As Pink is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the singer looks back on her seven studio albums.
“Can’t Take Me Home” (2000)
“L.A. had the idea for me to work with Kandi Burruss, and I felt privileged to be able to work with Babyface. … A lot of it was me: There are a few songs that came from my time in the Bronx, like ‘Hiccup,’ ‘Is it Love’ and ‘Can’t Take Me Home.’ ‘Split Personality’ was mine — I wrote that on the beach in Miami. I was really young. I was on my own. And I was making music. I thought my shit didn’t stink. So, yeah, it was really fun.”
“Missundaztood” (2001)
“It was a conversation I started with myself by writing songs. Nobody had any idea who I really was. Neither did I — I was still trying to figure it out. So songs like ‘Dear Diary’ I wrote about [my former] managers, and I felt catharsis. I took ‘Family Portrait’ home and played it for my parents. My mom cried for, like, four days. My dad sobbed. My stepmother was devastated because I wrote, ‘I don’t want a stepbrother.’ It was the first time we had family therapy. That album was a huge turning point in my life. But before it came out, I was being told that it’s going to completely fail. Still, I was stoked to be given the opportunity to fail. … ‘Missundaztood” was my life’s work.’ Then it comes out and sells 15 million records. I’m, like, ‘Holy shit!’ ”
“Try This” (2003)
“The punk-rock record that I always wanted to make was also a reaction to ‘Missundaztood.’ I had gone around the world for two years promoting and touring that record and every single interview was a therapy session about my parents’ divorce. I was so burnt out by the end of that cycle that I didn’t care. I didn’t want to talk about anything personal. I didn’t want to write about anything deep. I just wanted to make a fun f–king record with Tim Armstrong from Rancid and the Transplants, who I love. He was awesome and I didn’t care what anybody thought.”
“I’m Not Dead” (2006)
“I was 24 when I made ‘I’m Not Dead.’ I remember I had a dream that I got shot in the head and I was stuffing newspaper into the back of my skull. I woke up completely freaked out and decided that my dream interpretation was that I had to start reading The New York Times. [Laughs.] And I did, every day. Then I turned 25 and felt like I had just woken up. I became involved in causes like Peta. I thought, ‘What’s actually going on in the world? And what does it mean to be a girl? And what does it mean to be a woman? And who the f–k is this guy we’re calling our president?’ Then I wrote ‘Dear Mr. President’ and ‘Stupid Girls.’”
“Funhouse” (2008)
“’Funhouse’ was my divorce record. Carey [Hart] and I had split and I was on my own and just a little bit wild. I remember, I hadn’t spoken to Carey for, like, eight months and it was really painful for me. I went to Sweden to work with Max Martin and [when] I wrote ‘Please Don’t Leave Me,’ I tried calling Carey and he wouldn’t answer my calls. I was so f–king lonely. And I made one of my best records from heartbreak. … That album was very successful. Maybe a lot of people were going through a divorce at that moment.”
“The Truth About Love” (2012)
“After having a baby and becoming a mom, I was super-raw at that point in my life. It was the first time that I would work in the studio during the day. I was about to breast feed and I would put her down for a nap and then come back. It was very kind of daytime-y sober. I felt really present making that record, because normally we’d open a bottle of wine and shit-talk and record at one in the morning. It just wasn’t that anymore.”
“Beautiful Trauma” (2017)
“I think it’s my only album that ever went No. 1. That was fun. I’ve just, you know, had a blast figuring out who I am … each time.”
