Song of the Day, February 12: Fuckin’ Perfect by P!nk

Today’s song is Fuckin’ Perfect by P!nk. Alecia Beth Moore was born in 1979 and had her first chart success as P!nk in 2001. In the subsequent decade she has sold over 110 million records, won dozens of awards and logged 17 Top 20 hits including three #1s. After five successful albums, she released a greatest hits package in 2011 which included three new songs. The second of those to be released as a single was Fuckin’ Perfect.

Her early work was dance pop with a bit of a gritty edge. Over time, her songs became increasingly focused on independence of mind and spirit, especially for women and girls. This single is a culmination of that growth. Serious without being overly preachy, it compels the listener to accept herself as perfect (enough) and not to dwell on failures or the poor opinions of others.

To get her message across, the singer was intentionally controversial. Although she released a “clean” version that just used the word “perfect” and labelled the main version of the song as F**kin’ Perfect, the single release featured the still-rare vulgarity in the lyrics. The video also raised eyebrows with its unflinching scene of a girl cutting herself. The notoriety helped move things along, getting attention for the positive message and driving sales.

Pretty, pretty please
Don’t you ever ever feel
Like you’re less than
Fuckin’ perfect

Pretty pretty please
If you ever ever feel
Like you’re nothing
You’re fuckin’ perfect to me

The song peaked at #2 two years ago. Enjoy this powerful track today.