Pink talks about her new album ‘Hurts 2B Human,’ anti-Trump lyric, family
For “Hurts 2B Human,” Pink’s eighth and latest album, the singer recruited a slew of music A-listers as co-writers and featured singers, including Sia, Khalid, Beck, Chris Stapleton, Julia Michaels, Max Martin and Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds.
“Opportunities kept coming up for me to work with all these incredible people, and I think that’s what this record is all about: the village it took to create it,” says Pink, who is still touring in support of her 2017 album “Beautiful Trauma.” “I thought maybe I’d just put out an EP for the fans, but then it started steamrolling into this whole new project.”
The 39-year-old singer — whose real name is Alecia Moore — hasn’t lost her knack for raw anthems about relationships and self-empowerment. “Hurts 2B Human” might even feature some of her most personal songs yet, like “Circle Game,” named for Joni Mitchell’s 1970 ballad, a tribute to her father Jim Moore, who is in remission from cancer.
“I’m at that age where a lot of my friends are losing their parents, and it’s a really painful thing to go through,” Pink says. The song “is about growing up and still feeling like that little girl, waiting for my dad to fix my problems and realizing that’s not the way it is anymore. And now that I have children, it just changes when you look at your kids. I’m, like, ‘Wow, I’m your person.’ There’s a beautiful weight in that that just makes you reflect.”
Her dad also partly inspired “Can We Pretend,” which bemoans getting older and imagines a world without — among other things — President Donald Trump. (“Can we pretend that we both like the president?” she sings in the chorus.)
“He’s been a catalyst for division,” she says. “Look, I was raised by a Vietnam vet, Air Force person, who had me marching on Washington since I was 3 years old. I believe in patriotism being that you defend your ideals.
“People say, ‘You should just shut up and sing,'” she says. “I’m a citizen of the United States, and I will continue to speak out until I’m in my next lifetime as a puppy — yes, I would like to come back as my dog.”
The singer is optimistic about the next generation, which includes her and husband Carey Hart’s two kids: Willow Sage, 7, and Jameson Moon, 2. She remembers feeling particularly inspired by her daughter on a trip to Berlin, where the family visited the city’s Holocaust memorial.
“She likes that the city is really green and beautiful with lots of parks and the idea that once was bad is good again,” Pink says. “That’s what she said.”
As their kids have gotten older, she’s started to see more of her and Hart’s personalities shine through their children.
“Willow has Carey’s sense of humor but my attitude and intensity, so that’s going to be interesting,” Pink says. “Jameson is a ham sandwich, man. He’s a performer — he’s going to be a stand-up comedian. So he’s definitely got my loopiness.”
In 2017, Pink said she and Hart were done having kids but might consider adopting more.
“Our hands are pretty full right now,” she says. “But I’m still completely open to that. That’s what I want. I’ve gotta get him on board. I keep telling him I want a baby, and he keeps building me motorcycles.”
Read more at USA Today.