I think loads of things happened behind the scenes. I mean BEP changed their managment last year to Scooter Braun. The 20 year anniversary project op BEP was a trainwreck that got postponed and Fergie's album campagne stagnated after one song release.
There was no fear about releasing after LALOVE. Neither was there a "delay". She said before LA that she was still working. Plus the single did well enough for a standalone.
And she gave updates pretty much all of 2015 about the progress of the album, planning her tour and so forth. Fergie has nothing to fear lol. Probably just continued working instead of prematurely starting an era.