Members R!ck Posted April 24, 2006 Members Share Posted April 24, 2006 MegaCritic gave it a 9.5/10 Even her misses are ballsier and blusterier than most everybody else's recent hits. - Entertainment Weekly Leave it to Pink to poke fun at the Jessica Simpsons and Paris Hiltons of the world on her new single, the wickedly fun "Stupid Girls." The feisty jam showcases a singer who is not as concerned with getting the party started as she once was. That said, the girl's not dead yet. In fact, Pink's sound is more aggressive this time and owes more to '80s pop/rock than contemporary hip-hop—with dollops of folk and blues. Lyrically, it is as if she has pulled pages from her diary. "The One That Got Away" and "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)" find Pink at love's crossroads, while the glitzy " 'Cuz I Can" is equal parts Joan Jett and Peaches. And with the unplugged "Dear Mr. President" (featuring the Indigo Girls) and the orchestral "Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self," Pink lets listeners know they are far from alone. — Billboard Try This fell flat in record stores, but with I'm Not Dead Pink returns to reclaim her chart destiny. The album is proof that you don't necessarily need to work with rock guys if you want to rock: Pink teams here with producer Max Martin -- the Swedish studio dynamo behind countless Britney, Backstreet and 'NSync hits -- and B-level pop confectioner Billy Mann, but I'm Not Dead swaggers with a cockiness that most dudes in bands can't match. Whether she sings rock, pop, R&B or her usual combination of all three, the twenty-six-year-old Doylestown, Pennsylvania, native is belting more urgently and taking more risks than her pop-radio contemporaries. For all her bravado, Pink can still cut herself down to size, pretending that she "wouldn't trade a dollar for some sense" in "I Got Money Now." While "Conversations With My 13-Year-Old Self" nurses wounds exposed on Missundaztood's "Family Portrait," and "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)" suggests a mood-swinging Strokes mash-up, "'Cuz I Can" flaunts one of the disc's goofiest, most endearing bits: Over Martin's glam-rock stomp, Pink drops an irreverent but apropos chorus of "Ice cream, ice cream, we all want ice cream," savagely satirizing her own aspirations. Like Courtney Love, this loose cannon wants to be the girl with the most cake. Unlike Love, Pink knows how to hold on to it. - Rolling Stone Some music is celebrated for its elegant subtlety; Pink's slams you over the head. Four albums in, she's not changing her formula. I'm Not Dead touches on bulimia ("Stupid Girls"), war-mongering politicians ("Dear Mr. President"), teen angst ("Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self," "Runaway"), overheated pickup artists ("U + Ur Hand"), and gross materialism ("I Got Money Now"). None of it, in other words, is for featherweight listeners. Then again, none of it suits eggheaded college tastemakers either. Where this translates, then, is with those willing to man up and embrace what makes Pink Pink: her spellbinding ability to render rebelliousness in all the many colors of the rainbow. Neil Young-inspired acoustic guitar is sketched into "The One That Got Away," but it's just as quickly scribbled over by Joan Jett-style ranting (on "Long Way to Happy") and Janis Joplin/Joss Stone-fueled howling (on "Who Knew"). Even R&B gets its turn ("I Got Money Now"). The album also includes appearances from the Indigo Girls, who duet on "Dear Mr. President," and Pink's father, who joins for the hidden track "I Have Seen The Rain." Pink pulls all of this off, and probably without even breathing hard. She's not dead. --Tammy La Gorce I'm Not Dead Is One of the Finest Mainstream Pop Albums in Recent Years: 4.5/5 Stars Pink is absolutely not dead, and that's a very, very good thing. I'm Not Dead is simply one of the finest mainstream pop albums by an established artist to be released in recent years. It's more consistent than Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway and more focused than Gwen Stefani's Love, Angel, Music, Baby. Every song is artistically mature, engaging, and polished. Welcome back, Pink! She has long been a songwriter who leans in the intensely personal, confessional direction. However, she has rarely been as pointed in her socio-political views as in the hit "Stupid Girls" and the searing anti-Bush "Dear Mr. President." That would seem a downer to those looking primarily for entertainment, but Pink has the wit and style to carry it off while keeping the fun value high. "Stupid Girls" is musically a dance/hip hop gem and "Dear Mr. President" is a folkie singalong. With Pink's deft skills, statements about celebrity excess, teen runaways, and the angst of a 13-year-old are all fine tuned for maximum musical engagement. Listening to I'm Not Dead's 13 songs, plus a bonus collaboration between Pink and her father James Moore not mentioned in the accompanying booklet, is a breeze. Whether it's the rock stomp of "Cuz I Can," the Butch Walker contributed bubblegum-on-speed buzz of "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)," or the rootsy, blues-soaked "The One That Got Away," your attention will not waver. The entire project is unified by the distinctive, slightly raw, vocal presence of Pink and her idiosyncratic personality of authentic care coupled with an anarchic drive for independence. All pop fans should put this album immediately into frequent rotation. You won't be sorry - Bill Lamb After veering off track with 2003's uninspired Try This, Pink returns to top form with I'm Not Dead -- featuring the hilarious single "Stupid Girls," in which she roasts vapid, cookie-cutter starlets like Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton and celebrates a woman's right to individuality. And that sense of fearless self-possession is exactly what makes Pink better than your average female pop star. In her absence, American Idol Kelly Clarkson effectively filled the vacancy for a soulful pop-rock chick, but the cute Texan doesn't have the offstage persona to back up her "Since You've Been Gone" sneer. Pink, who was at one time romantically linked to bad boy Tommy Lee and is currently married to motocross hunk Corey Hart, is a real-life rebel. Her provocative lyrics entertainingly and convincingly drive that point home throughout her best disc yet. Longtime collaborator Linda Perry may be curiously absent, but veteran writer-producers Billy Mann, Butch Walker, and Max Martin easily take the helm, providing the singer with 13 infectious pop-rock songs to sink her raspy chops into (the hidden track is a duet with her father, James T. Moore). "Who Knew" is a delicious slice of edgy '80s pop that recalls Pat Benatar, while "Cuz I Can" is a Joan Jett-reminiscent rocker. Although Pink always knows how to get the party started, she also isn't afraid to be vulnerable. Assisted by the Indigo Girls, "Dear Mr. President" is an acoustic plea to Mr. Bush to pay attention to the poor, and on the soulful ballad "Nobody Knows Me," the cotton candy-coiffed singer still sounds Missundazstood. Her inner turmoil, however, merely makes Pink all the more interesting, and on I'm Not Dead this problem child has never sounded more alive. Tracy E. Hopkins Although it hardly deserved it, Try This — Pink's 2003 sequel to her 2001 artistic and commercial breakthrough, M!ssundaztood — turned out to be something of a flop, selling considerably less than its predecessor and generating no true hit singles. Perhaps this downturn in sales was due to the harder rock direction she pursued on Try This, perhaps the songs she co-wrote with Rancid's Tim Armstrong weren't quite pop even if they were poppy, perhaps it was just a matter of timing, but the album just didn't click with a larger audience, through no fault of the music, which was the equal to that on M!ssundaztood. When faced with such a commercial disappointment, some artists would crawl back to what made them a star, but not Pink. Although she does pump up the dance on 2006's I'm Not Dead, it's way too simple to call the album a return to "Get the Party Started" — Pink is far too complex to do something so straightforward. No, Pink is complicated, often seemingly contradictory: she tears down "porno paparazzi girls" like Paris Hilton just as easily as she flaunts her bling on "'Cuz I Can"; she celebrates that "I Got Money Now"; she'll swagger and snarl and swear like a sailor, then turn around and write sweet songs of support to a teenager, or a knowingly melancholy reflection like "I Got Money Now"; she'll collaborate with Britney Spears hitmaker Max Martin on one track, then turn around and bring in the Indigo Girls for support on a stripped-down protest song. She'll try anything, and she does on I'm Not Dead. It Ping-Pongs between dense dancefloor anthems and fuzzy power pop, acoustic folk-rock and anthemic power ballads, hard rock tunes powered by electronic beats and dance tunes sung with the zeal of a rocker. It's not just that Pink tries a lot of different sounds, it's that she seizes the freedom to hurl insults at both George W. Bush and a sleazoid who tried to pick her up at a bar, or to end a chorus with a chant of "Ice cream, ice cream/We all want ice cream." Far from sounding cow-towed by the reaction to Try This, Pink sounds liberated, making music that's far riskier and stranger than anything else in mainstream pop in 2006. And it's a testament to her power as both a musician and a persona that for this record, even though she's working with singer/songwriter Butch Walker, Max Martin, and Teddy Geiger's cohort, Billy Mann — her most mainstream collaborators since LA Reid and Babyface helmed her 2000 debut, Can't Take Me Home — she sounds the strangest she ever has, and that's a positively thrilling thing to hear. That's because she not only sounds strange, she sounds stronger as a writer and singer, as convincing when she's singing the bluesy, acoustic "The One That Got Away" as when she's taunting and teasing on "Stupid Girls" or "U + Ur Hand" or when she's singing a propulsive piece of pure pop like "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)." In other words, she sounds complex: smart, funny, sexy, catchy, and best of all, surprising and unpredictable. This is the third album in a row where she's thrown a curve ball, confounding expectations by delivering a record that's wilder, stronger, and better than the last. And while that's no guarantee that I'm Not Dead will be a bigger hit than Try This, at least it's proof positive that there are few pop musicians more exciting in the 2000s than Pink. - by Stephen Thomas Erlewine And of course a Bad one Pink insists her career’s not Dead—but fourth album tells a different story After listening to Pink’s latest effort, I’m Not Dead, two things become clear: 1) this CD is a waste of time and 2) the Pink that used to be considered decent is officially “dead.” With her vicious lyrics and pungent voice, Pink broke into the music industry, giving music connoisseurs something new and interesting to mull over. Her first album, 2000’s Can’t Take Me Home, presented a witty smartass who had a predilection for hip-hop music and thuggish boys. Pink’s sophomore effort, 2001’s Missundaztood, revolutionized her whole image, not only pushing her voice to new limits but also scrapping her mainstream fluff for a bright and animated rock persona. Then, Pink “died.” 2003’s abominable Try This was released and frankly is not even worth discussing. And now Pink is trying to claw her way back into the limelight with I’m Not Dead. It’s amazing how many bad songs are on this album. In fact, the best songs on I’m Not Dead can only be considered mediocre. Let’s begin with Pink’s complete lack of vocal emotion on the majority of this CD. On “Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely),” Pink groans over some of the album’s brightest production and best guitar solos, and on “U + Ur Hand” (which already has a horrid title), she makes various threats against this man, his hand, and other organs, but cannot back them up with her vocal performance. In “’Cuz I Can,” Pink attempts to rap, something she did well on Missundaztood but fails at here. It’s laughable, and kind of amazing, how awful some of these lyrics are. Don’t get me wrong; there are some decently written tracks (and “decent” is the best they deserve). “Nobody Knows” and “Who Knew” both have the standard ballad writing—with a touch of Pink’s trademark sass—while “Dear Mr. President” contains the album’s best lyrics, not because Pink says anything people haven’t heard before, but because she tells the truth. She questions how Bush can sleep at night knowing the effects the war has on people in the U.S., stating, “[bush] don’t know nothin’ ’bout hard work.” Bad production runs rampant on I’m Not Dead, so—rather than list all of the terribly overproduced and under-produced tracks on I’m Not Dead-—I will just highlight the ones that could at the very least gain radio play. Not only do “Who Knew” and “Nobody Knows” have acceptable lyrics, they also garner production reminiscent to Kelly Clarkson’s (they sound a lot like “Since U Been Gone” and “Because of You,” respectively). “Dear Mr. President” and “Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)” fill out the short string of mediocre tracks on I’m Not Dead. “The One That Got Away,” with its soulful groove, could have earned a spot in this list if it weren’t surrounded by the yawn-inducing “Runaway” and “I Got Money Now.” By the time you make it past track eight, it’s unbearable to even listen to a song straight through. It’s a shame Pink allows I’m Not Dead to be such a disgrace to music, since she ends the album with a tear-jerking tribute to her father, “I Have Seen the Rain.” Over the strains of a lone acoustic guitar, Pink and her father sing beautifully together. Who knows? Maybe Pink’s fifth attempt at entering the music business will be the charm - Emale Gray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alwaysAMC Posted April 24, 2006 Members Share Posted April 24, 2006 Awesome - I love Pink - always have. Nice to see the critics loving her new stuff -it's been awhile! That new song knocking the Paris and Jessica's of the world is awesome too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Q Steph Posted April 24, 2006 Members Share Posted April 24, 2006 Stupid Girls is my current ringtone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneLife Fan Posted April 24, 2006 Members Share Posted April 24, 2006 Right on!! I will have to get it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members darraholic Posted April 25, 2006 Members Share Posted April 25, 2006 I was going to buy it the other day but didn't. I'll have to buy it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members darraholic Posted May 2, 2006 Members Share Posted May 2, 2006 I just bought it and am very impressed. A very awesome album. Love pretty much every song on it. Who Knew is just awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sweet_VeeVee24 Posted May 2, 2006 Members Share Posted May 2, 2006 If you haven't bought it yet, you should....It's really great...Not only do I like Stupid Girls, but I also like the song Dear Mr. President, the song Because I Can and U and Ur Hand... The entire album rocks; besides, I love Pink's rocker edge, plus her gentler side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members darraholic Posted May 3, 2006 Members Share Posted May 3, 2006 Dear Mr. Prezident is actually the best imo. It's such an awesome song. I keep replaying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pine Charles Posted May 3, 2006 Members Share Posted May 3, 2006 I also love P!nk. She's great. I'll definitely be buying this soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cristiano07 Posted May 6, 2006 Members Share Posted May 6, 2006 i was never a huge fan of pink before this, i listened to a couple of songs here and there though. but i love this album, every song is great, and it's my most listened to cd for some time now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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