Pink- Beautiful Trauma (RCA)

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The pop landscape is littered with petty feuds and watery attempts at reinvention. Amidst it all, P!nk stands out as one of the most consistently entertaining and forthright stars in the Top 40 since first hitting the charts in 2000.

Her give-zero-fucks, sassy-feminist-lite attitude was a breath of fresh air in airwaves dominated by doe-eyed starlets masquerading as schoolgirls or genies in bottles.Now almost two decades later, the spunky loud mouthed party girl has matured to create her sixth studio album Beautiful Trauma, a record that meditates on fleeting innocence and ripened womanhood with a primal fire.

One of P!nk’s biggest assets is that she is unafraid to be real with her fans, and this album is no different- it is both a tear-soaked love letter to herself and-if the video for lead single What About Us is to be interpreted-a political battle-cry against Trump. The double-edged sword of personal beauty and universal trauma is well maintained throughout.

Produced with regulars Max Martin and Shellback, P!nk also enlists Jack Antonoff and Tobias Jesso Jr. If Miley and Gaga are anything to go by, stripped back arrangements are having ‘a moment’ in pop music. But unlike their records, P!nk’s offering allows for her voice and lyrics to truly shine. You Get My Love doesn’t only exemplify this, it is also earmarked as being one of P!nk’s finest performances on record. Her saucy humour comes out to play on Revenge, which features Eminem spitting a fun flow.

The only thing holding this album back is the sameness of the tracks, and our over familiarity by this time with P!nk’s consistent style. P!nk hasn’t tried to make any dramatic shifts in her sound, given that fierce, empowering songwriting has become her trademark. But given her sales, if it’s not broke, why fix it? It’s just a shame that this sound isn’t as fresh as it was for her first three albums.

Kate Powell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtSYRLno5ag

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