Fergie, "Blender" Woman of the Year

As 2007 winds down, it's that time of year for self-reflection, for looking back to see how far you've come, and for looking forward toward your goals and dreams. But, most important, it's the time of year for "Person of the Year" awards and "Best of" lists! Yay! As reported in Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. this week, Blender magazine has named Fergie as its Woman of the Year.

Yes, Stacy Ferguson is woman of the year. It's a music magazine — what did you expect, women who work toward eliminating global warming or world hunger? No, they chose a big girl who doesn't cry. Except she did cry during the interview with Blender when they told her she won. Heck, Fergie cried when she won the Teen Choice Award earlier this year! And she admits in the interview that she cries all the time, even when watching Nip/Tuck.

Fergie has had three excellent reasons to cry in 2007: "London Bridges," "Glamorous" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" were all Billboard No. 1 songs. And she had another two good reasons to cry with "Fergalicious" peaking at No. 2 and "Clumsy" at No. 5. And overall she has had one stupendous reason to shed a tear of joy, with The Dutchess debuting at No. 3 in September 2006 — and nearly one year to the day later the album was still No. 2. Whoa. That's so impressive, I need a tissue to dab my own eyes!

When people suggest that it's merely teenage sales that drive those numbers up, it's impossible to refute the assertion, as it's known that youth sales in the pop genre drives all sales numbers. However, the album/CD remained in the top 10 for the entire year! And it had spikes within the top 5. So that means that either every single kid this side of Pluto (R.I.P. Pluto) owns the album or someone other than teens was buying this CD. Believe me, I have heard the album bumping, thumping, and floating out of car sound systems of folks who haven't been in the youth category in quite some time. Her album will be one of those great albums for many, many people. You know — someone will put it on years from now, and an entire room will have a collective trip down memory lane.

Certainly Fergie has her critics and detractors, but I think she's pretty darn entertaining. It seems that the refrain from Clumsy might just be true:

"Can't help it, the girl can't help it"

"You got me trippin, stumblin, flippin, fumblin, clumsy 'cause I'm fallin in love" — Fergie at her pop best. Simple lyrics and easy to dance to. Heh. Dick Clark and American Bandstand would be proud!

Of course, I am no authority on music, but I know that I like what I like, and for this year in pop music, Fergie has no rival.