Pink Refashions Herself As A Balladeer
Our look at the closing lines of reviews of the week’s biggest new music continues with a spin through writeups of Pink’s Funhouse, which arrives in U.S. stores tomorrow:
• “A few Billy Mann-produced ballads suggest she could’ve had an old-school singer-songwriter career. But Pink’s true gift is as a musical androgynist—blurring the line between rocker and pop star, or between mourner and celebrant, as encouraged most of all by Max Martin (the ex-Britney Svengali behind Pink hits like ‘U + Ur Hand”), who’s responsible for four of the most confectionary tracks here. Husbands may come and go, but Martin she should hold on to forever.” [EW]
• “That fearlessness shines through the occasional stock chord changes, and it makes Pink a unique, and thoroughly compelling, poster girl.” [Boston Globe]
• “Maybe glibness no longer suits Pink, who instead shines on this album’s most vulnerable, unadorned songs. ‘I Don’t Believe You’ (also produced by Mr. Martin) swells like a classic soul ballad as Pink pleads for a lover to reconsider walking away. And the biggest surprise is ‘Crystal Ball,’ a wistful yet certain folk song in the Joan Baez vein produced by Billy Mann. ‘Sometimes you think everything/ is wrapped inside a diamond ring,’ Pink sings, with barely any backing. ‘Love just needs a witness/ And a little forgiveness/ And a halo of patience.’ ” [NYT]
• “As in the past, the ballads are dreadful; witness ‘Sober,’ written with Tony Kanal of No Doubt, or ‘I Don’t Believe You,’ co-written by Swedish pop producer Max Martin, if you can stomach them. But for the first time, the up-tempo numbers are even worse: trite, formulaic and lacking the heart that has always been Pink’s saving grace. ‘I’m still a rock star / I got my rock moves / And I don’t need you,’ she protests in the opening track and first single, ‘So What,’ already an inexplicable hit. I have no problem believing that sentiment, but clearly Pink needed something before coasting through this recording, a mere reflection of the artist we’ve celebrated before.” [Chicago Sun-Times]
