Pink Reveals The Beauty in Trauma with "Beautiful Trauma"

When we hear the word “trauma”, our reaction to it is often unpleasant. Yet, for singer/songwriter Pink, despite its generally negative connotation and meaning, trauma is beautiful and worth cherishing. 

From slashing Carey Hart’s tires to mending a broken relationship (remember the time when the pair split for a while and reunited again few years back?), Pink or Alecia Beth Moore has gathered every traumatic fragments of her love life, turn them into a handful of profoundly meaningful songs, peppered them with inspiring words, and piece them together into “Beautiful Trauma”, her latest studio album.

Released two weeks ago by RCA/Sony Music, “Beautiful Trauma” is the seventh studio album and the first in five years. Pink, who also serves as the executive producer on this album, collaborates with a slew of well-known names such as Roger Davies, who is her co-executive producer, singer Jack Antonoff from the band Bleachers, Busbee, Oscar Holter, Tobias Jesso Jr and Greg Kurstin to list a few. She also collaborated with multiple ASCAP Award-winner Max Martin, the composer behind chart-topping songs such as Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” and Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life”.  

“I came off the road in 2013 and I moved away from civilisation […] for a while I didn’t have anything to say except dumb sad stuff but then I started finding my voice again," says Pink on the creative process in her Apple-exclusive interview. “So then I just started really going for it and working with new people […] [I] just start going for it and steamrolling.”

“Every time I started a record I’m like ‘I don’t know if I can sing anymore’, 'I don’t know if I have anything to say', and 'I don’t know if I can do this anymore'. I’m probably suck at this now,” she adds. “And then, 25 songs later they were like, ‘Okay, can you wrap it up?’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got a lot to say – that’s going to make people angry!”

In this 14-track album and just like its predecessors, content-wise, “Beautiful Trauma” is stripped of superficial themes of materialistic love, unbridled lust, fame and fortune – the “recipe of success” used  by pop singers of today’s generation. What’s in is a roster of songs that talk about true and honest love – the ups and downs of a genuine relationship. Perhaps, motherhood and the joys of marriage bliss may have humongous positive impact on Pink thus influencing the entire tone and manner of this album – not to forget, recording sessions that were spliced with glasses of red wine, too (sorry Pink, no pun intended).

“I prefer an album to be a mix bag of emotions because that’s true, that’s my truth,” says Pink. “Those came from a real place, it’s just so happened that I’m schizophrenic and I have 17 personalities all happening at the same time.”

Speaking of mix bag, albeit the album may fall into “pop” category when you browse in the record stores, but one thing is certainly for sure: Pink has an eclectic taste when it comes to whipping up music and her songs can range from serious (everybody knows how opinionated this lady can be) to pun-infused, pure rock to R&B. 

As usual, there is no doubt on Pink’s vocal ability when it comes to hitting the high notes. Her sometimes raspy voice provides a haunting afterthought to the songs, causing them to resonate a little longer in your ears and your mind.  

If you were looking for a song that’s fun to listen, skip the tracks to “Revenge”. Penned with by Pink with Max Martin and Shellback, the song features verses that are sung in rap style. But the highlight of this song will be Eminem’s stinging rap verse that makes it funnier to listen. To date, the song is her second collaboration with rapper Marshall Mathers or globally known as Eminem.

“I’m the goofiest person in the world,” she says on "Revenge". “I want to laugh; really, I want to laugh. So those were songs like ‘Revenge’.”

In “What About Us”, the political notion is strong and punched with catchy, fast-moving rhythm. The tone is emotional yet inspiring, as if an invitation for people to stop for a while and think about what is happening around us – the injustice, the repression, Americans’ dissatisfaction on Trump’s administration, and the looming social problems.

“I think the human experience shouldn’t be covered up. I think it should be lived out loud,” says Pink. “I think empathy is a human necessity. I allow myself and others around me – I can hold space for flaws and fault and pain and true experience.”

“I see in other people what’s the truth is happening” she continues. “And I want them to feel comfortable being that. I want to be like, ‘Look, I’m doing it, too. I feel like an idiot – I’m scared half the time.”

“You can write 55 mediocre songs that you like and then there’s one day that you had no idea what was going to happen. And ‘What About Us’ is one of those days,” says Pink on the track. “I think ‘What About Us’ took us maybe 15 minutes to write and 10 minutes to record. Those were those kind of songs that fall out of you, that’s why I think you’re just a vessel when you’re being creative”

“Alecia really does point at a star and she goes for it,” comments songwriter/producer Johnny McDaid. “It may be blurred in a distance for a moment but she still walks towards it. As she does that, the song is revealed, like, it comes to fruition in the room.”

On the other hand, the title track (Beautiful Trauma) is akin to Pink’s “journey of true love” tableau. From verse to verse, the song provides a lucid and profound retrospect of her 16-year relationship with husband Carey Hart that was initially filled with traumatic events. 

Yet, after all traumas were endured, Hart remained relentless and kept on pursuing her love, and she started to feel the substance in his love. Though there were times when their “love cruise” may go off the course, they remained loyal to each other and to her, Hart is the perfect rock bottom she ever had. And for that, she is certainly thankful.

“The first song we do is ‘Beautiful Trauma’ and she came out with that line as the way to describe a long term-relationship, which I love, “says Jack Antonoff on the title track. “Right away, we rushed to the computer and find out if anyone did it already because it seemed too stupid to be true.”

With countless turmoil and political instabilities beleaguering our society, it would not be too much – let alone exaggerating – to say that “Beautiful Trauma” is certainly a humane piece of audio art that will restore our trust in love, relationship, humanity and humour once again. Rest assured, the world will have to thank Pink for that.

*Photos by Ryan Aylsworth; courtesy of RCA Records/Sony Music.

Pink’s “Beautiful Trauma” is available now at all record stores and as digital download worldwide.