One of the “it” girls in music over the last few years has been former Eden’s Crush member and current Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger. She was featured everywhere from magazine covers to award shows and seemed to be the next breakout star. After helping Diddy get his groove back with his biggest solo hit in years Come To Me, it seemed like a done deal. With an exotic look, a decent enough voice to make it in music today, and with Pussycat Dolls’ hits in her back pocket, it seemed that the world was ready for Nicole.

But something happened on the way to super stardom. The album, titled Her Name Is Nicole, was finished and singles had been released including Whatever U Like and Baby Love. But both failed to spark the necessary fire that Interscope and Scherzinger wanted and the album was delayed.

On Nicole’s website, she posted in her blog on February 12, 2008 that she’s grateful the album was pushed back.


I know you have all been waiting patiently for the release of “Her Name Is Nicole” and I want you to know that I am actually grateful the album has been pushed back. Yes, I REALLY mean that. You see, I want to make sure this album is the best I can make it because I owe that to myself, and to all of you, to release the best music I possibly can. I hope you all continue with me on this journey because it will be worth the wait.

In a sense, it reminded me of Claudette Ortiz who was the lead singer of a group called City High that had a hit song in 2001 called What Would You Do. Much like Scherzinger, Ortiz had breakout star written all over her. Wycle Jean featured her on his single Two Wrongs. She also joined him on a track called Dance Like This, which became more famous because Wyclef and Shakira redid it and called it Hips Don’t Lie. I’m not sure what Ortiz is doing musically today.

As for Scherzinger, she’s back with her Pussycat Dolls sisters with an album scheduled for later in the summer. The first single is When I Grow Up, which you can listen to below.

Will Her Name Is Nicole ever drop? If it does, expect it to be largely different than what she already recorded if history is any indication. Usually these days, artists push back albums because their tracks get leaked and aren’t received well (this happened to Usher’s album that eventually became Confessions). In Scherzinger’s case, actual singles were released and the album was delayed. Instead of waiting for the delayed solo album to drop, she’s moving on as evidenced by the new Pussycat Dolls record. The question is, if PCD doesn’t duplicate their previous success, will people still want to hear Nicole as a solo?