Music Review: Fergie "Big Girls Don't Cry"

Fergie

Big Girls Don’t Cry

Album: The Dutchess

Year: 2007

         Fergie ends a long-distance relationship in the appreciative “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”

      A wistful piano begins the single, setting a solemn tone. She had thought about breaking up with her boyfriend for awhile. They would talk on the phone and something would seem like it was missing. They had planned a visit: he would go toNew Yorkto see her. However, once she sees him, she notices she doesn’t feel the same way anymore. After a couple of days of trying to recreate the strong emotions she once had, she can’t do it. It was a cordial breakup. He hugged her goodbye and she can still smell his cologne on her sweater and called a cab. She thinks of him at the airport by himself. She wishes she wanted to be with him but can’t. She needs to be on her own. (“The smell of your skin lingers on me now/You're probably on your flight back to your home town/I need some shelter of my own protection baby/To be with myself and center, clarity/Peace, serenity.”)

                 In the chorus, she had told him it’s her fault. He was fantastic boyfriend who took great care of her. But she has to figure out who she is without him. Much of her identity was entwined with their relationship. She has to discover her own interests and needs. He was such a part of her and she will find herself thinking about him. But it’s something she has to do. She has to be strong and stick to the decision. (“I hope you know, I hope you know/That this has nothing to do with you/It's personal, myself and I/
We've got some straightenin' out to do/And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket/But I've got to get a move on with my life/It's time to be a big girl now/And big girls don't cry/Don't cry/Don't cry/
Don't cry.”)

           Since moving to New York, she’s learned she can manage eating alone at a restraunt and arranging her own schedule. She’s thinking of going out with friends from work next. She has a ways to go before she enters another relationship again. When she first met him in high school, they both thought they would get married one day. They understand each so well. But they were not meant to be. After all they’ve gone through together, having their relationship end in fights and resentment wouldn’t be right. (“The path that I'm walking/I must go alone/I must take the baby steps 'til I'm full grown, full grown/Fairytales don't always have a happy ending, do they?/And I foresee the dark ahead if I stay.”)

        The chorus is sung again.

    In the bridge, she remembers how they met. They were in elementary school. During recess, they would play and talk. They formed a friendship which eventually became romantic in high school. They have their own verbal shorthand and smiles that cause one of them to burst out laughing at any second.  However, for the first time, she’s going through a new experience without him. It’s changing her and she has to learn who she is now. (“Like the little school mate in the school yard/We'll play jacks and uno cards/I'll be your best friend and you'll be my valentine/Yes you can hold my hand if you want to/'Cause I want to hold yours too/We'll be playmates and lovers and share our secret worlds/But it's time for me to go home/It's getting late, dark outside/I need to be with myself and center, clarity/Peace, serenity.”)

         The chorus is sung again to end the single.

    Fergie’s sober, pleading vocals atone for the pain she will cause him. It was a choice she needed to make. She hopes he understands and will forgive her one day. She realizes her decision may be selfish in most peoples’ eyes. Being single is the most important thing for her right now.

        The frank “Big Girls Don’t Cry” addresses a hard choice most people are afraid to make, giving it perspetive.