Women Who Rock Wednesday: Pink!

Welcome to Women Who Rock Wednesday! Last week we had the fabulous Lauren Baratz-Logsted and she offered up a copy of her new book CRAZY BEAUTIFUL to one lucky winner. I'm happy to announce that the lucky winner of that contest is...Shooting Stars Magazine from MySpace. I'll send you a message unless you message me first with your address!

Well, I mentioned that I'd be changing WWRW around a little bit and talking about women who influenced me and why instead of doing interviews every other week. And after I saw Pink's performance on the VMAs this Sunday, I felt I simply had to feature her. In case you missed her high wire singing act, check it out:

P!nk - New Music - More Music Videos

Yes, I love Pink and I'm not at all ashamed to admit it... now. Sure I'm mainly a punk girl, but if I connect with an artist, I connect with them and there's just something about Pink. It's not very often I get into pop music. Sure, like a lot of girls in my generation I grew up on Madonna and Cyndi Lauper. I openly admit that Janet Jackson was my first concert. I still appreciate all three of them for their talent. I stopped listening to Janet Jackson after Rhythm Nation and Madonna after Like a Prayer. Cyndi is probably my favorite out of the three because I love her voice and her unique sense of style and personality. And maybe that in a way, is how I came to love Pink.

She was definitely a guilty pleasure at first. Her "Get the Party Started" song was catchy and I was a bit of a party girl when it came out. I didn't run out to get the album then, though. It wasn't til I heard "Family Portrait" and "Dear Diary" that I thought okay, I can relate to her lyrics on a deeper level. I was going through some major issues with my dad at the time and something about the honest, simplicity that she used to talk about family problems, it was exactly what I needed. I honestly wished I'd had her when I was 16... though I might have had to pretend not to like her because I was too punk back then.

So I broke down and bought Missundaztood even though I hadn't bought a pop album in years. I swear sometimes it feels like she's lived my life. She knew my daddy problems, but she also apparently dated my abusive ex-boyfriend. The song "Numb" summed up an emotionally abusive relationship in perfect simplicity:

I laid there quiet, watched you have your way with me
I might have cried, the tears were silent inside you see
You called me names, made me feel like I was dumb
I didn't feel a thing and now I'm gone, gone, gone

I'd listen to it over and over, the same way I did a Heavens to Betsy or Bikini Kill song.

But the song that made me get over my guilt for liking Pink was "Don't Let Me Get Me." Sure it sung about some bad girl antics that made me feel like we were of the same tribe, but I'd seen that kind of thing manufactured far too often. Nope it was the lines:

L.A. told me
You'll be a pop star
All you have to change
Is everything you are
Tired of being compared
To damn Britney Spears
She's so pretty
That just aint me

Yep, I was sold. And when she went on to do songs like "Stupid Girls" and especially "Dear Mr. President" which still gives me chills and makes me well up every time I listen to it, I really felt proud to be a fan of hers. Pink is no poptart. She's outspoken and we believe in the same things

The range of her stuff amazes me. There are just fun songs about dancing and going out with your friends to the perfect breakup songs ("There You Go" was one of my theme songs for getting over my most recent ex and if I was getting over someone now, "So What" would be a great anthem)to the the really, really deep stuff. Like "Sober" in the video above. That would have been on the Ballads of Suburbia playlist if it had come out when I was writing it. It's another one of those songs where I wondered if Pink and I had lived the same life.

So yeah, Pink rocks because she can break my heart, fix it, and make me dance over and over all on one album.

Plus she has cool tattoos, worked with Tim Armstrong from Rancid on one album, and does PETA campaigns. What can I say, she's my kinda pop star and I think the music world is a much better place with her in it!

What about you? Do you like Pink? Or is there another musician who is not normally your cup of tea, but something about her songs or who is really touched you?

No prizes to give out this week, but I hope you'll comment anyway (it's the big test!). Next week, I'll be back with a really BIG interview with the ladies of Living Your Five!