Pink's Road To The VMAs: C0cktails, Pyro And Acrobatics
As 'The World's Most Underrated Superstar' prepares to return to the 2012 Video Music Awards, here's a look at her most memorable VMA moments.
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Some stars use the Video Music Awards as a platform for launching singles, protests or fashion lines. But not But not Pink. She's always viewed the VMAs as a chance to go for broke, to risk life and limb, or, to get totally sh--faced. And, in the process, she's earned her rightful place amongst the show's all-time greats.
She's performed three times, won five awards and racked up just as many memorable moments at the big show. And she'll certainly only add to that legacy at the 2012 Video Music Awards, when she returns to the stage to perform a song off her upcoming The Truth About Love album. So in anticipation of what's sure to be another epic turn, here's a look back at Pink's greatest VMA moments ... safety not guaranteed.
Pink first graced the VMA stage back in 2002, and she certainly made her debut a memorable one. Not only did she take home two moonmen that night — including Best Female Video for "Get the Party Started," where she delivered a party-hearty acceptance speech that included one prominently placed curse word and the declaration "I'm too drunk for this!" — but she wowed the Radio City crowd with a raucous performance of "Just Like a Pill." Decked out in black leather, and backed by a cracking live band, she prowled the stage, sassed her way through lines like "I tried to call the nurse again/but she's being a little bitch" and even flashed the finger. Needless to say, it helped establish her place as one of the baddest girls in the biz, censors be damned.
She returned in 2008 and tore through a performance of "So What" that took over the backstage lot at the Paramount studios, featured some actual stunt work from Pink herself, and plenty of pyro. Beginning from a fire escape above the New York City set, she slid down some fabric (while still hitting all her notes, a feat she'd repeat the following year), smashed a bunch of sh-- up, led an army of extras through some well-placed explosive devices, and ended smack dab in the middle of the stage, while flames licked the sky. She was defiant, brave and, above all else, 100 percent Pink (even if her hair was blonde).
And while both of those performances were standouts, Pink's defining VMA moment occurred in 2009, when she stole the show with her acrobatic take on "Sober." Dangling 60 feet above the Radio City stage, held in place by only a harness, she killed the song (and almost killed herself), nailed a series of high-risk trapeze tumbles, and, in a moment of silence just before the climactic tumble, had every hair in the building standing at attention.
It was a performance that led us to declare her "The World's Most Underrated Superstar," and looking back at it now, perhaps that praise didn't do the whole thing justice. It was also the moment where she carved out her own incredibly unique, daredevil space in the pop-star spectrum, a place none of her contemporaries dare tread. Can she top it in 2012? We can't wait to find out ... and here's hoping she brings a helmet.
A few weeks ago, as I sat in Radio City Music Hall watching Pink dangle upside down from a trapeze bar some 60 feet above my head, risking life and limb (and avoiding a wardrobe malfunction) while positively nailing the chorus of "Sober" — the smart, stunning song she co-wrote with "American Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi — I sort of realized something:
Pink is totally underrated.
Think about it. She is a fabulously fearless pop artist, as comfortable taking on George W. Bush as she is hanging like a bat from the rafters of Radio City. She is clever and funny and unflinching, willing to take her (oft volatile) personal life and turn it into grist for hit singles. She is a deceptively good singer, something she is rarely given credit for (check "Just Like a Pill" or "God Is a DJ" or the chorus of "Sober" for proof). She recorded a Beck song and wrote tunes with Rancid's Tim Armstrong. She has tons of tattoos and used to wear her hair like Wendy O. Williams from the Plasmatics. She has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, landed countless Billboard hits, and her Funhouse tour is currently the ninth highest-grossing jaunt of the year.
And yet, if you were to make a list of the biggest pop stars, Pink probably wouldn't even crack the top five. This doesn't seem right to me, though I think I understand why it tends to happen. Unlike Britney or Gaga or Christina or Miley or Taylor, Pink is not a pure pop star. She's multifaceted, an amalgamation of many things and many eras, not easily categorized or digested.
To wit, Pink is kind of a rock star (remember when she was going to play Janis Joplin in a biopic?). She is kind of a party girl. She is kind of an R&B diva too (or, at least, she used to be). And she's created a particular niche in the pop universe that somehow manages to combine all those things. Her songs — particularly those on the Funhouse album (which, it should be noted, she originally wanted to call Heartbreak Is a Mother----er) — are angry, funny, pissy and rife with honesty. It isn't a perfect album, and it isn't supposed to be: It's a human one, about imperfect love and imperfect situations. At times, it's even downright depressing ("Please Don't Leave Me," "Crystal Ball"), which, considering it's supposed to be a pop album, is pretty ballsy. Not to mention impressive.
And given that Funhouse landed Pink her first-ever Billboard Hot 100 #1 ("So What") and has sold approximately 4.5 million copies worldwide, it means she's basically pulled off what many equally gifted pop singers (Kelly Clarkson, Lily Allen, etc.) have attempted but few have actually achieved: releasing a deeply personal, out-of-left-field album, without fear and with total conviction, and making it stick. So, please: Can someone give her the respect she's due?
To put it bluntly, Pink can out-sing almost anyone out there. She can out-crazy Gaga or Lily. She's the total pop-star package, everything you'd want in a singer/entertainer/icon. And still, she remains oddly off the radar. Such is the price of busting borders, I suppose.
And part of me thinks she'll forever remain that way — a cult superstar (or, you know, as "cult" as anyone who sells so many million albums can be), appreciated by those in the know, ignored by the mindless masses. But the other part of me — the optimistic part buried deep within — believes Pink is set up for the long haul. She's a career artist, unafraid to take risks and deal with the repercussions, and as such, she'll still be here long after her contemporaries have disappeared.
Then again, if she keeps dangling upside down, she might not make it that long. And, really, she shouldn't have to go to such lengths (or heights) to be loved. Though, now that I think of it, she wouldn't be Pink if she didn't.
Ok i really think they're just milk this "underrated" tag now. If u think of the top 5 females from the last decade, Pink is right there with Bey, Brit, Alicia & Christina
Ok i really think they're just milk this "underrated" tag now. If u think of the top 5 females from the last decade, Pink is right there with Bey, Brit, Alicia & Christina
The numbers have always been with her. She just doesn't get enough credit. Hence the Worlds Most Underrated "SUPERSTAR" Not the most underrated artist general.
She was overshadowed by her generation of stars Britney/Christina/Beyonce, and now she's overshadowed by this generation of stars like Gaga/Katy/Rihanna.
I think "underrated superstar" is accurate. People don't pay her much mind, but she actually has so many hits to her name, critical respect and is such a consistent performer.
