albums and tracks

Editor's rating

Based on Pink's divorce from motocross racer Carey Hart, Funhouse is less a break-up record than a confessional that millions will party to. The gossip columns will tell you she's over it all - that she and the ex have a healthy friendship that can survive a break-up. This record tells a more complex story.

Musically, the majority of Funhouse consists of Pink's usual hodge-podge of Joan Jett-inspired punk-pop and cartoon rock - a bit cute, a bit grrrly and (considering the circumstances the album was made under) a little false. The likes of 'Please Don't Leave Me', heavily influenced by the pseudo-sweet goth-pop of The Cure, deliver the hits with a professional, detached precision.    

Far more personal are Funhouse's lyrics, through which Pink, raw nerves exposed, unloads a whole heap of issues. It's a very American, very pop form of therapy she puts herself through. Each song encapsulates a black or white feeling - denial ('I Won't Believe You'), defiance (recent hit single 'So What'), dependence ('Sober') - that, while not resolved, is at least neatly defined by the three-and-a-half-minute mark. That aside, it's refreshing, post-Britney's Blackout, to hear from a pop star who admits that the solution to her problems adds up to more than a quickie with the next random hottie to waltz her way.

This is a fine pop album but it's not an entirely honest body of work. Pink has a darker record in her yet, because while her candour's been candy-coated, there's something at the heart of Funhouse that still sounds irreparably bitter.

Henry Barnes

Picture: PA Photos