Pink looks for ‘Truth About Love’ on her latest album

By Derrik J. Lang

AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES

For all her songs about fights, broken promises, romantic letdowns and wild nights, Pink is actually in a Zen-mode these days — and all the credit belongs to her 1-year-old daughter, Willow.

“I used to be really dark. Now, I wake up and check her pulse and make sure she’s not having a temperature. And then we dance. And we dance, and we dance, and we dance,” she says. “Then, we go on bike rides. And we dance some more. Everything’s a song. It’s just a lot more fun. I guess that’s how the record reflects where I am right now. I’m just having a lot more fun than I ever have.”

Listening to Pink speak about Willow, it’s clear that there is a kinder, gentler side to the singer known for her tough demeanor and her rebellious nature. But the platinum-selling, platinum-dyed powerhouse singer hasn’t exactly gone soft. “The Truth About Love,” her new album out this week, is filled with breakup and makeup anthems mostly concerning her on-again-off-again-on-again relationship with husband Carey Hart.

“I had a lot left over from my last breakup with my current husband and baby daddy,” she says.

The 37-year-old motorcycle racer and 33-year-old singer-songwriter, whose real name is Alecia Moore, married in 2006, separated in 2008 and reconciled in 2009. Exposing the ups and downs of their union through song is familiar territory for the reluctant pop star, who declares “I miss you, baby/Come home to me” on the song “How Come You’re Not Here.”

The album is the singer’s first full-length album since 2008’s double platinum “Funhouse,” though she remained on the charts with new material from a platinum-selling greatest hits package, including the hits “Raise Your Glass” and “{Expletive] Perfect.” She calls her new album, which features Eminem, Nate Ruess of fun. and Lily Rose Cooper (or Lily Allen), “just kinda all over the place.”

“[I was] just having fun. I think that’s a new thing for me. I was having a lot more fun than I was having before. I think production-wise, it’s a lot more interesting,” she says. “The musicality, I feel like I raised the bar for myself.”

Pink says that “fresh blood” was injected into her new album from Greg Kurstin, a music producer who is one-half of indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee.

Being a mom helped lighten Pink’s mood while recording. Though she may have matured musically, Pink insists that she’s very much the wild spirit that first made waves when she debuted on the scene 12 years ago — apparently having a child isn’t a complete life-changer.