Pink’s new album 'Hurts 2B Human' deserves its own movie to soundtrack

Pink has emerged as pop music’s queen of the soundtrack. From her successful take on "A Million Dreams" from “The Greatest Showman” to her music’s seemingly ubiquitous presence in TV commercials, the 39-year-old singer has become known for making the kind of pop music that algorithms have decided works well as background music. 

 

 

 

 

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Official Statement Outlining Why Actor/Comedian Bill Cosby Filed An Application For Bail Pending Appeal. Judge Steven T. O’Neill continues to show his disgust and prejudice towards Mr. Cosby. Judge O’Neill is purposely denying Mr. Cosby the right to file his Appeal, because he has refused to issue his 1925(a) Opinion, which outlines why he felt strongly in sentencing Mr. Cosby to 3 to 10 years and felt obligated to place this 81 years old blind United States Citizen (who served his country in the United States Navy), in a level (5) maximum security prison (SCI Phoenix). The Application For Bail Pending Appeal was filed this morning in the Superior Court (First Appellate Court), which illuminates the egregious behavior of Judge Steven T. O’Neill. We’re asking that this scandalous judge be removed immediately, and Mr. Cosby be granted bail throughout the appeals process, because the judge’s racial hatred towards Mr. Cosby, clouds his better judgement to be a good steward of the bench. “This judge took an oath. I Believe. To be fair and impartial, which grants him the authority to perform all of the duties detailed in the Constitution,” states Bill Cosby. “I don’t know what Constitutional rock this judge resides, because his refusal to write an opinion, reveals that he’s complicit in the corruption against me, and that he’s an accessory to the incestuous behavior that resides in Montgomery County. His dishonorable conduct makes me smile, because this judge is being exposed, and it shows that this is bigger than me, [Bill Cosby]. O’Neill now has his formula: tried, true and tested to destroy Any Black Man and/or Colored Man In America. I’m just so happy, because this guy is proving my innocence. And guess what else. America is finally getting to witness the truth” states Mr. Cosby. #FreeBillCosby #FarFromFinished Please see updated information: Bail Relief Application including exhibits http://www.pacourts.us/assets/files/setting-6757/file-7740.pdf?cb=864ca6

A post shared by Bill Cosby (@billcosby) on Apr 24, 2019 at 8:31am PDT

Call her a sellout if you want. We prefer to think of Pink as a star who’s only gotten better the further she’s progressed into her career. Though her younger pop peers may get more buzz, she’s forged a successful and sustainable path forward in pop by making accessible music that hits at enough hard truths, and lets enough of her salt-of-the earth personality shine through, that we stay engaged.

Those moments are the highlights of her new album “Hurts 2B Human” with the right mix of high-drama pop theatrics, raw wisdom and just enough doom-and-gloom to be the perfect soundtrack to life. Highlights include the album’s Khalid-featuring title track with a refrain — “God, it hurts to be human” — that doubles as the mission statement for so many other Pink songs. Listen beyond the album’s lukewarm initial single “Walk Me Home” for the real heat, the wrenching harmonies of “90 Days” or the laid-bare lyrics of “Happy.” The latter serves as the spiritual sequel to her early hit “Don’t Let Me Get Me” in its real talk about self-loathing feelings.

That’s always been Pink’s relative advantage over other pop stars in her space. She has a willingness to deliver plainspoken, searingly personal lyrics that touch on marital troubles, family issues and other personal matters that cut deeper than some of her peers’ own self-confessional songwriting.

“Circle Game,” the album’s penultimate track, borrows the name of one of Joni Mitchell’s classic songs for Pink’s own take on the circle of life, as she sings about growing up not for yourself, but for your child. “I’ve got a little girl of my own and she looks at me," she sings. "Like I’m a badass, and you know that I wanna be / And now there’s monsters in her closet and they wanna come and play, I start looking for my dad to make them go away / I know...that it’s my job now.”

Wouldn’t that be the perfect song to soundtrack a contemplative family moment in an on-screen drama? Even the album’s less standout moments — the big EDM drops or the more contrived lyrics that have lost their emotional core along the way — would work quite nicely in the grand scheme of an equally dramatic, mainstream-accessible narrative.

If the sales for "Hurts 2B Human" are anything like the impressive success of Pink's 2017 album "Beautiful Trauma," it'll be proof that, decades into her music career, she's as capable as ever of creating moving art that appeals to her fans.