Songoftheday 10/19/23 - Momma please stop crying I can't stand the sound, your pain is painful and it's tearin' me down...

 

 

"Family Portrait" - Pink

from the album Missundaztood (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (four weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 13

 

Today's song comes from P!nk, whose sophomore album Missundaztood had already spun off three top ten hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with "Get The Party Started", "Don't Let Me Get Me", and "Just Like A Pill".  The fourth and final single from the record was the ultra-personal "Family Portrait". Written by the singer (as her given name Alecia Moore) with producer Scott Storch (once with the Roots), the song deals with her growing up, with her parents divorcing before she hit ten. Pink addresses her mother, begging her to make up with her dad, while addressing her dad with a plea not to leave. She mentions running away from home to escape the turmoil, but in her eyes as a child keeps bargaining to get back to the place they were in their "family portrait". It's very stark and real, and definitely not usual pop fodder, especially coming from a place of self-truth instead of telling a story about someone else. But someone with the passion and talent like Pink can pull this off. The production is sparse with the plinky electric piano sounding like a toy, although the children's chorus near the end is just a little off. Nevertheless a powerful message song that needed to be heard. The music video flips it so Pink is the mom to young actress Kelsey Lewis who lipsynchs the song for her life...

"Family Portrait" climbed to the top-20 on the Hot 100 in January of 2003. On the radio, the song peaked at #5 on Billboard's Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart. Internationally, the single made the top ten in Romania (#2), Sweden (#5), Ireland (#5), New Zealand (#5), Norway (#6), Poland (#6), Germany (#8), Belgium (#8 Flanders/#19 Wallonia), the Czech Republic (#8), and the Netherlands (#9), while reaching the top-40 in the United Kingdom (#11), Australia (#11), Austria (#11), Denmark (#11), Finland (#12), Switzerland (#18), Canada (#21), and France (#23).

Pink will be back to the series.

(9/10)

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Here's Pink performing the song for a televised concert for the BBC in 2002...

She also performed "Family Portrait" for the World Music Awards the following year...

and lastly, on her arena tour in London in 2007...

Up tomorrow: Two rappers respond.