It’s hard to imagine that Fergie’s The Dutchess would be better than Gwen Stefani’s The Sweet Escape, especially considering the fact that Fergie is more or less doing her best Gwen Stefani impression. But in an attempt to make sure the Black Eyed Peas’ white girl didn’t steal her thunder, that’s exactly what happened. After the success of the surprisingly solid Love.Angel.Music.Baby, one would think that the No Doubt veteran would easily glide right past Fergie, but since she rushed out The Sweet Escape, sadly it’s not the case. 

    While L.A.M.B. was released just over two years ago, it seems like only a year has passed, since she rode that album throughout 2005, even peeking into 2006, with a massive six singles, led by the undeniable cheerleader-rap anthem, “Hollaback Girl”. The album was her first solo effort, backed by an eyebrow-raising team of certified hit producers, including The Neptunes (“Hollaback Girl”), Dr. Dre (“Rich Girl”), Andre 3000 (“Long Way To Go”), not to mention token pop producers Nellee Hooper and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. But that was then….

      So high off of her solo success, Stefani seems to believe that she can do no wrong. This couldn’t be more evident than it is on the album’s first single, “Wind It Up”, a complete mess that finds the Stefani rapping and yodeling (!) over a Neptunes beat influenced by the film, The Sound Of Music. She taps Pharrell and Chad again on “Yummy”, another strange Stefani rap song, this time sounding more like a sequel to Kelis’s “Milkshake” with a dash of Laid Back’s “White Horse”. Again, Stefani is all over the place with random hooks and strange beat change ups - but it ain’t no “Hollaback Girl”. The Neptunes usually stellar production takes a turn for the worse on both “Orange County Girl” and “Breakin’ Up”, both of which attempt to interpolate cheap, southern 808 styles for a terribly watered down, Casio keyboard sound. Gwen’s raps here are painful, to say the least.   

     As a matter of fact, Gwen’s best executions of using hip-hop production in her songs aren’t with The Neptunes at all, but in both “Now That You Got It” (prod. Swizz Beatz) and “The Sweet Escape” (prod. Akon). Both tunes allow Stefani to do what she does best (sing), rather than forcing her to rap, channeling her No Doubt roots. Speaking of which, while her more adult contemporary songs, such as “Early Winter” and “Fluorescent” aren’t necessarily this critic’s cup of tea, they fare much better than when she tries to do the Blondie thing on much of the rest of the album. One true stand out here is the very obvious Depeche Mode homage, “Wonderful Life”, featuring guitars by the band’s own Martin Gore. Other than this, most listeners would rather just enjoy the silence. 

     Maybe Gwen was in a rush to upstage Fergie, maybe she went prego-crazy, or maybe she really thought she could make The Sound Of Music the new Harajuku Girl. Whatever the case may be, The Sweet Escape minds Stefani look like a strange, other-worldly Jacko type that is completely out of touch with what makes a good record, as this simply isn’t one.