Pink has fully lost her trademark punk-rock sound that made the world fall in love with her in the early 2000’s, but her new album Beautiful Trauma shows that she has still not hit her peak.
Pink is one of the few early 2000’s artists that is still thriving in the music industry. She has gone from punk to pop and managed to stay relevant the entire time. She has been moving away from the punk genre since her 2012 album The Truth About Love, and this new album serves as her next step into a more mature and mellow sound.
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Many of the songs on her new album follow the format of a classic-pop ballad which is something very new for Pink. On previous albums, she has had maybe one or two songs like this, but they’re abundant on Beautiful Trauma. There are no ‘So What’ styled punk-rock songs.
The best of the ballads is “Barbies.” This song is very different from popular radio Pink songs but it’s still amazing. It features only an acoustic guitar for most of the song and has a very smooth sound. The vocals are much lighter and higher than many of her other songs as well. The lyrics are about wanting to return to childhood in order to avoid her problems — something we can all relate to.
Most of the songs have the same vibe which makes for an incredibly cohesive album. The only song that strays from the rest is “Revenge,” which features Eminem. This song gives us a tiny glimmer of the old angsty Pink, but instead of punk-rock singing, she’s rapping. This is not something we’ve seen from her in the past but as she’s already shown, she’s capable of adaption. The song isn’t great as a stand alone, but seeing Pink step into the rap genre and feature Eminem is definitely interesting.
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While listening to the album, I found myself craving high belting vocals which she often featured on her 2012 album, specifically with the song “Try.” My cravings were met, however, with her single from Beautiful Trauma, “What About Us.” This song is much more upbeat than the rest and is currently rising on the Billboard Top 100. It’s the perfect song to throw on and sing along to.
This album isn’t exactly the party playlist that her past albums have been but it still shows her talent. It’s cool to see an artist evolve, and Pink is definitely showing us that she is capable of this. The songs aren’t high energy, but they’ll still be enjoyed when I want to study or relax.
It will be interesting to see what Pink will do next. Her reign is far from over.
