Pink: I'm Not Dead

Herald rating: * * *

No matter how many skirmishes she has or how many beers she sinks, Alecia Moore keeps coming back. The title of her fourth album hints at a career struggling to stay on the rails but this is proof she needn't worry.

After her last strong effort, the punky Try This with Tim Armstrong, she knew it would take more than her signature snarling to keep fans interested, especially now the novelty of tough-girl pop has faded.

Working with boy-band producer Max Martin, Pink tries her hand at several styles while still managing to sound quintessentially Pink, dipping into 80s pop-rock on Long Way to Happy and the title track, and imbuing the other surefire hit, Leave Me Alone, with a blazing Franz Ferdinand stomp.

Pink is still at her cynical best on tracks like 'Cuz I Can where chorus girls sarcastically chirrup "We all want ice cream!" and I Got Money Now where she quips that she'd rather have dollars than sense.

But she sounds out of her depth on the confessional tracks. The themes of Conversations With My 13-year-old Self should be left in the Missunderztood days; Nobody Knows should be left to Mariah.

Elsewhere though, Pink is still the sassiest of the lot.

Label: Sony/BMG