There was a time when Pink thought Madonna was her mother. Right before her first album came out, Pink said she didn't talk to her real, non-Madonna mom for almost a year when she was younger because she was convinced she was adopted. And while she has since accepted that she was not born of a pop star royal, she just might become one on her own, without the benefit of special blood.

She made some noise on the scene in 2000 with her debut, Can't Take Me Home, which introduced the world to a fiery, neon-haired "white girl who sings like a black girl." It was when she put on garters and a top hat for the smash remake of "Lady Marmalade," though, that people started to say her name at the dinner table. And now that she's got everyone's attention, she's ready to show them what she's got — and that doesn't include a large collection of booty shorts. 

What she does have, in addition to that voice, is 'tude by the truckload, mood swings, an unapologetic feminist bent and ulcers. And she's sharing all that on Missundaztood, her very anti-Can't Take Me Home follow-up. 

"I think it's definitely a switch from the last album. It's definitely different. I think people are gonna be shocked," she said, brushing her now platinum bangs out of her eyes. 

While the last album was straight-up R&B, and Pink's vocal style was being compared to various established R&B princesses, Missundaztood mixes R&B, bluesy rock, pop and dance beats into one strangely coherent thing. Pink insists this amalgam is what she's all about.

"I just had to be more of me instead of just some of me," she said.

"With the first record, I was just signed. I was new. I was willing to compromise," she continued with a sly smile. "I was taking direction from people, but that was also where I was at the time. I go through phases in my life. Like I sang gospel in church, and at the same time I was in punk rock bands. I've sung opera and all this other stuff." [RealVideo]

Her lyrics have also broadened. The songs are no longer only about boys — on Missundaztood, Pink delves into family troubles, loneliness, how annoying she can be to herself and, of course, gettin' her party started. 

"I needed that song," Pink said of the album's first single, "Get the Party Started," which is quickly climbing the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and was penned by former 4 Non Blondes frontwoman Linda Perry, who also wrote or co-wrote seven other cuts on Missundaztood. "[Linda] had actually written that song a week before she met me. Yeah, so I heard it, I loved it. I loved the vibe. I loved just everything about it, from the horns to the way we sang it. It's a good song."

"Get the Party Started" forms a bridge from Pink's last album to her current LP, keeping the familiar dance feel but bidding farewell to the R&B sound that dominated Can't Take Me Home, as well as the airwaves for the past few years. 




Pink says Britney's a sweetie, rails against "teenybopper garbage" and admits to being offensive pretty often ... 
Dominating the airwaves is what Pink has aspired to since she was little, and now that she's reaching her goal, she finds herself dogged by questions about certain other airwave dominators. She addresses this issue directly on the very rock-sounding new cut "Don't Let Me Get Me": "Tired of being compared/ To damn Britney Spears/ She's so pretty/ That just ain't me."

"I've met Britney," Pink said. "She's really, really sweet. She's probably the sweetest girl I've ever met in my life. But every interview I would sit down, or just anywhere, really, and they'd be like, 'Well, how do you compare yourself to Britney and Jessica and Christina?' And I'm just thinking to myself that [they're asking this] just because we're the same age, or girls, young white girls singing pop music or whatever we do. But we're all different. And we all get our own respect."

While she has no beef with Britney personally, Pink does not hide her distaste for what she calls "teenybopper garbage." "I just think that music is so processed. I mean, anybody can do that."

And in the kind of moment you get the feeling comes up a lot with Pink, when she knows she's about to say something that might insult somebody but says it anyway, she added, "I don't think before I talk so I tend to offend people a lot. But I just don't like ... the processed stuff. I love Janis Joplin. I love Billy Joel. I think he's an incredible songwriter. I love Guns N' Roses, too. I love Tupac. Mary J. Blige.

"And I don't think there's a category for music," she continued. "If I can look at an artist and feel what they're feeling and actually start to believe it, that does something to me. That music is a revolution to me. If I can't, if I can listen to music and not feel anything from you or not feel where you're coming from or not hear a thought out of your head ... it just doesn't inspire me." [RealVideo] 

Having music as an inspiration helped Pink, who was born Alicia Moore, escape and envision a better life for herself when she was growing up. "I was screwed up, lost and unhappy," she said of her childhood. Her parents fought all the time and eventually divorced. She had little interest in school and dropped out. She claims she never had friends her own age. "My best friend was an 85-year-old woman who lived across the street," she said.

Realizing she had a voice and something to say provided her with a dream. "I always knew I wanted to sing. I would tell my first grade teachers, 'Homework? What? I'm a rock star!' Seriously, I had it in my mind and that's why I fought with my parents so much because I was 30 by the time I was 10. I was ready to go, like, 'Come on. Put me onstage. Where's Star Search? What's going on?' And it couldn't happen fast enough."

It did happen pretty fast, though. As a teen in her hometown of Philadelphia, she landed a Friday night singing spot at Club Fever. A talent scout spotted her there one night and signed her up for an R&B group, and when that one fell apart she quickly joined another. That second group was picked up by LaFace Records, and eventually the label signed Pink as a solo artist and Can't Take Me Home was produced. 

Two million albums and three top 40 singles later, Pink was tapped to do the remake of LaBelle's 1975 #1 hit, "Lady Marmalade," for the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack, along with Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim and Mya. That song shot to the top of the charts, and, with its award-winning cabaret-style video busting with bustiers and thigh-high stockings, brought Pink and her powerful soprano to a world stage.