I'm Not Dead

不想被当作商业体制操弄的玩偶，她创造了自己的风格，做自己想做的音乐；看不惯"上流社会"人士为了虚荣，将无辜动物的生命换做自己身上炫耀奢华的皮草，她不惜得罪权贵名流，公开批评明星牺牲动物的残忍行径，写信劝英国威廉王子放弃狩猎；她敢做自己，敢有自己的想法，敢不惜挑战权威也要主持正义。Pink并不是专为叛逆而叛逆，她只是在首张专辑「Can’t Take Me Home」创下超越双白金的销售纪录、连续缔造了三首全美热门单曲之后，决定不顺着同样的模式趁机追求垂手可得的名利，她放弃了商业市场的流行操作守则，转而诚实地表现自己真正的音乐态度，以更紮实的创作、更有个性的声音来走自己的路，结果她的坚持不但没有被商业市场淹没，反而让她建立了更稳固的听众群，接下来的两张专辑照样大卖，Top 10单曲一首接着一首，除此之外，她的实力也获得了葛莱美奖的肯定，在2003年Pink攫获了「最佳摇滚女歌手」奖，证明了她不随波逐流的选择绝对是正确的。Pink也并不是故作剽悍，她只是不愿在18岁成名之后被唱片公司塑造成另一个青少年偶像，她不想当矫揉造作的洋娃娃，只想把最真的一面表现出来，这不只需要勇气，还需要实力，而Pink证明了她两者兼具。

在这张由Pink自己创作、制作的专辑里，Pink的勇气与实力再度地获得明显的佐证。首支单曲"Stupid Girls"就开宗明义地表明她不愿像一些只会卖弄风情的女明星空有外表毫无内涵，Pink在这首歌曲里坦言她对某些女性甘于被物化的态度感到十分不屑，她也质疑商业消费文化转移了大家对女性自主、人权问题等等议题的关注焦点，还剥削了人们的思考能力；"Who Knew"描述了Pink对人事无常的感叹：人与人之间的关系常因时空隔离而产生难以预料到的变化；与葛莱美奖得主、知名民谣二重唱Indigo Girls合作的"Dear Mr. President"展现出Pink以大胆词句传达细腻人文关怀的作风，她甘冒大不讳的罪名直接了当地质疑美国总统对于弱势族群的冷漠态度以及各种违反人权的政策，字字句句都切中要害，如果小布希听到了这首歌，应该也会冒出一身冷汗；"Conversations With My 13-Year-Old Self"则是Pink的自我心理治疗，Pink在这首歌曲中回顾了她青涩年少时的懵懵懂懂，藉着这首歌曲解放了当年的愤怒与哀愁。

专辑里透过摇滚、抒情、放克、灵魂、民谣等各种曲风来表现出她不愿被定位在任何特定范畴的理念，不过深受庞克摇滚影响的她还是承认这些作品都是她秉持着庞克摇滚所强调的挑战权威、坦率直言的特质而创作出来的，所以无论以什么样的曲风来包装，这些作品都能显露出Pink对音乐、对生命赤裸裸的热情。

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Although it hardly deserved it, Try This -- Pink's 2003 sequel to her 2001 artistic and commercial breakthrough, M!ssundaztood -- turned out to be something of a flop, selling considerably less than its predecessor and generating no true hit singles. Perhaps this downturn in sales was due to the harder rock direction she pursued on Try This, perhaps the songs she co-wrote with Rancid's Tim Armstrong weren't quite pop even if they were poppy, perhaps it was just a matter of timing, but the album just didn't click with a larger audience, through no fault of the music, which was the equal to that on M!ssundaztood. When faced with such a commercial disappointment, some artists would crawl back to what made them a star, but not Pink. Although she does pump up the dance on 2006's I'm Not Dead, it's way too simple to call the album a return to "Get the Party Started" -- Pink is far too complex to do something so straightforward. No, Pink is complicated, often seemingly contradictory: she tears down "porno paparazzi girls" like Paris Hilton just as easily as she flaunts her bling on "'Cuz I Can"; she celebrates that "I Got Money Now"; she'll swagger and snarl and swear like a sailor, then turn around and write sweet songs of support to a teenager, or a knowingly melancholy reflection like "I Got Money Now"; she'll collaborate with Britney Spears hitmaker Max Martin on one track, then turn around and bring in the Indigo Girls for support on a stripped-down protest song. She'll try anything, and she does on I'm Not Dead. It Ping-Pongs between dense dancefloor anthems and fuzzy power pop, acoustic folk-rock and anthemic power ballads, hard rock tunes powered by electronic beats and dance tunes sung with the zeal of a rocker. It's not just that Pink tries a lot of different sounds, it's that she seizes the freedom to hurl insults at both George W. Bush and a sleazoid who tried to pick her up at a bar, or to end a chorus with a chant of "Ice cream, ice cream/We all want ice cream." Far from sounding cow-towed by the reaction to Try This, Pink sounds liberated, making music that's far riskier and stranger than anything else in mainstream pop in 2006. And it's a testament to her power as both a musician and a persona that for this record, even though she's working with singer/songwriter Butch Walker, Max Martin, and Teddy Geiger's cohort, Billy Mann -- her most mainstream collaborators since LA Reid and Babyface helmed her 2000 debut, Can't Take Me Home -- she sounds the strangest she ever has, and that's a positively thrilling thing to hear. That's because she not only sounds strange, she sounds stronger as a writer and singer, as convincing when she's singing the bluesy, acoustic "The One That Got Away" as when she's taunting and teasing on "Stupid Girls" or "U + Ur Hand" or when she's singing a propulsive piece of pure pop like "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)." In other words, she sounds complex: smart, funny, sexy, catchy, and best of all, surprising and unpredictable. This is the third album in a row where she's thrown a curve ball, confounding expectations by delivering a record that's wilder, stronger, and better than the last. And while that's no guarantee that I'm Not Dead will be a bigger hit than Try This, at least it's proof positive that there are few pop musicians more exciting in the 2000s than Pink.