28 Feb P!nk’s New Record ‘Trustfall’ is Her Best One Yet
by Marisa Torrieri Bloom
It’s not every song that grips me with its lyrics right off the bat, but P!nk’s “When You Get There” — a simple vocal-and-piano track written for the artist’s late father — has me on the brink of tears the first time I hear it.
As she sings to her father in the afterlife — “Is there a bar up there where you’ve got a favorite chair?,” — her voice swells with emotion, and I feel the lump in my throat growing. By the time it’s over, I’m feeling all kinds of things. But most of all, I feel like I need to hear it again.
This is my entry into P!nk’s ninth studio album, Trustfall, a 14-song collection that reportedly took three years to make and proves that the 43-year-old artist is only getting better with age. On Trustfall, P!nk takes the listener on a multi-genre, multi-mood journey, highlighting the wisdom she’s gleaned over the last two decades, a period encompassing the transition from youth to motherhood, with plenty of marital roller coasters and age-related challenges along the way. This is a woman who has been humbled by the beauty and the pain of life, raising preteens while coping with deep losses and nostalgic longing.
There are so many things to love. The title track, “Trustfall” is a serotonin-boosting pop number, with the familiar upbeat tempo of earlier works like “Last to Know.” We get that same feel-good, ’80s dance club vibe in “Runaway,” with its spritely keyboard sounds and infectious choruses. The sweeping “Turbulence” also builds on the trusting-the-universe theme, with P!nk reminding us, “the panic is temporary but I’ll be permanent.”
The collaborations — with The Lumineers on the ballad “Long Way to Go,” Chris Stapleton on “Just Say I’m Sorry” and folk duo First Aid Kit on “Kids in Love” — are nice additions. The cozy acoustic “Kids in Love” is possibly my favorite, with its rich, stunning vocal harmonies that evoke Elle King circa 2015.
[SEE RELATED: ELLE KING, NOW A MOM, GOES COUNTRY WITH NEW RECORD]
Yet while I certainly like some songs more than others, I appreciate the wide span of musical genres — songs that lean country, lean rock, or lean pop — on Trustfall. P!nk is a rockstar among her pop-star peers, and one of the greatest vocal performers of this generation. But it’s her fearlessness and authentic vulnerability that will keep me listening long after each album’s release date.
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.
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