Pink is a refreshing pop star, partially for the fact that she's managed to stay refreshing for 20 years. A staple in an industry that values youth, Pink's staying power was evident as she rose from a rebellious, anti-pop pop star to an expert trapeze artist and mother-of-two who centred her music on values of self-love.
Beautiful Trauma is Pink's first album in five years, and she's employed a roster of old and new talents for her seventh record. Producers include powerhouses Max Martin and Shellback, as well as Jack Antonoff, who needs a holiday (he worked on St Vincent's excellent new album, released on the same day as Beautiful Trauma).
With a number of fresh talents lending their co-writing talents (Julia Michaels and Tobias Jesso jnr), Beautiful Trauma is, at its best, a solid pop album with noteworthy hooks and engaging, dynamic production. Pink's vocals are as strong as ever, and the lyrical ideas at play are often sensitive, empowering and moving.
But despite all its working elements, Beautiful Trauma often feels like a mere extension of her earlier work - or perhaps a bonus edition of her 2012 record The Truth About Love. Some songs feel uncomfortably out of date; Revenge, a collaboration with Eminem, has both vocalists slam their cheating lovers. Its comical tone feels rusty and muddled, especially as Eminem appears to relish the opportunity to repeatedly call a woman a "whore," "slut" and "bitch". Barbies is a heavy-handed nostalgia trip on which Pink wishes she could "go back to playing Barbies in my room", which says nothing more than her 2012 nostalgia tune Good Old Days from The Truth About Love.
