Happy 20th Anniversary to P!nk’s debut studio album Can’t Take Me Home, originally released April 4, 2000.
It’s incredible to think that P!nk’s debut album Can’t Take Me Home is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. The year was 2000, a new millennium, a new decade and a new sound. P!nk stormed into the new century with a brash, unapologetic fearlessness that hadn’t been heard and seen since Madonna in the ‘80s.
A lot has been said about Can’t Take Me Home, and to be honest, more critical than favorable. Comparisons to TLC’s sound have been inevitable, owing to the fact that dream team Babyface and L.A. Reid took the helm of the album’s production hot off the heels of successfully producing TLC’s 1999 smash LP FanMail. But this album is so much more than a replication of a continued formula for mainstream success. Can’t Take Me Home is the world’s introduction to a woman that has gone onto to become one of music’s greatest forces.
Kandi Burruss of Xscape fame joined P!nk’s “debut” team, writing and producing a number of the tracks and adding a strong female flavor. In fact, the production team pulled in some of the industry’s biggest names like Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs (TLC, Destiny’s Child) and Christopher Alan “Tricky” Stewart (Mariah Carey, Beyoncé), amongst others.
Revisiting Can’t Take Me Home and the first thing I am reminded of is how powerful and soulful P!nk’s voice actually is. Sure, we have been indulged in the aerobatics that she has become known for in her live shows over the last decade, but her voice is the true standout here. Whilst this album has a strong underlying dance/pop commercial vibe, sometimes even capitalizing on the mid to late ‘90s jungle influence, P!nk’s voice can’t be ignored for its R&B indebted qualities.
The opening track “Split Personality” finds P!nk, who co-wrote the track, demonstrating some vocal gymnastics with lines like “Can you help me / Does anybody hear me / Can they even see me / This is my reality,” while showing that she wasn’t afraid of candor and introspection, even at just twenty years of age.
Three singles from the album were released in the form of “There You Go,” “Most Girls” and “You Make Me Sick.” All three singles charted reasonably well, with the first two doing cracking the top ten in the US and “Most Girls” giving P!nk her first number one in Australia. Whilst P!nk only co-wrote one of the three singles released, she does have writing credits on a total of seven of the album’s thirteen tracks.
I am sure that there will be some who disagree with me here, but this album has some incredibly beautiful standout tracks, none more so than the soulful balladry of “Let Me Let You Know” co-written by Robin Thicke. It is the first time we are introduced to the depth and strength of P!nk’s voice, put on full blast. The same can be said for “Love Is Such A Crazy Thing,” another ballad that whilst not entirely unique, does allow for P!nk to exercise her vocal prowess.
The album’s namesake, “Can’t Take Me Home” is arguably the best example of any kind of resemblance where TLC and Destiny’s Child are concerned. It is a strong dance track and really should have been released as a single, as it truly represented the sound at the time. The album is rounded out with more sublime balladry via the heartbreak in “Stop Falling” coupled with some filler fare like “Hiccup.”
P!nk was just twenty years old when this album was released and whilst her onstage persona presented a woman with her middle finger up to the world, the reality was quite different. The young singer, as mentioned above, co-wrote half of the album and given that she now has a body of work that has lasted two decades, this debut most definitely set the tone for someone that would not only go on to conquer the music industry, but someone who has consistently stood up for what she believes in on a humanitarian level.
Can’t Take Me Home may not have appealed to everyone and won every critic’s heart, but for those that didn’t fit the Britney or Xtina mold that had dominated the year prior, P!nk offered an alternative, grittier attitude that clearly resonated with many around the world. For all its clichés, this album gives agency for a different voice to take center stage and gave P!nk a platform that she has not only used musically, but continues to use as a way to empower women globally.
Can’t Take Me Home is a true classic.
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