On This Day in Pink History… 8th February 2000, There You Go was released
There You Go is Pink’s debut single from her debut album, Can’t Take Me Home. The song, written by Pink, Kandi Burruss and Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs, was released in the United States in February 2000. The song is noted for the longest consecutive debut at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart and never peaking at No. 1, staying at No. 2 for ten consecutive weeks.
The single peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 2 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. In Australia it was credited Platinum with sales of over 70,000.
Allmusic highlighted the song. Rob Brunner compared: “Briggs’s ‘There You Go’ is remarkably similar to his hits for Destiny’s Child (‘Bills, Bills, Bills’) and TLC (‘No Scrubs’) but minus the vocal interplay that gives those tunes their punch.” MTV Asia wrote that this song is an edgy cut that haves all that it takes to top the charts. Rolling Stone was also positive: “Her debut has one awesome single in ‘There You Go’, whose wronged-woman sass is set to a stop-start groove so bling-bling it redeems a chorus that ends, ‘Sometimes it be’s like that.'” Complex magazine named it the 11th best R&B song by a white singer in 2000s.
In the music video, Pink’s ex-boyfriend calls her asking for a ride, and she reluctantly agrees to give him one. Pink hops on a motorcycle and rides to the top of a parking structure overlooking her ex’s apartment, where she calls him on her cell. She then accelerates her motorcycle, jumps off at the last second, and watches as it soars off the building and crashes into his apartment window before exploding into flames. Pink then jumps into a car driven by a new guy, giving her ex the middle finger as they drive off. The Entertainment Weekly editor described the video with the following: “In the video for ‘There You Go’ — her smash single — the piqued Pink freaks, sending a motorcycle crashing into Floyd’s fab bachelor pad.”
On This Day in Pink History… 7th February 2006, Stupid Girls was released
In 2006, Stupid Girls was released as the lead single from Pink’s fourth studio album, I’m Not Dead. The song was written by Pink, Billy Mann, Niklas Olovson and Robin Mortensen Lynch and produced by Billy Mann and MachoPsycho.
The single entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart at number twenty-four, the week’s highest debut and the highest debut of Pink’s career (later topped by her 2008 single, So What). It climbed to number thirteen, becoming Pink’s eighth top twenty single in the United States and her highest peaking single since “Just Like a Pill” (2002). Its peak on the Top 40 Mainstream airplay chart, however, did not match that of most of her previous singles. “Stupid Girls” remained on the Hot 100 for sixteen weeks, and it reached the top twenty on the Pop 100 and appeared on the Adult Top 40. It received airplay in nightclubs, peaking inside the top twenty on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. “Stupid Girls” was certified Gold by RIAA in February 2008.
The single was a bigger chart hit elsewhere—it reached number two on the Canadian Singles Chart, and on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, it entered at number four and is certified gold for sales of over 35,000. It was ranked number thirty-ninth on ARIA’s top 100 singles of 2006 list. It also peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Pink’s highest charting single in the UK since “Feel Good Time” (2003). It reached the top ten in most countries in Europe.
“Stupid Girls” was nominated in the category of Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
The single was praised by Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling on her official website. She wrote, “‘Stupid Girls’, is the antidote-anthem for everything I had been thinking about women and thinness.” About.com praised the song and highlighted it: “she has rarely been as pointed in her socio-political views as in the hit “Stupid Girls” (…) “Stupid Girls” is musically a dance/hip hop gem.” Allmusic praised her delivery when she’s taunting and teasing this song and it was titled as one of the standouts on album. Entertainment Weekly noted that this song has some verve. The Guardian was less positive noting that her vocals are superficial as the starlets she attacks. LA Times wrote that this song fuses many genres greatly and called it “hilarious feminist romp.” Jon Pareles was favorable: “the pop-reggae of Stupid Girls snidely dismisses the bimbos she sees everywhere, though she apparently has studied their habits closely.” PopMatters was positive: “On “Stupid Girlz”, she rails against the idea that women have to choose between being smart and being sexy, as if the two are mutually exclusive. Pink makes the case that women can be all that and more—”Girls with ambition,” she sings, “That’s what I want to see”. She sounds bewildered and exasperated when she says, in the frequently quoted lines:
What happened to the dream of a girl president? She’s dancing in the video next to 50 Cent They travel in packs of two or three With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teenie weenie tees
What could have easily been a rant turns into an adept social critique. The way she sings it, the problem isn’t 50 Cent’s video, it’s the idea that dancing in the video is the extent of a woman’s aspirations. The bit about the “itsy bitsy doggies” suggests a disdain for elitism and excess that makes you wonder if Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl” made Pink see red. It’s got the same playfully articulate vibe as George Clinton’s “Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends”. By the way, for those keeping score, the United States is on its forty-third consecutive male president. Female presidents? Zilch. Female rump shakers in music videos? Countless. Don’t look now, but it seems like Pink’s got a point.” Sal Cinqeman was favorable, too: “As always, Pink’s ragged vocals are better than she’s often given credit for and there’s still a rebel sensibility, at least lyrically, on the catchy lead single “Stupid Girls” (“Where, oh where, have all the smart people gone?” she begs, lambasting “porno paparazzi girls”—which would have made for a more fun title—the way she took aim at Britney two albums ago).” Rolling Stone praised the collaboration with Lilth Fair and added that she takes on ‘stupid girls’ with these lyrics “What happened to the dream of a girl president?/She’s dancing in the video next to 50 Cent.” Feminist website Feminspire were considerably more critical, naming the song in 2014 as one of “the top ten most sexist songs that aren’t rap or hip hop from the last 20 years”. Author Noor Al-Sibai remarked that: “Pink shits on these women who are too stupid to break out of the chains of patriarchy by harshly judging their promiscuity and blaming them for ‘giving in’ to sexist tropes. Because obviously, women are to blame for their sexist objectification.”
Pink has announced on The Ellen Show that her new album, Hurts To Be Human will be released April 2019, with the first single from the album, Walk Me Home to be released in two weeks!
Pink has some very exciting news to announce – she has a new song coming out in a couple weeks and a new album being released in April!
The 39-year-old singer made the announcement during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, airing on Wednesday (February 6).
“I’m shooting a video in a week I think, with Michael Gracey, the director from The Greatest Showman. I’m really excited about that. He’s amazing,” Pinksaid. “I have a new song, ‘Walk Me Home,’ and I have a new album Hurts to Be Human. And I think it comes out in April.”
Pink shared that “Walk Me Home” will come out in two weeks and she even sang a snippet of the song a capella!
On This Day in #PinkHistory… 4th February 2018, Pink performed the National Anthem at the Super Bowl
Prior to Justin Timberlake playing the Super Bowl halftime show, Pink sang the national anthem, much to the delight of many Americans.
Although an impressive performance, some fans were left wondering why the singer was perhaps not performing at full capacity.
Before singing the song, Pink was seen spitting out something. Turns out, that was a throat lozenge (not gum as some believed), as the singer currently has the flu.
Responding to one critical Tweet (now deleted) saying Pink “sucked”, she wrote: “Yeah but at least I suck while singing our countries national anthem, and you just suck by yourself on a dirty couch.”
Pink also clarified that “It was a throat lozenge” adding: “All of your prayers and well wishes and candles got me through. Thank you for all of your love and support. We [emoji hear] you.”
On This Day in Pink History… 1st February 2010, Pink took part in the We Are The World remake
“We Are the World 25 for Haiti” is a charity single recorded by the supergroup Artists for Haiti in 2010. It is a remake of the 1985 hit song “We Are the World”, which was written by American musicians Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and was recorded by USA for Africa to benefit famine relief in Africa. Initially, in late 2009, it had been suggested to Richie and Quincy Jones—producer of the original “We Are the World”—that a re-cut version of the song be re-released under the title “Live 25”. Following the magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake in Haiti, which devastated the area and killed thousands of people, it was agreed that the song would be re-recorded by new artists, in the hope that it would reach a new generation and help benefit the people of Haiti.
The song was recorded in fourteen and a half hours by over eighty artists on February 1, 2010. It was produced by Quincy Jones, and executively produced by Lionel Richie, and Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean. A music video directed by Paul Haggis was released to accompany and promote the song. The song was also recorded in Spanish by a Latin supergroup and was named Somos el Mundo. The song was directed by Emilio Estefan and his wife, Gloria Estefan.
The new version of the song was recorded on February 1, 2010, in a session lasting 14 hours. Eighty-five musicians were reportedly involved in the song’s recording, which was held in the same place as the original, at Henson Recording Studio on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Also similar to the 1985 process, some of the participating musicians were already in Los Angeles to attend an awards ceremony: the 52nd Grammy Awards. Jones said of the recording session, “It was a big challenge. It takes a serious army and serious emotional architecture. I’ve never seen such a diverse group of people, and they came for the right reasons.” The recording process brought together diverse artists, with the oldest being 83-year-old Tony Bennett and the youngest being 9-year-old Ethan Bortnick.
“We Are the World 25 for Haiti” debuted within the top 30 in multiple territories. “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” charted at number 27 on the Spanish Singles Chart on the charts. The song debuted at number 17 in New Zealand on the charts. “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” peaked within the top five, charting at number three in Norway on the charts; the chart’s position is currently the song’s highest charting international territory since its release. The song debuted at number 25 in France.
“We Are the World 25 for Haiti” charted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, behind Kesha’s “Tik Tok”. “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” charted higher in its debut week than the original version, which entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 21. According to Billboard, the song’s charting position stemmed mainly from download sales, with a reported 96% of the song’s charting being from such sales. Following the song’s debut during the Olympics, 246 radio stations sampled the song in the United States. Radio stations in New York expressed that they would play the song frequently to raise awareness of Haitian citizens in need. Other radio stations throughout the United States echoed similar responses on the song getting airplay.
The song also sold over 267,000 downloads in three days. “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” debuted at number eight on the Canadian Hot 100. The song also debuted at number six in Belgium Wallonia and Flanders, as well at debuting at number 17 in Sweden. The song also charted at number 28 in Denmark. The song entered Irish charts at number nine. In the song’s second week of release in Norway, “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” moved up two spaces, topping the chart. Unlike the song’s chart performance in territories like Norway, the song dropped four places on the Billboard Hot 100 to sixth place and stayed in the charts for only five weeks more.
On This Day in Pink History... 