Pink - Im Not Dead (2006/2018) LP

Clean Version. P!nk is back and she wants everyone to know I'm Not Dead. There is no point in doubting her, especially after listening to this hard, soft, furious and sweet, new album full of tracks that are distinctly alive. I'm Not Dead is everything it should be: a stylistic evolution, a stunning display of her craft as a vocalist and songwriter and a very personal scrapbook of everywhere she's been and everywhere she's going. This is P!nk in top form, as brutally honest and as soulfully vocal as only she can be. The album includes her new hit single 'Stupid Girls', and includes production collaborations with Billy Mann, Max Martin, Luke Gottwald, Butch Walker, Mike Elizondo, and the iconic duo The Indigo Girls. The resulting album has it all - rock 'n' roll, soul and funk and 100 percent P!nk! LaFace. 2006.

Some music is celebrated for its elegant subtlety; Pink's slams you over the head. Four albums in, she's not changing her formula. I'm Not Dead touches on bulimia ("Stupid Girls"), war-mongering politicians ("Dear Mr. President"), teen angst ("Conversations With My 13 Year Old Self," "Runaway"), overheated pickup artists ("U + Ur Hand"), and gross materialism ("I Got Money Now"). None of it, in other words, is for featherweight listeners. Then again, none of it suits eggheaded college tastemakers either. Where this translates, then, is with those willing to man up and embrace what makes Pink Pink: her spellbinding ability to render rebelliousness in all the many colors of the rainbow. Neil Young-inspired acoustic guitar is sketched into "The One That Got Away," but it's just as quickly scribbled over by Joan Jett-style ranting (on "Long Way to Happy") and Janis Joplin/Joss Stone-fueled howling (on "Who Knew"). Even R&B gets its turn ("I Got Money Now"). The album also includes appearances from the Indigo Girls, who duet on "Dear Mr. President," and Pink's father, who joins for the hidden track "I Have Seen The Rain." Pink pulls all of this off, and probably without even breathing hard. She's not dead. --Tammy La Gorce