Pink Talks About Her Songwriting & Collaborators For Her Hit Album, I’m Not Dead

By Dale Kawashima

Pink

Over the span of six years and four albums, Grammy-winning, multi-platinum artist Pink has recorded and written hits in many genres. Very few artists have successfully created hits while traversing such wide-ranging styles as R&B, pop, rock, punk, soul, blues and dance. And now with the release of her dynamic new album, I’m Not Dead (on La Face Records) Pink has returned to the pop/rock/soul mix of her best-selling, second CD, Missundazstood.

I’m Not Dead is already off to a strong start, receiving excellent reviews and scoring a hit with its flamboyant, first single “Stupid Girls.” In a new interview, Pink talked about her songwriting and recording process for I’m Not Dead, and how she wrote 45 songs for the project, before paring it down to the 13 songs which made the album. In addition, she spoke how she wrote certain songs, and the writer/producers she collaborated with.

“I didn’t expect to be so emotionally involved in this album, because the last album (Try This in 2003) was definitely a draining experience,” explained Pink. “But I was almost forced to be emotionally involved by the people I started working with. [As it turned out] I was at a place where I feeling, ‘Alright, I have something to add to this world. I feel like there’s a hole and I know how to fill it.’ I was feeling very creative and emotionally available again. And the album came out great – I did 45 songs. At the beginning of the record it was like ‘I don’t know if I have anything to say – I don’t know if I could do this.’ 45 songs later they said ‘Okay, you can stop there’,” (she laughed).

Pink discussed how she selects her writing collaborators. “It’s different every time – it depends on where my head’s at,” she said. “It definitely has to be someone I can connect with. I learned a lot from the experience of recording my first album (the R&B Can’t Take Me Home). The first album was [the producers saying] ‘Hi…Sing…Bye!’ That was it! That was the extent of the connectedness. For the second album (Missundazstood) there was a [writer/producer] I had stalked, that I was obsessed with (Linda Perry). It was an amazing, strong, untapped fury that she had waiting for me. It was a great time for us. And then with Tim Armstrong (for Try This), I had loved [his band] Rancid and his Transplants album. And then he called me, and it was like the universe just comes together. Tim said “I might have some songs for you.’ Then I said ‘okay,’ and we worked together and did eight songs – it was great.”

For I’m Not Dead, Pink’s main collaborator was Billy Mann, the New York-based writer/producer who is known for his hits with Jessica Simpson (“With You”) and for being the executive producer/co-writer of Teddy Geiger’s debut album. Pink & Mann had written one song on her prior album, the hit “God Is A DJ.”

“I started with Billy Mann, who’s amazing, and who has become like my spiritual brother. On the last album Billy and I did ‘God Is A DJ,’ but we didn’t get to spend any time together,” said Pink. “But I met with him (for the new album), and he went out and bought me books. And that was the biggest thing that anyone’s ever done for me, because I’m a voracious devourer of literature. He bought me books that I loved. So this time he has a family (with two, young children) and he said ‘move to New York.’ And I have dogs – it was like ‘I’m not moving to New York and leaving my dogs so you can be with your family.’ And then I moved to New York with my dogs, and it was amazing! It was so good to get out of L.A. I rented an apartment in New York, and we just worked together for a month - we wrote a song almost every day.”

One of the songs Pink wrote with Mann is the hit single, “Stupid Girls,” which she said was not written about a specific person. “It’s about the epidemic – it’s about everyone and no one. I live in L.A. and it’s all around. I wrote it because I think there should be a choice. There’s not a choice being given right now – it’s ‘their’ way or the highway. And I’m the highway. It’s a fun song – it’s all in good fun.”

Another song Pink wrote with Mann is the politically-themed, “Dear Mr. President.” “I was in New York and it was Martin Luther King Day,” she explained. “I was feeling really political and drained and exhausted. I’d been watching the news and reading the New York Times everyday, and listening to both sides of the fence argue. So I wrote this song. I think it’s one of the most important songs I’ve written, and I got the Indigo Girls to sing it with me. I’ve loved them forever, and I thought it was brave of them to be a part of this song with me.”

In addition to Mann, Pink worked with other top collaborators for I’m Not Dead. She co-wrote three songs with pop hitmakers Max Martin & Luke Gottwald (whose credits include Kelly Clarkson, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears), and they wrote her next single “Who Knew.” Pink also wrote two songs with artist/writer/producer Butch Walker (Avril Lavigne, Sevendust and Bowling For Soup), and one song with Dr. Dre’s creative partner, Mike Elizondo (Eminem, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige).

Lastly, Pink discussed her album title I’m Not Dead, and it’s meaning. “I’m Not Dead was like an awakening,” she said. “It felt good to feel again. I kind of woke up – I turned 25. I felt I had so much to learn, whereas before I thought I knew everything. And that’s definitely a huge part of that title.”