What a journey Pink has taken! Starting as an R&B queen with "Can't Take Me Home", and then quickly turning to pop with "Missundaztood". She tried her hand at rock with "Try This", but later chose the dance/pop scene with her best album "I'm Not Dead". Then after a separation from Carey Hart, she became a jack of all trades with "Funhouse". And to top it all off, after re-uniting with Carey and giving birth to her first child, she released "Greatest Hits...So Far!!!" which captured all of her best moments and wrapped them all up in a nice little package. While she has taken more musical directions than any other pop artist of her generation, the problem that arises with this is: what more can she do to get even better? And that's the initial frustration with "The Truth About Love". It includes mainly hard rock with a hint of Ke$ha-esque pop, so it is an unfortunate fact that just like the last time she made an album like this (Try This), "The Truth About Love" will not generate many chart topping singles. True, she lucks out with one of the best songs of her career (Blow me one last kiss), and she even includes her trademark boldness (Slut Like You and Walk of Shame). She once again shines with her self-help anthems (Are We All We Are and The Great Escape), and then comes her straightforward tales of love (True Love, The Truth About Love, and Try). She covers all of her basics, and even throws in her straight out silliness (How Come You're Not Here?). But that's the problem, as good as this music is, it's hard to deny that Pink has finally become predictable. She swears like a sailor, she makes you feel great about yourself, she harks about the hardships of life and love, and then she lets loose and sings about the joy of just having fun. And while she showcases her best duets since "I'm Not Dead" and also fianlly conquers the challenge of a slow ballad, there are none of the instant hooks that Pink is known for. While "I'm Not Dead" and "Funhouse" were as addictive and pop-py as all great pop should be, "The Truth About Love" does not instantly catch your eye. It will take a few listens, and in the end you still may not pick up the buried hooks, but with its faults, "The Truth About Love" is an album that music NEEDS this day and age, and it is undeniably the most adventurous and fearless album of 2012.
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Are We All We Are? 2. Blow Me (One Last Kiss) 3. Try
4. Just Give Me A Reason 5. True Love 6. How Come You're Not Here?
7. Slut Like You 8. The Truth About Love 9. Beam Me Up
10. Walk of Shame 11. Here Comes the Weekend 12. Where Did the Beat Go?
13. The Great Escape
No comments:
Post a Comment