face.

[Mad_Dem_X]

84. She can wet herself and keep singing.