The Truth About Love
The Truth About Love is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Pink. It was released on September 14, 2012, through RCA Records. After giving birth to her first child in 2011, Pink started working on the album with longtime collaborator Billy Mann. With hopes of becoming more involved in the production of the album, she also reunited with Greg Kurstin and Butch Walker. Recording sessions took place between January and May 2012. The Truth About Love is primarily a pop and pop rock record and includes elements of electropop, dance-pop, and rock music. Its lyrics explore themes of love, monogamy, and sexuality, as evidenced by the album title. The songs on the album express various perspectives towards romance and delve into the realities of long-term relationships. It features guest appearances by Eminem, Lily Allen, and Nate Ruess.
The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who commended Pink's thematic and musical direction. Buoyed by extensive marketing, The Truth About Love was a commercial success, topping the charts in eight countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, and Sweden. In the United States, it became Pink's first number-one album on the Billboard 200 chart and was later certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of three million album-equivalent units. In Australia, The Truth About Love became the first album to top the year-end chart for two consecutive years and was certified nine times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association. It was ranked as the seventh best-selling album of 2012, with sales of 2.6 million copies sold worldwide. By 2016, the album had sold over seven million copies globally.
Six tracks from the album were released as singles. "Blow Me ", the album's lead single, was released on July 2, 2012, and peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Try", attained the top-ten position in several countries worldwide, including Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK, and the US. It was followed by "Just Give Me a Reason", which topped the record charts in over ten countries worldwide and became Pink's fourth number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. "True Love" charted moderately in various countries, while the album's other singles, "Walk of Shame" and "Are We All We Are", had a limited release. The album was further promoted through The Truth About Love Tour, which grossed $183 million upon completion. The Truth About Love was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.
Background and development
In November 2010, Pink released her first greatest hits album, titled Greatest Hits... So Far!!!. The album spawned two singles, "Raise Your Glass" and "Fuckin' Perfect", which achieved commercial success, peaking at number one and number two, respectively, on the US Billboard Hot 100. On June 2, 2011, Pink gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Willow Sage Hart. Despite media speculation that Pink would take an extended break from music to focus on motherhood, her management team suggested in an interview with American Top 40 that the singer could release a new album next year.In March 2012, Pink confirmed via Twitter that she had begun working on her sixth studio album. In an open letter to her fans posted on her official website, she detailed the process of crafting the record, saying, "I'm putting my heart and soul into every song and there's a lot of that these days. This little girl has expanded me and what I am capable of feeling as a human". Pink later appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan in June 2012. While discussing her return to the music scene, Pink revealed that the album was set to be released during the fall of the same year, and that she worked on new music with Billy Mann, among others. She added, "I've been in mommy mode, and I'm just starting to get back out there into the real world. I've been in the studio recording my new album, so now it feels like everything is falling back into place."
Writing and recording
The development process of The Truth About Love took place between January and May 2012. Pink recorded the album in sessions at Earthstar Creation Center in Venice, Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, Suite 203, and The Modern Dirt Laboratories in London, UK. Before starting to work on the album, Pink contemplated how to successfully balance her music career and being a mother. In an interview for Rolling Stone, she explained, "Every album, I'm worried that I'm a dork and a fraud – what if I can't sing anymore? Then I stop thinking and start playing guitar, and I realize that it's ok to suck, and move forward". While her previous albums were created by working every day until the early morning, Pink said becoming a mother has changed the process of making music, essentially complying with a strict routine. Recording sessions were therefore held only from Monday to Friday between 1 p.m. and 10 pm, with breaks for nursing her daughter and having dinner. Weekends were off and dedicated to family time.For The Truth About Love, Pink enlisted the help of her longtime collaborators, Billy Mann, Butch Walker, and Max Martin, as well as first-time collaborators Jeff Bhasker and Dan Wilson. Pink recalled that she started working on the album as "an experiment", and first met with Mann because she felt safe in a "no-shame zone" with him. She also reunited with record producer Greg Kurstin, with whom the singer had not collaborated since her fourth studio album, I'm Not Dead. Noting that they shared great camaraderie, Pink felt that Kurstin would align with her musical ideas and elevate her production and musicality. Approximately 40 songs were written during the album's development process; Pink said she would write ideas for songs in her journal. The title track was the song that made her realize the project was taking a definite form and had a cohesive theme of love.
Pink drew inspiration for her songwriting from the various emotions she had experienced in her "exhausting search" for love, as well as the year she and husband Carey Hart were separated, admitting she was "still exorcising some demons". Explaining her writing process, Pink told Daily News that the record reflects her life at the time and her newfound happiness, inspired by motherhood. She continued, "Everything's a song. It's just a lot more fun. I think that's a new thing for me. I was having a lot more fun than I was having before". She also sought to incorporate more musicality and raise the bar for herself, being more interested in the production aspects. Kurstin considered that the creative process was not difficult because Pink would compose lyrics fast once she felt inspired, comparing her work ethic with a stream of consciousness. Every day spent in the studio resulted in the completion of a new song, and Pink would record just "one or two takes", which, according to Kurstin, were "usually amazing".
Every song on the album was co-written by Pink, with the exception of "Try", which was written by Michael Busbee and Ben West, and was originally recorded in 2010 by their former band GoNorthToGoSouth. They later pitched "Try" to Rani Hancock, an A&R executive of RCA Records, hoping to give the song to Kelly Clarkson or Daughtry. A demo version was also recorded by Adam Lambert, but according to Busbee, he "just wasn't the right fit". After the song was played at a label meeting, the song was pitched to Pink. Pink agreed to record "Try", which Busbee said "was one of the first outside songs she had recorded in a long time". The concept of "Just Give Me a Reason" was developed during a songwriting session with Bhasker and Nate Ruess. Bhasker was introduced to Pink by Peter Edge, an executive of RCA Records. Pink approached Ruess because she was captivated by his "intense incredible" voice. After the first verse was written, Pink later worked on the lyrics at home. She envisioned that the song's conversational nature demanded another collaborator, and selected Ruess to be a guest vocalist. However, he was ambivalent about singing a duet with Pink because he only recorded a demo for the track. Nonetheless, Pink persuaded Ruess to record "Just Give Me a Reason" in a duet after "many, many months of convincing". She concluded; "I totally tricked him into doing it and I'm so glad that I was able to because no one could have done it better, and I think now he's very happy that he did it".
Music and lyrical interpretation
Overview
The Truth About Love has been characterized as a pop and pop rock album that incorporates elements of electropop, dance-pop, and rock music. The album consists mostly of "shouty" pop songs with "radio-gripping hooks" and confessional power ballads. According to Jon Pareles of The New York Times, the album's instrumentation makes use of "dance beats, rock guitars, piano hymns, string orchestras, and hip-hop loops". Pink described The Truth About Love as a personal rock and roll record about monogamous relationships and different perspectives towards love, including "dark, light, happy, sad", as well as "exploring how much it can hurt and how much it can feel good". Lyrical contents on the album are centered around Pink's recurring themes of love, sex, self-reliance, long-term relationships, and rebellion. The Truth About Love is a marked change in Pink's vocal style; she had quit smoking and expanded her upper vocal range by an octave.Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic noted that the album explored more "grown-up emotions" and Pink "embracing every one of her contradictions". Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly remarked the album's concept of expressing the darker side of love with "righteous anger irreverence", while Sarah Godfrey of The Washington Post identified its tracks as "aggressive, attitudinal love songs". Mesfin Fekadu from the Associated Press summarized The Truth About Love as a "rollercoaster of emotions", comparing the album with "watching a reality show about the ups and downs of her relationship with her husband". Similarly, Christina Lee of Idolator suggested that the album documented Pink's year-long separation from her husband and her overall tumultuous relationship, pointing out the singer's realization that "the love of your life can also cause the heartbreak of your life".