A pea without his pod

Will.i.am’s Songs About Girls delivers exactly what it promises as each of the disc’s 15 tracks speaks on some aspect of the female gender. Minus his mother, Will covers the spectrum of females in his life, including songs about ex-girlfriends, new romances, potential one-night stands and, of course, strippers.
Will handles the bulk of the album’s production, supplying his trademark laid-back, synth-heavy sound that has made him one of hip-hop’s most called-upon producers. Still, the album does not play like a hip-hop record as Will’s crooning vocals and soft-spoken rhymes lead the album to sound like a unique mix of pop, electronic and R&B. Though the album’s subject matter gets monotonous at points, Will’s extended melodic beats provide a continuity that one rarely finds in any genre nowadays. Plus, through a creative title S.O.S. (Mother Nature), he is able to speak on the global environment crisis without compromising the disc’s overall theme.
Will is at his best when he sticks to his guns, and the album only suffers when he attempts to emulate the commercial success found by his group, The Black Eyed Peas. Fergie’s unfortunate cameo on the club hopeful “I Got It from My Mama” provides a “Humps” knock-off that is both the album’s low point and (coincidently?) its radio single. All this is forgivable, though, as the disc’s successes outweigh its failures. Minus a few shortcomings and one or two excludable tracks, with his latest effort, Will.i.am has provided a CD that you can put on and play through.

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