M!ssundaztood

This is album number two from the 22-year-old Pink. With it, she’s keen to promote the idea that it’s a move away from the R’n’B pop that made a double platinum winner of her debut Can’t Take Me Home. Problem is, it ain’t exactly that much of a departure.

Co-written by Pink and Linda Perry (4 Non Blondes), and produced by LA Reid, M!ssundaztood simply fails to distinguish itself from the slew of similar releases we’ve been offered in the past year. Which is a damn shame, ’cause there’s something particularly feisty about the girl, which promises some shocking music if she could just tap into it.

On ‘Don’t Let Me Get Me’ Pink could well be Alanis Morissette’s little sister, bemoaning comparisons with Britney. ‘Just Like A Pill’ opens with assurance but strays into a dull chorus. The single ‘Let’s Get This Party Started’ is one of the few tracks with any indication of musical balls and then it’s shamefully wasted on pop-by-numbers lyrics – “Everybody’s chillin’ as I set up the groove, pumping up the volume with this brand new beat.”

‘Family Portrait’ on the other hand is a stunning and frank painting of Pink’s broken childhood, complete with a slinky piano line and a Mary J Bligesque groove – “Can we be a family, I promise I’ll do better.“

That such a song is followed by ‘Misery’ – a Steven Tyler aided power ballad – is as good an indication as any of the mixed bag that is M!ssundaztood.