Artist P!nk is no stranger to controversy. Now, she’s creating a buzz with her edgy and disturbing new video and song, “F**’in Perfect.” I’m not a Pink fan, and despite seeing a few friends posting raves about Pink’s new song on Facebook, I was prepared to dislike it on general principle. Do I really want my 14 year-old stepdaughter listening to a song with a title like that? Well, maybe I do.
The title of Pink’s new song alone is one to set parents’ teeth on edge, with her flagrant dropping of the dreaded F-bomb. But the song has an actual message, and the video is gripping and emotionally wrenching, especially if you’re the parent of a teenage girl, or I’m sure, if you’re a teenage girl yourself. P!nk tackles the pervasive and destructive issues that our daughters are dealing with today, like self-image, cutting, anorexia, shoplifting, and suicide, in a surprisingly sensitive and uplifting way.
Now that I’ve seen the video for “F**’in Perfect,” I’m thinking maybe more people should watch it. Before you blast me for being a bad mom, watch it for yourself here.
When you listen to the song, you have to first get past the Pink’s repeated use of the “F-word.” “Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel like you’re less than f**’in perfect,” is an often-used line in the song. But paired with the video, you can see what Pink is trying to say, in her less-than-delicate way.
The “F**’in Perfect” video (after a pretty unnecessary bedroom scene that lasts a few moments longer than is comfortable) follows the life of a young girl and traces the origins of her low self-esteem and warped body image. The girl grows into an angry, confused and misunderstood teenager who isn’t happy in her own skin and can’t seem to fit the image of the daughter that she “should” be. She is caught shoplifting in front of two other obviously popular girls who giggle and take pictures on their cell phone cameras. She spirals further into self-destruction with anorexia, and finally, ends up in a bathtub full of bloody water with a razor blade, etching graphic marks of self-mutilation into her own skin.
Then comes the uplifting part.
The girl realizes where she’s heading and begins to turn her life around. She cuts off all of her hair, probably symbolizing a release of the need to fit in, or maybe the “letting go” of the person she was trying to be. She then channels her anger and confusion into self-expression and art, and is pictured at a successful gallery opening, showing off her work. The video concludes with the same bedroom scene, where we see that the man she was in bed with was her husband, and the girl (woman, now) goes into the other room and whispers the chorus line of the song to her baby girl, who is snuggled in bed.
Granted, Pink meant to shock us. The video is disturbing and gritty and meant to push all sorts of buttons. But what Pink might just accomplish with “F**’in Perfect” is to get parents thinking about what their kids are going through, and shining more light onto the dark issues that are preying on our young girls.
As mom-to-be, Pink acknowledges that feathers will be ruffled with her new song. But she sums up her intentions with the release of “F**’in Perfect,” with this quote, taken from her website: “I have a life inside of me, and I want her or him to know that I will accept him or her with open and loving and welcoming arms.”
Whatever your feelings on her method of expression, the song, or the video that’s sure to bring a storm of controversy, you have to admit that her intentions are coming from the right place. Our teenage girls need to know that we love them for who they are, no matter what.
Have you watched P!nk’s “F**’in Perfect” video? What did you think?
