Although pop rock musician P!nk released a Greatest Hits compilation less than two years ago titled Greatest Hits… So Far!!!, which featured three new songs, The Truth About Love is her first full-length comeback since the October 2008 release of Funhouse, and it does not fail to please. P!nk, who is no baby of the music industry (her first album was released at the very beginning of the millennium, making her an artist of twelve years), is well-known for her pop rock anthems that display rebellious attitude, and this album is no exception to that rule; songs such as "Are We All We Are?" and "Slut Like You" serve as prime examples. P!nk has even said herself that she uses music as an outlet to unleash anger, something that tends to be obvious, despite the frequent comparisons that I tend to hear made between her and Kelly Clarkson. The album's lead single "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" is an appropriate choice as a first single as it is fairly representative of what most of the album has to offer - power pop and rock with catchy, loud melodies that beg to be sang aloud, emphasis on the loud. It is, in fact, interesting how, as one progresses through the album, he or she will probably realize that most songs (with few exceptions such as "Beam Me Up") sound like they could be singles, although I do have some ideas regarding which songs will probably eventually be selected, and I am usually very good at that, too. I just wonder if this album will be like Funhouse in that practically half of the album will be released as singles; if I remember correctly, Funhouse saw seven singles released, which is a bit much.
The Truth About Love opens with "All We All We Are?" which, although I admit to it being a great way to kickstart the album, is far from being my favorite. Moore's powerhouse chorus in which multiple voices demand an answer to the question of "All we all we are?" comes off a bit flat and overdone, and it has been one of the more difficult songs to get attached to. "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" is, again, the album's lead single, and it is a fast-paced electro pop/rock song about having enough of a miserably failing relationship and finally deciding to call it quits. I love this song but am ultimately not too happy with the music video, a mostly black and white music video that fails to capture a colorful song, with P!nk barely even mouthing the lyrics, but I do really like the ending. Chosen as the album's second single, "Try" instantly blew me away and is so beautifully poetic, with the chorus's lyrics reading as such - "Where there is desire, there is going to be a flame, and where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned, but just because it burns doesn't mean you're going to die; you've got to get up and try." Sadly, this is the one song on the album that P!nk did not have a hand in writing, but I still have a great deal of respect for it because it is the only one. I instantly thought of Kelly Clarkson's "Dark Side" when I first heard it and then later discovered that the two songs share a writer, busbee. "Just Give Me a Reason" features guest vocals by Nate Ruess, frontman of fun., and this is a beautiful song about strongly wanting a relationship to work out despite persistent problems. A piano-driven pop rock song fluttering with dramatic theatrics, the song is quite obviously co-written by Nate Ruess because it almost sounds like a song that fun. itself might record.
"True Love" features guest vocals by Lily Allen and is very catchy, but this is not my favorite, either, because it comes off as very simplistic, the chorus simply repeating the same dreamy words over and over again. "How Come You're Not Here?" may be my favorite song from the album, as I love the power of it, the lyrics, and the whistling hook after the lines of the chorus. The lyrics seem to be the equivalent of - "Yo, I love you, so why do you keep running off on me?" "Slut Like You" is the kind of song that you'd expect to hear in a teenage comedy during a party scene, with the cheering vocals and the sexual lyrics. It's a really catchy pop song for which I have a lot of respect. I love the title track because even though I am far from agreeing with all of Moore's "truths" about love, the ultimate message is one that I do agree with - that you can't be in love with someone and expect to be happy with every single one of his or her features; no relationship is perfect, and the beauty of being in love with someone is embracing that person's feats as well as his or her flaws and accepting it all as part of the big picture. I have tried really hard to like the slow, acoustic "Beam Me Up" not only because I am a trekkie and the title reminds me of Star Trek but also because it is a really beautiful song, but for some reason, it just doesn't click with me. "Walk of Shame" is a fun, feel-good pop rock song about falling into a cycle of being out all night and feeling ashamed of it every morning, vowing not to shame yourself anymore even though you continue empowering the habit.
"Here Comes the Weekend" is another favorite, a close second to "How Come You're Not Here?" I am not much of an Eminem fan, and, therefore, when I first found out that P!nk would be collaborating with him on this album, my initial reaction was negative. I was, however, pleasantly surprised and was instantly drawn to the song, a deadly catchy song driven by electric guitar and P!nk's vocals clearly illustrating her feelings of being in control of how her weekend will be spent, and although I'm not going to deny that Eminem's solo near the end of the song does, indeed, annoy me, he does, I admit, add an appropriate element to the slightly mischievous song about partying up the upcoming weekend. A similar experience happened to me when I first heard of the track "I Don't Give A" on Madonna's new album MDNA because it features vocals by Nicki Minaj, of whom I am not a fan; however, that ended up being one of my absolute favorites from the album. Although I can't really relate to the song due to the fact that my weekends are typically spent watching movies and TV shows on my own (a lame life, I realize), I still love the song because of its catchy melody and because of its ability to cause me to desire a crazy weekend. I like "Where Did the Beat Go?" because it seems to be P!nk's one attempt to recapture her older sound, as this rock/r&b song is the one song that might belong on M!ssundaztood. The standard edition of the album ends with "The Great Escape" which (like "Beam Me Up") is another slow one. A piano-driven and melancholic brew of desperation and commitment, the song's lyrics beckon to a loved one, telling him or her that she understands that he or she is experiencing a lot of pain, but she isn't going to let him or her check out because she will be there.
The album features multiple bonus tracks - six in total, "My Signature Move" and "Is This Thing On?" and "Run" and "Good Old Days" and "Chaos & Piss" and finally, "Timebomb" - and "Timebomb" is definitely my favorite of the six. The song is melodically similar to "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" but perhaps a bit more electronic. The electronic intro sounds retro in a sense, sounding almost like an 80s song, but this feeling quickly dissipates as the song breaks into its verse and then moves into its chorus, clearly a modern pop rock song. I am not sure what the song's lyrics are saying because I think that they could be interpreted one of two ways; either she is saying not to sweat over trying to be perfect in a relationship because a truly meaningful couple's members will always find each other no matter what happens, or she is saying that if you lose someone, you will be able to move on and fall in love with someone else. If the first is true, I am on board, but if the latter is the case, I disagree; sometimes, we meet that one person that, for us, is the one and cannot be replaced; I have known people, myself included, that fit the bill of having met such a person. I find it a shame that the angry, spiteful rock track "The King Is Dead but the Queen Is Alive" isn't included as a bonus track on the album (on any edition, as far as I know), as I love the catchy melody that almost begs for fist-pounding to accompany it, and I love the strings near the end, as well. It is an exclusive b-side to the "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" single, but at least she released it. Although I admit to not feeling like I have successfully walked away from the album with a newfound understanding of the truth that the album title promises to offer, P!nk's The Truth About Love is quite the successful musical effort.
