Missundaztood

Content

This album is different from Can't Take Me Home as it leads toward pop and rock and less of Pink's original contemporary R&B/soul sound. She 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 sticker. No uncensored studio versions of "18 Wheeler" exist, but Pink performs the song uncensored while on tour.

In the U.S., three different editions of Missundaztood were released in total: the first edition was the original version released in 2001 with an enhanced portion on the disc, which—if put in your computer—let you listen to the international song "Catch 22", and gave you access to a photo gallery, sing-alongs, and more. The second version released was the main album reissued, but without the enhanced CD portion. A third version, which was a limited edition that included a bonus DVD (the contents of the CDs were the same) was released for a limited time in 2002 and included the two music videos and two live performances. Both the limited edition with the bonus DVD and the enhanced CD versions have since gone out of print, and the initial 2001 release is the only version of the album still in print. It was released outside the US with an extra track, "Catch 22". Also, on current pressings of the album, the track "Misery" is slightly different. On current pressings, Steven Tyler sings an entire verse as opposed to a providing only few lines and background vocals. On initial pressings of the album, Pink sang all the verses, including the one that Tyler sings on current pressings of the album. The first version of the album that contains the version of Misery where Pink sings Tyler's verse was not on a specific pressing run, as even some copies the first version of the album released (with the enhanced content) have the current version of the song. It is somewhat hard to find editions of the album with the original version of the song.

Promotion

Pink was featured on the cover of several magazines, including:

Before releasing her album she contributed to the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack. Together with Christina Aguilera, Mýa and Lil' Kim, she re-recorded Patti Labelle's "Lady Marmalade". Under the supervision of record producer and rapper Missy Elliott, they released the song in April 2001. The song became a huge hit around the world, peaking at #1 in 15 countries including the United States and the United Kingdom. It also earned the 4 artists a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. This was Pink's first Grammy Award. In November of the same year she released her album, Missundaztood.

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" was released in October 2001 in the United States and January 2002 in the United Kingdom. It was the first single to be released from Missundaztood, and was written by Linda Perry. The single charted strongly reaching number 4 in the U.S., number 2 in the UK and number 1 in Australia.

"Don't Let Me Get Me" became the album's second single in February 2002, and was written by Pink and Dallas Austin. The song reached number 6 in the UK charts and number 8 in the U.S. charts.

"Just Like a Pill" was the third single in June 2002 and was again written by Pink and Dallas Austin. It reached number 8 in the U.S. charts and became Pink's first UK number one single as well as the third consecutive U.S. top ten single from the album.

"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 U.S. and number 11 in the UK.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number eight on the U.S. 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 (2000). 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. The album being the second biggest selling album by female artist in 2002, behind Avril Lavigne debut album Let Go. As of July 2014, it had sold 5,628,000 copies in the U.S. The album is number 157 on Billboards Top 200 Albums of All Time.

In the UK the album peaked at #2 in the album chart and eventually manage to sell 1.8 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.