When she arrived on the pop scene three years ago with the name Pink and hair dyed to match, Alecia Beth Moore was a marketing director's dream and a critic's joke.
With an R&B-pop sound as manufactured as her image, the 20-year-old Philadelphia-area native combined Madonna's tease, a punkette's rebellion and Looney Tunes flair.
Critics were so dismissive that her "Can't Take Me Home" album finished a hapless No. 780 on the Village Voice's annual best-album poll of U.S. pop writers, but the marketing team at Arista Records got the last laugh. Pink's album sold 3 million copies worldwide.
Rather than being thrilled, Pink was embarrassed. She felt like a puppet -- and rebelled. Seizing control of her career, she overruled record company concerns, recruited a new manager and set out to make a record she believed in. It was a remarkable turnaround that not only won over critics and sold nearly 10 million copies worldwide but also started a race among other teen pop stars like Christina Aguilera to add substance to their own sound.
Pink continues to push boundaries in her new, even more rock-oriented "Try This" album, which will be released Tuesday and is expected to be one of the holiday season's biggest sellers.
Rolling Stone called Pink's decision to take control of her career after the first album one of the most "radical R&B-to-rock transformations since Prince abandoned disco for a 'Dirty Mind.' "
Countless young pop stars share Pink's feelings of puppetry in an age when record companies carefully shape their images and big-name producers make the creative decisions for them. But most go along because they are more interested in being stars than artists.
"Everything in this business is designed to encourage you to play along," Pink says today. "They know people are so hungry for stardom that they'll just follow the record industry game. I know because I was ready to do anything when I started out.
"But I found that selling records wasn't enough. I told myself after the first record that I'd rather go back home and start over again than be trapped in a one-dimensional world any longer."
By breaking from the system, Pink demonstrates that artists, if bold enough, can still make a difference in a conservative pop business climate where everything from record company timidity to radio format rigidity discourages risk-taking.
A need for affirmation
