Missundaztood
Missundaztood is the second studio album by American singer and songwriter Pink. Her breakthrough album, it was released worldwide in November 20, 2001 to global commercial and critical success, critics welcoming the more mature pop sound Pink presented on the record, after a dance-pop/R&B debut.
The album's four singles received positive reviews from critics and fans alike. The songs "Get the Party Started", "Don't Let Me Get Me" and "Just like a Pill" became hits on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking inside the top 10 between 2001 and 2002. The album's final single, "Family Portrait", is a vulnerable R&B ballad that P!nk wrote about her parents' separation. Although it didn't match the commercial success of the album's first three singles, it was still a hit, peaking inside the top 20 of the Hot 100 at number 18. M!ssundaztood is P!nk's most successful album to date and one of the best-selling albums of the 2000s, with sales of 13 million copies worldwide. To promote the album, Pink embarked on her debut headlining concert tour, Party Tour comprising shows at clubs and theatres. She also served as an opening act for the group 'N Sync.
Composition
Missundaztood is different from Can't Take Me Home as it leads toward rock-inflected pop and less of Pink's original teen/dance-pop and R&B sound. The record also includes elements of power rock, neofolk, electropop, rhythm & blues and hip hop. Pink recruited 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry to help her with writing a new album. According to Pink in VH1's Driven she left a message on Perry's answering machine after finding her number in make-up artist Billy B's phone book, saying she wanted to write with her. She stated that the reason she wanted to work with Perry was that 4 Non Blondes album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More! was one of her favorite albums.Songs
Pink worked with Perry on most of the songs of the album, who also contributed guest vocals on "Lonely Girl". Other guest vocals are provided by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi on "Misery". Other writers that worked on the album are Scott Storch and Dallas Austin.Different subjects are touched upon on Missundaztood. In "Don't Let Me Get Me" she tackles teenage angst and "Just Like a Pill" she describes her drug abuse as a teenager. Pink's father was sent to serve in the Vietnam war which made such an impression on her that she used the stories of her father in the song "My Vietnam". Towards the end of the song is a sonic interpolation of Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner." "Family Portrait" tackles divorce and its effects.
According to VH1's Driven, Antonio "LA" Reid of LaFace Records wasn't initially content with the new music Pink was making, because she had made a name for herself with her successful R&B debut.
At the 2003 Grammy Awards "Missundaztood" was nominated for "Best Pop Vocal Album" and "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance", respectively. At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, "Get the Party Started" won in the categories "Best Female Video" and "Best Dance Video".
Many of the songs on the album contain strong language, and the song "18 Wheeler" in particular, contained many expletives. However, the album was censored in order to avoid a Parental Advisory warning. No uncensored studio versions of "18 Wheeler" exist, but P!nk performs the song uncensored during live performances.
In the US, three different editions of Missundaztood were released in total. The first edition was the original version released in 2001 with enhanced content on the disc, which—if placed in a computer— allowed users to listen to the international bonus track "Catch 22", and granted access to a photo gallery, sing-alongs, and more. This version of the album also contains the original version of the song "Misery", in which P!nk sings the second verse of the song. Future pressings of the album featured Steven Tyler performing the second verse. After some time, all pressings of the album included the new version of "Misery" and no enhanced content. This revised version of the album is the one that is still available today. A third version, released in 2002, was a limited edition that included a bonus DVD with two music videos and two live performances. The version of the CD included in the limited edition package is the later pressing with no enhanced content and the revised version of "Misery". Both the limited edition with the bonus DVD and the enhanced CD versions have since gone out of print. The album was released outside the US with a slightly shuffled track listing and one extra track, "Catch 22".
Promotion
Pink was featured on the cover of several magazines, including:- The Face
- Rolling Stone
- Seventeen
- Billboard
- Hitkrant
Pink embarked on the Party Tour to promote the album, touring clubs and other venues in the United States. She was also the opening act for 'N Sync on the American and European legs of their tour in 2002.
Singles
"Get the Party Started", written by Linda Perry, was released as the first single from Missundaztood in October 2001 in the United States and January 2002 in the United Kingdom. The single charted strongly, reaching number four in the US, number two in the UK, and number one in both Australia and New Zealand."Don't Let Me Get Me", written by Pink and Dallas Austin, was the album's second single in February 2002. The song reached number six on the UK charts and number eight on the US and Australia charts. It also became the second consecutive number-one single from the album in New Zealand.
"Just like a Pill", also written by Pink and Dallas Austin, became the third single in June 2002. It reached number eight in the US and became Pink's first UK number-one single. It also reached number two in New Zealand, but in Australia, the song was a radio-only single, thus it did not chart.
"Family Portrait" was written by Pink and Scott Storch, released as the final single from Missundaztood in December 2002 in North America and January 2003 in Europe. The song peaked at number 20 in the US, number five in New Zealand, and number 11 in the UK and Australia.
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a rated mean out of 100 from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 72, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 8 on the US Billboard 200, selling 220,000 copies in its first week of release, a higher chart and sales debut than that of Pink's first album, Can't Take Me Home. The album saw its highest sales week in its fifth week, when it was at number ten, selling 323,000 copies. It sold 73,000 copies in its eighth week and rose to number six on the chart; which became its peak position. It was the second biggest selling album by female artist in 2002, behind Avril Lavigne's debut album Let Go. As of July 2014, it had sold 5,628,000 copies in the US. The album is number 157 on Billboards Top 200 Albums of All Time. In the US, the album has been certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA. Worldwide, the album has sold over 13 million copies.The album was released on vinyl for the first time in October 2017, alongside her follow-up album Try This and her debut, Can't Take Me Home.
In the UK the album peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart and eventually manage to sell 1.82 million copies, receiving a 6× Platinum certification The success was so huge that as of November 2006, the album was ranked 94th on the Official Charts Company's all-time best-selling albums list. In 2010 it was ranked the 37th best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK.