Sunday, February 13, 2011

Pink F**kin' Perfect

Alecia Beth Moore (born September 8, 1979), better known by her stage name, Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer. She released her first single "There You Go", on her first album, the R&B-oriented Can't Take Me Home, in 2000 via LaFace Records, which garnered commercial success. Her more pop rock-oriented second studio album, Missundaztood, which began a marked shift in the sound of her music, was released in 2001 and was a huge success worldwide. Pink released her third album, Try This, in November 2003, which although less successful commercially than her previous release, still managed to sell around 3 million copies and earned her a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Trouble". Her fourth album, I'm Not Dead, was released in April 2006. The album generated several hit singles, including "Stupid Girls", "U + Ur Hand" and "Who Knew". Both "U + Ur Hand" and "Who Knew" went to #1 on the pop chart. Her fifth album, Funhouse, was released in late October 2008 and was preceded by her first solo number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "So What". The album notched three other Top 20 hits: "Sober", "Please Don't Leave Me" and "Glitter in the Air". On November 15, 2010, she released her first compilation, Greatest Hits... So Far!!!. According to Billboard, Pink was rated #13 on the list of Artists of the Decade and #1 Pop Song Artist of the Decade (2000–2009). She has also scored ten Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 US hits, including eight as a solo artist, and has won two Grammy Awards, 5 MTV Video Music Awards and 2 Brit Awards. The People's Chart, announced through BBC Radio 1, declared Pink as the 11th Most Played Artist on UK Radio of the decade 2000 to 2009. Pink has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. Forbes Magazine in 2010 named Pink the 27th most powerful celebrity, with $44 million earned between June 2009 and June 2010.

"Fuckin' Perfect" (also known as "Perfect") is a song by American singer-songwriter Pink. It was released as the second single from her first Greatest Hits album, Greatest Hits... So Far!!! on December 14, 2010. The song was written by Pink with Max Martin, Shellback and Pedro G, who also produced the song. The song follows the footsteps of "Raise Your Glass," in terms of lyrical content and themes, encouraging people to accept each other for their true identities. Pink has stated that the main inspiration behind the track is her husband, Carey Hart. Its music video, directed by longtime collaborator Dave Meyers, delivers a controversial message against depression, self-mutilation and suicide. "Fucking Perfect" has so far peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Pink's eleventh top ten single in the United States. The song became a top ten hit in Australia and New Zealand, and charted within the top 20 in the United Kingdom and the top 40 in Belgium Flanders, Canada, Ireland and Netherlands. Filming of the music video began on December 5, 2010, during Pink's first few weeks of pregnancy. The music video focuses primarily on the life of a woman who overcame several struggles to become a successful artist. The lead role was played by Tina Majorino, as confirmed by P!nk via Twitter and Facebook, describing her as “insanely talented.” "Fuckin' Perfect" was directed by Dave Meyers, who worked with Pink on twelve videos before, including her VMA winner “Stupid Girls.” It premiered on January 19, 2011 on MTV and Pink's official VEVO channel. It was accompanied by a personal message from Pink, posted on her official website:
"Cutting, and suicide, two very different symptoms of the same problem, are gaining on us. (the problem being; alienation and depression. the symptoms; cutting and suicide). I personally don't know a single person who doesn't know at least two of these victims personally."
She explains that, while the video may be considered shocking, it is intended to open our eyes to these problems. In addition, Pink believes the video is a message to everyone who needs help. Pink described the process of making the video as a “very emotional experience” and related the core theme of “Fuckin' Perfect” to her yet-to-be-born baby, saying, “I have a life inside of me, and I want her or him to know that I will accept him or her with open and loving and welcoming arms. And though I will prepare this little munchkin for a sometimes cruel world, I will also equip this kid to see all the beauty in it as well.” She also noted that she expects the video to “Ruffle some feathers,” meaning it would cause controversy.


F**kin' Perfect Song Videos

The video begins with a man and woman, lying in bed, after having sex; the woman looks depressed and reflective. She stares at her teddy bear, the song begins and the viewer is transported back in time to when she was a little girl, and a boy snatched the teddy bear from her. The little girl is then shown beating up the boy in the playground then she gets yelled at by her teacher Shirley Henderson. Different stages of her life are shown from painting as a young girl, being excluded from a party, getting into a fight with her mother, failing her test, vandalizing toilet cubicles, getting high, being gossiped about by a group of girls, and getting caught shoplifting. She is then shown stepping on the scales, with her ribs and spine clearly visible through her skin, showing that she is anorexic. The next scene shows her lying in a bath tub carving the word “Perfect” in her arm with a razor. While lying in the tub, her eyes lie on the same teddy bear from her childhood. She gets up and cuts her long hair off. Near the end of the video, she is shown painting while looking positive and enthusiastic about her work. Ultimately, she becomes a successful artist with her paintings displayed in an art exhibition. Pink is shown raising her glass to her, and the girl smiles and raises her glass back. At the end of the video she meets the man she's in bed with at the beginning. Back to the present, this man holds her and they smile. She gets out of bed, grabs her childhood teddy bear and walks into her daughter's room. The final scene shows her mouthing the words, “You are perfect to me” to her daughter. The clean version of the video uses “Perfect”, the censored version of the song. It begins in the same scene as the explicit video, but cuts the sex scene. The video follows the same story line, but cuts through some graphic scenes and adds a few takes where Pink says “You are perfect” or “Less than perfect” instead of “Fuckin' perfect.” The bathroom scene has been heavily edited and does not show the razor blade nor nearly as much blood, although it still shows the word “perfect” carved on her arm. This version of the video is also mirrored, which is particularly obvious from the reversed graffiti in the toilet cubicle, the reversed “perfect” carved into her arm, and the reversed magazine covers in the bathroom scene. Billboard talked about the video in two different, and largely positive reviews, and described it as “controversial,” saying, “Choosing to title her new single ‘F**kin' Perfect’ and then open its video with graphic depictions of sex and bloody scenarios of cutting and suicide, P!nk knew her latest projects would ignite controversy. And that's just the way she wants it, because in this particular case, the 31-year-old singer's in-your-face approach is to ensure the message in the music isn't lost or ignored.” In the second review, Monica Herrera begins saying, “If P!nk's new music video for ‘F**kin' Perfect’ doesn't make you cry or cringe at some point, you've got thicker skin than we do.” She also commented on a particular scene in the video, adding, "P!nk video's story directly just once, when she toasts to the girl's newfound happiness from across a crowded room...and it's enough to make you want to raise your glass right along with them." MTV praised the video, giving a “hats off” to P!nk, while saying the video was a “moving call to awareness about a growing problem surrounding depression, numbness and powerlessness that leads to cutting and suicide. Her intention, as usual, is to ruffle a few feathers and shake a few sleepers as she points out ‘You can't move mountains by whispering at them.’” On November 28, 2010 the song debuted at number ten in Australia, coinciding with the release of her greatest hits album, Greatest Hits... So Far!!!. The song's charting gave Pink her eighteenth top ten single in the country. It has since been certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for sales of 35,000 units. In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at number 71 on the chart issued on November 27, 2010. The next week the song dropped out of the chart, but re-entered at number 21 with the release of its music video and leaped to #11 the following week, which is its current peak position. "Fuckin' Perfect" was released in the United States in December, 2010. It had earlier bubbled under the Hot 100 at #20 and then dropped out. It officially debuted at #86 and then dropped out of the chart. A week later, it became the most added song on the radio in the entire country, therefore it re-entered the chart at #57. One week later, it jumped to #30, as the week's Airplay Gainer. The release of the single's controversial music video ignited its digital sales (144,000; up 104%) which caused it to jump to #1 on iTunes USA. The song soared from #30 to #11 that week with the Digital Gainer accolades for a second consecutive week. On the issue dated February 2, 2011 "Fuckin' Perfect" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Pink's eleventh top ten hit in the United States. The song reached number one on the Hot Digital Songs chart, with 241,000 copies sold, making it her second song to top that chart, after "So What" in 2008. On February 3, 2011, Billboard stated that the song was likely to top the Hot 100 on the chart issue of February 19, 2011, however, the predictions were incorrect and the song fell to #4 while Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" topped the chart. Despite the false predictions for the February 19 issue and the song's descent on the Hot 100, Billboard chart experts have considered the song a nominee to become the chart's 1000th number one single in its 52-year history, it competes against Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and Glee's nine tracks that were released digitally following the February 6 and February 8 episodes. Predictions might be false as the magazine states a possibility that one of the former number-one singles might rebound to the summit. The song held the Digital Gainer certification for three consecutive weeks, the longest streak since Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" (2008). It continues its Airplay chart ascent and has so far peaked at #16 with 55 million impressions and has so far collected more than 400,000 digital units in the USA and more than 700,000 copies worldwide.

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