2012 was the year that P!nk clawed her way back into the hearts and minds of pop fanatics all across the world, dropping the chart-topping, sugar-coated atom bomb of an LP, The Truth About Love. Before the year’s end, the album had already birthed two ass-kicking singles: “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” and “Try.” “Blow Me” is a cookie-cutter P!nk anthem, with fist-in-the-face hooks, an up-yours mentality, and all the other dressings. “Try” strikes a chord with its heavily bruised optimism and quiet reflection, and has a mind-boggling music video to match. But are those the only two gems on the 15-track release? Hell no!
The title track is a whopper of a record: fun, ferocious, and fantastically frank. The album itself explores the many different shades of romance, from the wild and wonderful to the rancid and raw. But with “The Truth About Love,” it’s all encompassed into a little less than four minutes, and every second packs a punch. What’s better, the song as a whole represents all of love’s contradictions. The grungy bass-line smacks lips with the sweet girl-group background vocals, and P!nk clucks and coos a carefully crafted list of love’s ups and downs. Even as she cries out in the chorus, it’s uncertain whether she’s expressing jubilation or angst (or both). And the one-liners she delivers? “It takes your breath, cause it leaves a scar.” Damn girl, way to be.
No definite word as to whether this will be P!nk’s follow-up single after “Just Give Me A Reason” (another great track, featuring fun.’s Nate Ruess), but one can only hope. In the meantime, take a little solace in this dirt-smeared-psuedo-break-up-psuedo-love-song, and go punch someone in the face (it would make P!nk proud). I’m actually just kidding about that last part. Maybe.
