Beautiful Trauma
Beautiful Trauma is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Pink. It was released on October 13, 2017, by RCA Records. Following The Truth About Love, Pink took a career hiatus to focus on her personal life and become reinspired. Beautiful Trauma developed over a three-year period starting in 2015. The singer collaborated with a variety of producers, enlisting help from collaborators such as Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Jack Antonoff, and Shellback. Pink and her manager, Roger Davies, served as the album's executive producers. Primarily a pop record, it also incorporates influences from EDM and folk music. The lyrical content reflects primarily on themes of love, heartbreak, and the duality of life, as well as expressing societal and global issues.
This article is about the album. For its title track, see Beautiful Trauma (song).Beautiful Trauma
October 13, 2017
2015–2017
- Earthstar Creation Center (Venice, California)
- Willow-Valley (Göteborg, Sweden)
- Azteca Market (Glassell Park, Los Angeles)
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Beautiful Trauma received mixed reviews from music critics, many of whom praised its overall production and Pink's vocals. However, some thought it was too calculated and formulaic, questioning its originality. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 408,000 album-equivalent units becoming Pink's highest first-week sales to date. It was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of 1,000,000 certified units. The album also reached the summit in over 10 other countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and top 10 positions in major music markets. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), it was among the best-selling albums globally in 2017 and 2018, and has sold over 3,000,000 copies worldwide.
"What About Us" was released on August 10, 2017, as the lead single from Beautiful Trauma. It was a commercial success, topping the national charts of eight countries and peaking within the top 10 in 12 others, while reaching number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The second single, the title track, was moderately successful and attained top 40 positions on the charts of over 10 countries, while "Whatever You Want" and "Secrets" had limited releases in June and August 2018, respectively. The album was promoted by the Beautiful Trauma World Tour which ran from March 2018 to November 2019 and grossed over $390,000,000, becoming one of the highest-grossing tours of all time. Beautiful Trauma received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 61st awards ceremony, while "What About Us" was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 60th Grammy Awards.
Background[edit]
In September 2012, Pink released her sixth studio album The Truth About Love.[1] The electropop and rock-influenced pop album received critical acclaim[2][3][4] and became an international commercial success, having sold approximately 7,000,000 copies worldwide.[5] The album's associated world tour ran from February 2013 to January 2014.[6] In March 2014, it was reported that Pink had signed a new multi-album record deal with RCA Records.[7][8] In October 2014, she released a collaborative album titled rose ave., with Canadian singer-songwriter Dallas Green, under the name You+Me.[9] Pink subsequently took a hiatus from her career.[10][11] However, she released some songs during this period, including "Today's the Day", used as a theme song for the 13th season of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and "Just like Fire" featured on the soundtrack of the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass.[12][13][14] In April 2016, Pink confirmed that she was going through the writing process for her upcoming album via a post on her Instagram account, prompting media speculation about a potential Pink release during the second half of that year.[5][15][16] The album's creation and release were ultimately pushed back to 2017 after Pink gave birth to her second child, a son named Jameson Moon Hart, on December 26, 2016.[5][17] The singer announced in July 2017 that she was filming a music video for an upcoming single. Pink later shared a recording from the set of the video on her social media page, captioned: "Video #new #fyeah #itsallhappening".[18]
Music and lyrical interpretation[edit]
Overview[edit]
Beautiful Trauma is primarily a pop record that incorporates elements of EDM and folk music.[32][33] Lyrically, the album has an emotional theme, addressing insecurities and imperfect relationships, as well as the singer's concerns about societal and global issues.[10][34][35] Josh Hurst of Slant Magazine characterized Beautiful Trauma as a pop album "about bent-and-broken people",[33] while Rolling Stone staff wrote that most of the songs analyze "married life, motherhood and the state of the world".[36] Pink explained that the album marks a change in her vocal style. As a result of her pregnancy, her voice became clearer.[28] Most critics noted that Beautiful Trauma includes predominantly ballads with "dramatic" choruses;[33][35][37] Pink's manager Roger Davies called it "just a continuation of the previous records".[34]
Release and promotion[edit]
Live performances[edit]
Pink embarked on a promotional tour across Europe and North America to promote the release of Beautiful Trauma. The singer performed "What About Us" live for the first time at Waldbühne in Berlin, Germany, on August 11, 2017.[48] During Pink's headline set at the V Festival that year she performed the song along with older material.[49] At the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, Pink was presented with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and sang the song as part of a greatest hits medley.[50][51] On September 6, 2017, the singer held a special concert at The Theater in the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, premiering tracks from the album to a room of specially invited fans.[52] She also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show the same day and performed "What About Us".[53] On September 8, 2017, Pink performed the song for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, as well as "Who Knew", "Try", and a cover of "Stay with Me" by Sam Smith.[54][55] She was a main headliner at the 2017 Kaaboo Del Mar Festival where her setlist included a performance of "What About Us" and other singles from her catalogue.[56] On September 22 of that year, Pink performed a medley of "Raise Your Glass", "What About Us", "Funhouse", "Just Like Fire", and "So What" at the iHeartRadio Music Festival.[57]
Artwork and title[edit]
The artwork for Beautiful Trauma was unveiled when the album was announced on August 9, 2017.[119] Shot by Kurt Iswarienko, the cover art shows Pink standing in front of a rundown gas station in a desert.[24] She is wearing a bejeweled bustier and a white gown under an enormous silver jacket, and reflective sunglasses and hoop earrings.[119][120] Pink said that the album title refers to the atrocities happening around the world and her willingness to see the world's good side.[31][121] In an interview for The Guardian, she explained, "I named the album Beautiful Trauma because life is fucking traumatic. There's natural disasters at every turn". She continued, "but there's beautiful people [sic] in the world that are having a blast and being good to each other and helping others. Because I can be dark, I try to constantly remind myself that there's more good than bad".[31]
Commercial performance[edit]
Beautiful Trauma debuted atop the US Billboard 200, with sales of 408,000 album-equivalent units, of which 384,000 were pure sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It became Pink's second consecutive number one album on the chart. Sales were aided by her tour audience, with the cost of the album being bundled into the purchase price of a tour ticket for US and Canadian shows. Only when a purchaser redeemed Beautiful Trauma did it count towards the album's sales.[133] Around 225,000 copies of the first-week sales reportedly came from the album-ticket bundling.[134] Beautiful Trauma achieved the most first-week sales for an album by a woman in the US since Beyoncé's Lemonade (2016).[133][135] The album had the highest first-week traditional sales since Drake's Views (2016)—Pink's best opening week's sales yet.[133][134] The following week, the album descended to number three with sales dropping by 84% to 64,000 units.[136]
After selling 628,000 copies in the US throughout 2017, Beautiful Trauma finished as the seventh highest-selling album of the year.[137] For the week ending May 17, 2018, the album rose 81 places from number 83 to number 2 on the Billboard 200, with sales of 139,000 units, including 135,000 copies. The sales increase was credited to the redemption of album-ticket bundling offered with the second US leg of Pink's tour.[138] Beautiful Trauma was certified platinum in April 2018 by the RIAA for selling over a million equivalent units in the US.[139] On the Canadian Albums Chart compiled by Billboard, it opened at number one, with 64,000 album-equivalent units.[140] According to the Canadian SoundScan, the album had the second-highest opening week of 2017 at the time, behind Shania Twain's Now. It also became Pink's second record to top the chart, after The Truth About Love.[140] In the week ending June 2, 2018, Beautiful Trauma topped the chart again, selling an additional 16,000 units courtesy of the ticket bundle campaign.[141] It was certified double platinum by Music Canada (MC), which denotes 160,000 units sold there.[142]
Beautiful Trauma debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart, with first-week sales of 70,074 album-equivalent units. It became her second number one album in the UK, after Funhouse (2008).[143][144] Beautiful Trauma had sold 372,000 copies by the end of 2017, finishing as the country's highest-selling album of the year by a non-British act and fifth highest overall.[145] As of February 2019, the album has sold 516,087 copies in the UK and been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales over 300,000 units.[146][147] Across Europe, Beautiful Trauma reached the summit of the charts in Austria, Belgium (Flanders), the Czech Republic, and Switzerland, and the top 10 in other countries.[148][149] In France, the album debuted at number two on the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) Albums Chart and was the best-selling album of the week, with sales of 14,853 copies. It became Pink's highest-charting album in the nation.[150][151] The sales of Beautiful Trauma exceeded 100,000 units and certified platinum by the SNEP.[152]
The album sold 50,000 copies in Australia within three days of its availability, and debuted at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, with first-week sales of 78,040 copies—the second-largest opening week of the year after Ed Sheeran's ÷.[153][154][155] As a result, it became Pink's fifth album to top the chart.[153] Total sales in Australia exceeded 100,000 copies over the second week, where the album remained at number one becoming the third album of 2017 to hold the summit for more than a week, after the Trolls soundtrack and ÷.[156] Subsequently, Beautiful Trauma spent six non-consecutive weeks at number one on the chart, becoming the longest-running number one album by a female artist in the country since Adele's 25 (2015).[157] The album finished 2017 as the second-highest selling album of the year in the country and was certified quadruple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for selling over 280,000 units.[158][159][160] In New Zealand, the album also debuted at the top spot on the Official New Zealand Music Chart, holding it for three weeks in a row.[161] It received a double platinum certification from Recorded Music NZ for shipments of over 30,000 units.[162] According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Beautiful Trauma was the third and eighth best-selling album of 2017 and 2018, respectively, and had sold over 3,000,000 copies worldwide by March 2019.[163][164]
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Beautiful Trauma.[26]
Notes