Review: The Truth About Love

It has been a loooooooooong time since I last blogged. Nearly 9 months, meep. And I have a good reason, I promise: my course is a 3-year course condensed into 1 and I'm supposed to be a fully qualified teacher by the end of it and omg it is SO hectic and hard!

Anyway, I finally got around to listening all the way through to P!nk's latest (hur, 2012) album, "The Truth About Love". I may have owned it for a week, but this is the first evening in a long time where I've had some down time to just chill out and listen to music without driving to work. I shall be forcing this album onto my friend when we drive to school tomorrow.

I love Pink/P!nk. I really do. She is a badass. She has a great voice and what's more, as she's got older, her songs have got better and better and she's gritty in a wonderful way, but still catchy.

You have no idea how excited my best friend and I were when "U+Ur Hand" came on in our student club - we went mental. Not only is it a great song to dance to, it has a fantastic message that everyone should pay heed to.

So, the Truth About Love.  The singles on it are 'Try' and 'Blow Me (One Last Kiss)' [Links to Youtube videos - may be NSFW]. I have to say, I found 'Try' more catchy, but both are good songs with great lyrics.  'Blow Me' is really similar to another song by the same composer. He also did a song for Kelly Clarkson, so it's probably not that surprising if there's overlap. It happens.

Try is a song you want to listen to when your love life or general life is getting you down - I mean the chorus alone should get you singing at the top of your lungs in the car to work:

Where there is desire there is gonna be a flame
Where there is a flame someone's gonna get burned.
Just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die
You gotta get up and try and try and try.

Simple lyrics and quite clear: Love is gonna hurt at some point but there's no point in shutting yourself down and not trying again.

And that seems to be the over riding theme of the album. My other favourite, which I think is the best single of the three is 'Just Give Me A Reason [feat. Nate Reuss]' - now this is just my first proper listen through, but I think it's about a lot of insecurities people can bring to a relationship. The lyrics describe what feels to be an all-too familiar feeling in a relationship where one person thinks the other is unhappy in some way, reading into signs that may or may not be there, whilst the other person is trying to deny these signs. But again, the over riding message is that we can learn to love again - whether that's in the "struggling" relationship or in new ones isn't quite clear to me. But worth a listen and it's a pretty tune, I thought.

The first song on the CD, 'Are We All We Are' has a more grungy, rock feel to it, with a good solid beat. I can see that one being a good club mix, once DJs get their hands on it. It's repetitive enough as well for it to work.

'True Love' is a bit more along the lines of what T.V, Films and Books would describe as true love - being driven crazy by the object of affection - but there is a slightly less jokey side of it: 

And you make me so mad I ask myself / Why I'm still here or where could I go? / You're the only love I've ever known / But I hate you, I really hate you / So much that I think it must be // Chorus // True Love, true love, it must be true love / .....

Overall it has a pop-rock/hip hop type feel to it, and it's featuring Lily Rose Cooper. It's fast and upbeat and quite boppy with a lot of repetition.

And finally, what I think is a really refreshing track (and worth mentioning): 'A Slut Like You'. It opens with the ultimate sex-positive lines:

"I'm not a slut I love love / Tell me somethin' new / 'Cause I've heard this".

This song is about women who enjoy sex for what it is: sex. It's about women having fun, and that it's ok if they're 'sluts'. (A social construct and nobody's damn business anyway, unless they're carrying an STD)
In fact, the 'slut' tells the listener that she is a "slut like you" - presumably men or other sex-havers.  But she also, in line with U+Ur Hand, reaffirms that the 'slut' is "not a cracker jack / You can't go inside / Unless I let ya".  So this song should win some points with sex-positive feminists out there.

Also, her pink hair is back!

The rest of the album sounds like P!nk but is a good mix of styles, with slow songs demonstrating the range of her vocal talents (and gorgeous piano riffs) and others that are more rock and roll or party playlist-style.

P!nk has collaborated/featured 4 other artists, and to great effect. Nate Reuss and P!nk should duet more often - their voices are lovely together.
Eminem was an interesting and different addition too.

Sound-wise "The Truth About Love" is not too dissimilar an album from "Funhouse", but if you loved that album, then that's not a bad thing.

8/10