In her latest album, Beautiful Trauma, iTunes advertises P!nk as attaining perfection. Unfortunately, the writers at iTunes music, not the truth.
P!nk, to me, represents an underrepresented version of girl power that really resonates.
She doesn’t have to be a traditional blonde bombshell to get her message across and to be remembered. She’s strong and outspoken and isn’t afraid to call anyone on their shit.
Going into the album, I was slightly disappointed with the singles. They were more channeling“Please Don’t Leave Me,” one of my least favourite P!nk songs, rather than the “So What” that I was hoping for.
Unfortunately, the full album left me with almost the same impression. It came across almost as whiny and it was very repetitive.
That said, I can definitely understand how some people could absolutely love this album. Like most pop, it will probably grow on me as I hear it more and more.
But that’s exactly what it is — pop. It’s a new sound for P!nk, and one that I’m not exactly sure that fits with her image, reputation and fanbase.
At best, most of these songs sounded like they should have been sung by Miley Cyrus instead of P!nk. At worst, they sound like something you would hear in a cheesy rom-com.
They’re pretty, and just edgy enough to be separated from the fluff that a lot of pop artists get caught up in. But it’s not the sound that I was hoping for from a kick-ass no-nonsense modern lady.
I don’t like it when I keep P!nk in mind, but I’m sure the songs will be fine on the radio. I just won’t go out of my way to listen to them.
The song that’s closest to the old stuff is “I am Here,” at least message-wise.
This, to me, was one of the most disappointing songs off the album because there was so much potential to be a powerful, moving song, and it turned off sounding like a cheap One-Republic-circa-2013 knockoff.
There’s no one song that sticks out to me that I really liked. They all sounded pretty similar, and I can also understand why the label picked the songs they did for singles. Those seem to be the only songs that have any remote difference to the others on the album.
It seems to me that she got caught up in the trends of today’s pop music.
There’s not anything wrong with switching to a more pop sound, just look at how well it worked for Taylor Swift.
I think the difference is the reputations that these women hold. P!nk has always been about going against the grain, so this switch seems more dramatic; a clear turn from what she’s stood for in the past.
The ‘80s music trends are also not lost on Beautiful Trauma either. Though many of the songs are much softer ballads than what I’ve come to expect from P!nk, you can still find heavy synthesizers behind them and her talented, powerful voice in front of them.
It’s definitely a turn for her, one that I don’t agree with, but one that the industry will likely lap up.
Maybe it’s not the P!nk I was hoping for, but it’s a reflection of the current time in music more than many of the other new albums I’ve heard recently.
I don’t think that’s much of a compliment, nor do I mean it as an insult. I just found it disappointing from a woman that has been so empowering to so many other women to fall into trends instead of standing on her own like I enjoy from her past.
I don’t like it when I keep P!nk in mind, but I’m sure the songs will be fine on the radio. I just won’t go out of my way to listen to them.
If you want something new, it’s worth a shot. But if you like P!nk and her sound, you’ll probably want to stick with Funhouse.
