Cuz I Can was written by Pink, Max Martin and Lukasz Gottwald. It was released as a promo single for I’m Not Dead.
In Cuz I Can, Pink says she plays by her own rules boasts about her “bling”, a contrast to the anti-consumerist content of “Stupid Girls”. Referring to the song, she called herself “a walking contradiction” and “a hypocrite sometimes.”
The song was used as the opening performance of the I’m Not Dead tour.
According to Pink, the sixth and title track, I’m Not Dead, is her first “subtle” and “poetic” self-written song: “Usually it’s very much more cartoon-y and blunt, the way I write songs. I don’t really know diplomacy or subtlety.” The song was inspired by how Pink and producer Billy Mann felt about the end of their working relationship: “We were scared to move on from each other, after seeing how much that little bit of time together changed us, and how scary change is.”
Dear Mr President was written by Pink and Billy Mann and featured the Indigo Girls. The song is an open letter to then President of the United States, George W. Bush. It was released in December 2006 along side Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely).
The song criticizes several areas of Bush’s administration and terms in office, including the Iraq War, No Child Left Behind Act, disapproval of equal rights for homosexuals, lack of empathy for poor and middle class citizens, Bush’s strong religious beliefs, and Bush’s drinking and drug usage in college. Pink felt that it was one of the most important songs she had ever written.
The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Bill Lamb noted that Pink has rarely made songs about social problems: “the searing anti-Bush “Dear Mr. President” (…) “a folkie singalong” (…) The Indigo Girls lend their sizable instrumental and background vocal punch” and he highlighted it. Robert Christgau noted that Pink thinks “Bush did coke and teens care about the homeless.” Entertainment Weekly described Dear Mr. President “with its incongruous folkie social concern and Bush-baiting applause lines.” Los Angeles Times said that Pink taps her inner Ani DiFranco on the confrontational “Dear Mr. President.” NY Times noted that the song is “well meaning” and “hectoring” and that it grows even more sententious. PopMatters praised the single with long overview: “Oh, and speaking of presidents, Pink’s musical letter to the Commander-in-Chief (“Dear Mr. President”) is just as topical. The Indigo Girls tag along for moral support and, with lyrics like “How can you say, ‘no child is left behind’ / we’re not dumb and we’re not blind” or “You’ve come a long way, from whiskey and cocaine”, you just know that if she’d made the song a few years earlier, it would have been featured in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911. You also get the impression that this is personal for Pink, that she’s not doing it to be trendy. On the lyric page for “Dear Mr. President”, there’s a picture of Pink in an oval frame. Red, white, and blue ribbons are tied to the frame and her father’s dog tags share the reddish page.” Rolling Stone told that Pink writes a scathing letter in “Dear Mr. President” (“You’ve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine!”) and critic praised “cooing righteous folk harmonies with Indigo Girls.” Sal Cinquemani was mixed: “”Dear Mr. President,” which cleverly uses George W. Bush’s own words against him, pales next to Missundaztood’s “My Vietnam.”
Lyrics (Click image for lyrics)
A music video was released for the song as a live video from Pink’s I’m Not Dead Tour.
Nobody Knows was written by Pink and Billy Mann and released as the fourth single from I’m Not Dead in November 2006 with the B-side Words.
Nobody Knows is a ballad which deals with feelings of depression and loneliness.
Released in November 2006 in the UK, Nobody Knows only peaked at number 27 on the Singles Chart, Pink’s lowest peaking single at the time and the first I’m Not Dead single to miss the top ten.
The song was released in January 2007 in Australia where it also peaked at number 27 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
Nobody Knows reached number 17 in Germany and number 74 on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles chart. Although it reached the top 40 on the majority of charts on which it appeared, it was not as successful as the album’s preceding singles. In Canada the song was released to radio in mid-January shortly after the success of U + Ur Hand.
LYRICS (Click image for lyrics)
The music video was shot in London by director Jake Nava. The first scene features Pink in a hotel room (shot in The May Fair hotel) staring out of a window to London at night, that changes to sunrise. She then watches TV but finds there’s hardly anything on apart from a melting snowman and puts her head under her pillow before accessing her laptop computer. During the video she messes up the room by throwing everything around, and she is later seen sitting in the fetal position in a shower. Another scene shows Pink walking down a street, past a couple in love and some drunken men. The video ends with Pink singing to an empty auditorium, pretending to do a real performance.
Who Knew was written by Pink, Max Martin and Dr. Luke, and was released by LaFace Records to radio in May 2006 as the second single from I’m Not Dead, with the B-side Disconnected. Who Knew was re-released in June 2007 in the United States.
Perhaps one of Pink’s most successful singles, Who Knew was well received by music critics, who acclaimed it as a solid song on the album and praised the lyrical content.
The song was commercially successful worldwide, where it peaked in the top spot in countries including Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and component charts in the United States. In addition, the song is also Pink’s longest chart runner on the Hot 100, spending 36 weeks before dropping out.
“My life was insane, I was [in her youth] out of control and doing lots of stupid things. Some of my friends were selling crack, and I got into drugs too. I’ve always been honest about that, although I don’t like going into details. I’ve got lots of young fans and I wouldn’t want to give them any ideas. I found a friend dead from a drug overdose when I was 14. He was a male friend, not a boyfriend. Most of the people at the funeral were just children. It should have been a wake-up call for me, but it wasn’t.”
On the Australian Singles Chart, Who Knew debuted at number six before rising to number two where it peaked for two consecutive weeks. It stayed in the charts for 32 weeks, becoming Pink’s second longest charting single in that country. It is also certified platinum for sales of over 70,000 copies.
In the European markets, the song was generally successful. Who Knew entered the UK Singles Chart at nineteen in early June, 2006 and ascended to a peak at five the following week. It is her joint fifth highest charting single in the UK and her second longest charting behind only So What. With a total of 26 weeks inside the top 100 songs it beats her number-one hit Just Like A Pill. The song had success throughout other charts in Europe, where it peaked in the top twenty in Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Finland and Norway, while it peaked in the top fifty in The Netherlands and Sweden.
When the single was originally released in North America, Who Knew was less successful. Though it peaked at number nineteen on the BDS Airplay Chart in Canada, it was virtually ignored by American radio. In the U.S., where it was released to mainstream radio in May 2006, it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, initially reaching number 18 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart (which comprises the most popular songs yet to enter the Hot 100). Billboard magazine credited the poor performance of the single on radio with significantly reducing momentum of initial sales of I’m Not Dead.
In March 2007 the song was used in promotion for the ABC television show October Road, after which download sales of the song increased; as a result, it debuted at number ninety-five on the Hot 100 at the end of the month. During the same period, U + Ur Hand, the third single from I’m Not Dead, had achieved major success on pop radio and was credited with “reviving” Pink’s career in the U.S.
Pink performed Who Knew on American Idol in May 2007. It was re-released to mainstream radio in the United States in June 2007, although it had already been receiving minor airplay on CHR/top 40 and hot AC/adult top 40 stations earlier in the month. In week twenty-five of 2007 Who Knew re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number ninety-four; it eventually climbed to number nine, giving Pink her eighth top ten single on the chart and matching the peak position of U + Ur Hand. The song is Pink’s longest chart runner on the Billboard Hot 100, spending 36 weeks before dropping out.
LYRICS (Click on the image for lyrics)
The single’s video was directed by Dragon, a team comprising Sam Bayer, Robert Hales and Brian Lazzaro. It was filmed on a weekend in April 2006 in Los Angeles, and it was released to the internet and to UK music channels in early May 2006. The video reached number one on MTV Germany’s top ten and on TRL Italy. Who Knew was voted number one on TRL Germany twenty times, allowing Pink to earn the “Golden Tape”. In the U.S. Total Request Live broadcast a “First Look” of the video in May, and it debuted on the show’s top ten countdown the following day; it spent eight non-consecutive days on the countdown, peaking at number seven.
It features a young couple visiting a fairground and going on the rides, and at one point the boy puts a necklace on the girl. The video flashes back to the boy secretly injecting himself with drugs on a previous night while the girl is sleeping. At the carnival, when the girl is playing a game, the boy walks away. The girl realizes he’s gone and follows him, but when she tries to get him to stay with her he gets violent. He goes to the back of the fairground to inject himself with drugs and breaks into a sweat. His girlfriend wanders around looking for him, and finds him unconscious; he has overdosed. She gives him a kiss, gives back the necklace and phones for an ambulance; after it has arrived, she walks away crying.
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The song has been performed on many of Pink’s world tours, including I’m Not Dead Tour, Funhouse Tour and its extension tour Funhouse Summer Carnival Tour and it was performed acoustically during promo radio shows in 2012 and then on the Truth About Love Tour. As her personal favorite, the song was eventually included in Pink’s debut compilation album Greatest Hits… So Far!!!
I’m Not Dead is Pink’s fourth studio album, released in 2006.
It was recorded in 2005 and released on 4th April 2006, six years after Pink’s debut album, Can’t Take Me Home
It was originally going to be released in September 2005, but the album was delayed for several months.
Also, it was originally going to be titled Long Way To Happy, but was changed to I’m Not Dead in order to match the comeback nature of the album, and its heavy tone in terms of lyrical content, strong language and edgy sound.
The album produced six singles, Stupid Girls, Who Knew, U + Ur Hand, Nobody Knows, Dear Mr President and Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely).
When asked about why the title of the album is I’m Not Dead, Pink revealed that “It’s about being alive and feisty and not sitting down and shutting up even though people would like you to.” She said it came from “the awakening” and how “it felt good to feel again … I turned twenty-five and I just kind of woke up and realized I have so much to learn, whereas before I thought I knew everything. That’s definitely a huge part of that title.”
I’m Not Dead sold 126,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. and debuted at number six.
I’m Not Dead debuted at number three in the United Kingdom selling 39,892 copies and was the ninth best-selling album of 2006 in the UK, with over 848,000 copies sold in the year.
In Australia, after 26 weeks of release, I’m Not Dead ascended to number one to become Pink’s first number-one album. The album spent a record 62 consecutive weeks in the top ten and is Pink’s most successful album in Australia.
After a promo tour in March 2006, Pink started the I’m Not Dead tour in North America, which would then go to arenas in Europe and Australia. Pink joined Justin Timberlake on tour in 2007, and then returned to Europe during summer 2007. The tour also went to South Africa.
Pink worked with writers including Billy Mann, Max Martin and Butch Walker.
The last song on the album, I Have Seen The Rain, is a song written by Pink’s dad, Jim Moore, who also features on the track.
PHOTOSHOOTS
Click the image below to see photoshoots from the I’m Not Dead era
On This Day in Pink History... 