“Family Portrait” finds a little girl desperate to bring peace to feuding parents (“I don’t want to split the holidays/I don’t want two addresses”). On “Dear Diary,” P!nk says she has learned from her mistakes. “My Vietnam” states, “Once I fed the homeless. I’ll never forget the look upon their faces as I treated them with respect.” Cuts also express self-confidence, long to fulfill adolescent dreams, and mourn a city full of pain and corruption. Although “Respect” tells ladies to withhold sex from men on the prowl (“This body is a priceless piece”) . . .
They’re not encouraged to abstain entirely outside of marriage, but just not to give it away “for free.” Barely bleeped f-words and fairly explicit sex chat crash “18 Wheeler.” Girls with a poor self-image will mope right along with P!nk when she complains about not being pretty enough on the self-loathing “Don’t Let Me Get Me.” Value comes from a Mercedes and diamond rings (“Get the Party Started”), and passive sex with a boyfriend leaves the artist “Numb.” Mild profanities mar several tracks.
When focusing on social ills and family unity, P!nk offers valuable insights. But her energized pop fizzles when profanity and sexual immorality take the fore.
