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...Blonde and Pretty
Pink's debut album, Can't Take Me Home (Arista), has been certified two times platinum, with her music crossing over to R&B, hip-hop and pop radio stations.
She's hot. But she still has to work to stay hot, and that's why she came to Jacksonville Saturday for a few hours, to meet fans as part of a radio promotion.
The event was sponsored by WJBT (92.7 FM) The Beat, and was held at Dave & Buster's near J. Turner Butler Boulevard. Fans included David Cardoso of Orange Park, who claims he is Pink's No. 1 fan. Want proof? He knows every step to the dance in the Most Girls video, which he performed for fellow fans while awaiting Pink's arrival.
Afterward, I chatted for a few minutes with Pink about her music, her plan to take over the planet and her take on belly-baring blond teen idols.
Q: What have you done in Jacksonville so far?
A: I've been in Jacksonville for three hours now. I went to Dave & Buster's. That was fun. I love Dave & Buster's. You guys are lucky. Not all cities have a Dave & Buster's. Is Jacksonville always this cold?
Q: So what is the next step in your career?
A: Taking over the world. Taking prisoners. Me and the aliens are actually working on it. Oh, I was just playing; I'm actually working on a new album. I'm going to go on tour. Just keep making music.
Q: Any time frame to expect the new material?
A: I'm trying to get it out as fast as possible because you know how this music business is these days. Very fickle. I'm working on it, I can't rush it because it took 21 years for the first one. I haven't actually physically started, but I have been mentally preparing for it. It's a process, it's definitely a process.
Q: Can we expect a new sound?
A: The same base. I've grown a lot since the last album. I trained classically, I was a lead singer in a punk band, I was a skateboarder, a club kid and a house party girl. I love hip-hop and R&B. I love it all. When Tupac [Shakur] and Linda Perry from the 4 Non Blondes are your idols, you're going to get a little confused. It's definitely going to be interesting.
Q: How has fame changed you?
A: It makes me watch what I say more. I'm still aggressive, and I tend to scare people a little bit. I was obnoxious before and I have calmed down a little bit. It's definitely calmed me down.
Q: Where do you see music going?
A: Back to life, back to live instruments, back to rock 'n' roll. I think the world is sick of lip synching. We need the freedom fighters and the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. We're trying to bring that back, me and Marilyn Manson.
Q: On last month's American Music Awards, your performance opened with a Britney, Christina and Jessica look-alike. We're you making fun of them?
A: I wasn't really making fun of them. I don't know how to say this politically correct. [She pauses.] A lot of today's music is fraudulent. I was not necessarily going at Christina, Jessica, or Britney. They just represent to me where I don't want to be. People continue to put me in that category. They have no idea where I've been and what I have seen in my life. It's just kinda my point to leave me alone. I'm not that. I'm not most girls. If you listen to my lyrics I'm not making fun of anybody. I'm just making a point -- come on now, we don't have to all be blond and pretty. Pretty is in the eye of the beholder.
Todd Fletcher