Moroni's Review of Pink's "The Truth About Love"

Okay, so this is really not that new of an album, but it is new to me.  My ex-wife (who adores this album) downloaded it to my laptop a couple of months ago.  I am just getting around to reviewing it.

It should be said that I am not a really a huge fan of Pink.  I don’t really dislike her music, either.  I guess I am not really a big fan of Top 40 Pop in general.  But if you are going to listen to this kind of music, then Pink is definitely the artist to listen to.  I wish other pop artists were like her.  She either writes, or co-writes, all of her music.  She has retained creative control of her albums, and she has a deliciously punk-rock attitude.  You have to respect that, especially in a Top 40 artist.

When I started to research this album – “The Truth About Love” – I was startled to see how much of Pink’s music I already had on my laptop.  So one day, while waiting for my clothes to wash, I listened to selections from each one of her albums, and I had to admit to myself, her music is not that bad.  The same can be said of her new album – not that bad.  Maybe it’s just my mild derision of music that dominates the airwaves, and my mistrust of the music establishment.  It is listenable, but, honestly, this album will probably not be on repeat on my phone.  It probably won’t even go on my phone, and I will probably move on to other music the moment I am done writing this review.

The album kicks off very nicely with the tongue-twisting “Are We All We Are”, with a pounding beat and eerie background vocals.  The next song “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” receives a lot of radio play.  From the first moment I heard it, I thought it was an obvious rip-off of Modest Mouse’s “Float On”.  But that’s okay, because “Float On” was definitely a rip-off of Wolfgang Press’s “The Great Leveller” (whom I discussed in the last post) from the ‘80s.  It’s all relative, and everyone borrows from someone else.  But just as something to pass the time, YouTube these three songs and compare them.  It's amusing.

The next track is “Try” – a motivational ballad.  I actually like this song.  There are a few collaborations on the album – “Just Give Me a Reason” with Nate Ruess from fun. (whom I think are not that fun.) and “True Love” with Lily Allen.  Neither are enough to write home about.  The effort with Eminem – “Here Comes the Weekend” – is pretty good.  However, I mistook Eminem for Snoop Dogg (er, Lion?)  It gets to the point where are rappers sound the same to me.  There are a couple of piano ballads, “Beam Me Up” and “The Great Escape”, that are okay, at best.  “How Come You’re Not Here” emulates Pink’s obsession with Janis Joplin.  “Slut Like You” and “Walk of Shame” are both catchy tunes, and, by far, my favorite songs on the album. 

Once again, this is not a bad album, but the hard and sad truth about “The Truth About Love” is that it is not at all that memorable.  Still, I like Pink as a celebrity personality, and as an artist with integrity.  I do hope that she is around for a long time.