COURTESY OF JACK UTSICK PRESENTS Pink's latest album shows her darker side, but the artist says she still is funky and loves hip-hop, too.

Pink

She'll get the party started
with a show at the Blaisdell

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By Jason Genegabus
jason@starbulletin.com

Local fans of national recording artist Pink will finally score a chance to get the party started this week at the Blaisdell Arena. A few seats remain for Wednesday night's concert featuring the multiplatinum-selling singer-songwriter, who will perform here for the first time before moving on to shows in Japan and Europe. San Diego punk-rock band Lucky 7 is scheduled as the opening act.

When Pink released her sophomore effort, "M!ssundaztood," to the masses in November of last year, it seemed the hip-pop diva would continue with the grrl-power vibe that made songs like "Most Girls," "There You Go" and "You Make Me Sick" popular with her fans.

The first single released to radio off the new album, "Get the Party Started," had the same upbeat, take-no-prisoners attitude that helped sell more than 2 million copies of her debut, "Can't Take Me Home."

But with the follow-up singles "Don't Let Me Get Me," "Just Like a Pill" and "Family Portrait," some of Pink's more casual fans may not understand exactly why the 23-year-old Pennsylvania native sounds so different on this album.

In concert With opening act Lucky 7 Where: Blaisdell Arena When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Tickets: $37.50 and $45.50 Call: 526-4400

"I've gotten that a lot this past year (being misundaztood, that is)," Pink writes to fans on her Web site, pinkspage.com. "Some people think I'm an angry girl, a boy-killer, or are just plain confused by me. ... My main focus this time was to not only concentrate on one musical aspect of me (I'm still funky and I love hip-hop), but to show all my colors (no pun intended) good and bad."

PINK, real name Alecia Moore, grew up just outside Philadelphia in Doylestown, Pa. A child of divorced parents, she lived with her mother and brother until problems with the law as a teenager drove Pink to live with her dad. It was around this time the singer-songwriter began to get serious about a career in music. Pink started out as a backup singer for hip-hop crew Schools of Thought and got involved briefly with a group called Basic Instinct before signing a deal with LaFace Records as part of female trio called Choice. She then got a lucky break when L.A. Reid signed her to a solo recording deal after the members of Choice decided to go their separate ways.

"Can't Take Me Home" was released in April 2000 among offerings by other sugar-coated pop artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and the Backstreet Boys. The album's lead single, "Most Girls," exploded to the top of the Billboard charts; at different times the track was No. 1 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 chart, No. 2 on the Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Despite the commercial success of her first album, Pink still felt her fans weren't being exposed to everything she had to offer. Although record executives at LaFace encouraged her to follow the same formula "Can't Take Me Home" did, Pink insisted on creative control over her work. "I love good music. And to me, good music doesn't have a category ... so that was my motivation.

"I think we all feel misunderstood, and our main goal is to be appreciated for all that we are -- most of the time we don't even fully understand ourselves ... thus the title of my album," she said.

THE biggest influence on "M!ssundaztood" has to be the involvement of former 4 Non Blondes front woman Linda Perry. Perry receives production and songwriting credits on eight of the album's 14 tracks and is featured on the single "Lonely Girl."

"'Bigger, Better, Faster, More!' was one of my favorite albums, and I used to sit on the corner in Doylestown with my two friends that played guitar," said Pink. And it was while playing on a street corner that she got arrested for the first time. "I never quite understood the whole 'disturbing the peace' thing," she said.

But when Pink discovered a friend knew how to get hold of Perry, she became a woman on a mission. "I literally stumbled upon it in my makeup artist's black book," said Pink.

"So I handled the situation the only way I knew how: I stole her (number) and called her. I am a firm believer in signs, that everything happens for a reason."

Luckily for the singer with fuscia-streaked hair, Perry agreed to collaborate on the new album, and the two proceeded to complete more than two dozen tracks while recording at Perry's home "on her furry rug." Pink describes the experience as "amazing, liberating, inspiring, what making music should be like."

With two successful albums under her belt, does Pink think she's finally gotten a firm grip on her own destiny? Not quite. "I love unpredictability," she says. "I do what I'm told I can't do; it's a challenge. I'm a big dreamer."

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