PINK – FUNHOUSE (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)
October 28, 2008 by Dennis Amith
“Pink’s fifth album is much darker and evident that after her divorce from Cary Hart, she had a lot to let out! Overall, the album has a lot of cool songs and I enjoyed it a lot! Although, the lyrics lean more towards the painful/heartbreaking side than what people may be accustomed to hearing from Pink.”
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ARTIST: Pink
ALBUM: FUNHOUSE
LABEL: LaFace Records
DURATION: 45:11
RELEASE DATE: October 28, 2008
- So What
- Sober
- I Don’t Believe You
- One Foot Wrong
- Please Don’t Leave Me
- Bad Influence
- Funhouse
- Crystal Ball
- Mean
- It’s All Your Fault
- Ave Mary A
- Glitter in the Air
I have been listening to a lot PINK (Alicia Moore) lately. Her strength as a singer/songwriter and the amount of well written lyrics that really are in-your-face, sincere and something that I really enjoy about her style overall. No fluff, speaking from the heart and thus, listening to her music, I find the additional benefit of hearing her words.
With her fifth album “Funhouse”, the album can be viewed as a post-divorce (from popular motocrosser Cary Hart) or breakup album. Pink collaborates with producers Max Martin (U +Ur Hand), Billy Mann (Stupid Girls) and several others. First, let me clarify that the album name “Funhouse” is Pinks view of the world like a carnival. It can be fun but yet it could be creepy.
So, this album…it can be fun but yet it can be dark.
The first track “So What” is Pink’s megahit at the moment which has graced the #1 position on a variety of music charts around the world. A song that is just upbeat, fun but if you really listen to the lyrics, she’s pretty pissed off about her divorce.
The second track “Sober” is the second single from the album and interesting perspective of Pink who hosted a party at her home and everyone was drunk except her. She wanted everyone to leave but the idea came to her for this song and despite the correlation of alcohol due to the title, it’s a song more about Pink trying to find her own identity.
The third track “I Don’t Believe You” is a breakup ballad. A very sad track of having the person you love telling you they don’t need you anymore and don’t love you anymore. The ballad features beautiful strings and acoustic guitar. Overall, a very well done song.
The fourth track “One Foot Wrong” is a more mellow rock track. A bit of a dark song with a funky rock feel to it. A song where Pink asks, “Did someone bring me down”. According to Pink, the song is about an acid trip that went wrong.
The fifth track “Please Don’t Leave Me” is a song that is fun in an interesting way. Pretty much a song of how a person can be very difficult, obnoxious and how a person brings out the bad in them and she asks to please don’t leave her. Overall, another well-written song as I’m sure anyone who has had a relationship with someone complex or difficult has felt that way. A very cool track!
The sixth track “Bad Influence” is an upbeat pop track produced by Billy Mann, who she worked with in her songs “Stupid Girls” and “Dear Mr. President”.
The seventh track “Funhouse” is a fun track that goes through a variety of musical transitions but the enjoyability is Pink’s vocals and humor in burning down the funhouse. A very cool, enjoyable track produced by Tony Kanal and Jimmy Harry.
The eighth track is titled “Crystal Ball”, an acoustic guitar-driven track that deals with her divorce or post-divorce and the pain she has felt since the divorce. Pink said in an interview that the song was done in one take and was co-written by Billy Mann.
The ninth track “Mean” is another song asking how two people can get so mean at each other after having a good relationship. Also, another breakup song or a song focusing on the loss of love.
The tenth track “It’s All Your Fault” is probably one of the more synth-pop-rock based songs on the album. Definitely, one of the cool musical tracks on this album.
The eleventh track “Ave Mary A” is a rock-based song and a look at the world and the crazier things happening in this world and trying to make sense of it.
The twelve and final track is “Glitter in the Air”. A song that is literally full of questions primarily through certain actions, “have you ever felt this way?”, “have you ever hated yourself for staring at the phone and waiting for the ring to tell you that you are not alone”. Another song that I found myself just listening and wanting to feel the words that Pink wanted to communicate with this song.
Overall, “Funhouse” is known to be Pink’s most vulnerable album. Despite the song being called “Funhouse”, the Funhouse is actually quite dark, filled with pain but at the end of the ride, there is that glimpse of light.
Although this album can’t be fully called a break-up album or a divorce album because this is not a second-coming of Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know” which was indeed pissy but somehow Pink manages to turn a song like “So What” to show anger but at the same time, to have the listener just enjoy the song despite it being about a painful time in her life.
Lyrically, there are some deep tracks such as “I Don’t Believe You”, “Please Don’t Leave Me”, “Crystal Ball”, “Mean” that there are songs that many people who are just in some crappy place in their relationship, the album does provide some solace that from what hurtful pain you may have felt, you gradually get over it and most of all, not to give up.
Sure, there are some people who may find “Funhouse” a bit to dark and may miss the “U + Ur Hand” or “Stupid Girls” style of humor but considering the state of mind that Pink was in during the creation of this album, sometimes you need albums like these to get certain emotions out and overall, I found her lyrics to the point, well-written and overall well done. Just imagine, she wanted the album to be originally called “Heartbreak is a Motherfucker” (but nixed by her label). So, it kind of gives you an idea where the theme of the album was headed.
As for the music, you do get a variety of musical styles from rock, funk/rock, synth pop to acoustic guitar-based tracks. All in all, a good balance of tracks musically.
All in all, I felt this was a pretty cool album from Pink, much more pain and a darker than her previous albums. But similar to other creative artists who have gone through happy times and even darker times with their work, this album definitely exhibits her emotions at the time and for those in a similar position, can definitely find some tracks that will really strike home.
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