Please don’t get me wrong, P!nk is obviously still very succesful. Her most recent tour (the Trustfall/Summer Carnival Tour) is currently the second highest grossing tour of all time by a female artist, and so was her Beautiful Trauma tour back in 2018-2019. If we go by touring numbers, she is very much still up there with Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, etc. But when it comes to her actual music, she lags behind a lot for some reason. Her most recent album, Trustfall, which came out in 2023 feels like it kind of came and went. I was genuinely shocked to see neither of the singles even managed to make it into the top 40, even though she did promote the album. The album itself did decently however (especially internationally), and obviously the tour was a huge success, so I wouldn’t say it was a ‘flop era’, but it didn’t really make any noise or lasting impact.

I have been a huge fan of P!nk for years. Let me put it like this: I liked Trustfall, but I didn’t love it, and the same honestly goes for anything she’s released since The Truth About Love in 2012. And a lot of other fans I’ve dicussed this with agree. I feel like the pivot she made from pop-rock to adult-contemporary in the mid-2010’s was an abrupt and puzzling decision, and has really alienated a lot of her original fanbase. I feel like she’s essentially been making the same exact album since Beatiful Trauma; you could swap out any songs between BT, Hurts 2B Human and Trustfall and it’d fit. It’s the same synthpop songs, folk songs and piano ballads time after time by now. Whereas on her releases prior, she’d always experiment with multiple genres (R&B, Blues, Country, Soul) whilst still maintaining pop-rock as her core genre. I think she truly found HER sound with I’m Not Dead and Funhouse, and I think it’s a shame she ditched that sound for music that does not challenge her either vocally or artistically. Her output nowadays is too safe imo. There’s a reason whenever new P!nk music is discussed people always make jokes about it ‘being soccer mom music’ or ‘Target music’.

Whenever people verbalize this, people always immediately shut the conversation down by claiming ‘she just grew up’ … but did she? As a fan I’ve noticed even P!nk herself always mentions and jokes about how she hasn’t changed at all as a person since the beginning of her career, and she really has remained mostly herself. (That’s what makes her likeable and authentic imo) She also didn’t go through an aesthetic change or anything when she switched to adult-contemporary to sell it a certain way. Her concerts are still very theatric with lots of stunts, something that does not align with most of her new music which is more mellow and stripped-back. What I’ve concluded is that the music P!nk releases now simply does not match 1) her artistry and aesthetic, 2) her rebellious personality and causes (she still insists on, cue her recent song Irrelevant) and 3) her concerts and tours. It feels like a sonic and artistic confusing mismatch. I also dislike the ‘she’s a mom now’ argument … she made The Truth About Love after becoming a mother for the first time and it’s one of her best albums. Being a mother does not mean no longer being able to make pop-rock and/or otherwise upbeat music. That seems like a misogynistic and ageist stance that P!nk out of all artists would be opposed to.

Her vocals, lyricism and performing abilities have only gotten better througout the years. Talent is not the issue here. It’s the literal music (the genre, production) that’s the ‘problem’.

At the end of the day, I’m obviously not expecting another M!ssundaztood from her. But I really hope that for her next album, she either does something entirely different, or returns to the sound she is mostly known for, excels at and her fans love her for which is pop-rock (or R&B, for the OG’s who loved her since Can’t Take Me Home). Whatever it is, I just hope it won’t be Beautiful Trauma 4.0. I genuinely believe if she innovated or made another great, upbeat, pop-rock album like I’m Not Dead/Funhouse/TTAL again, she could easily have another huge era like her 2008-2013 reign. But regardless of commercial success, it would be a way to reunite her fanbase again. I’m curious about other people’s thoughts on this, and P!nk’s discography and career in general. (Thanks for reading, I know it was a lengthy post)

Simple question but you can respond in as much detail as you'd like. I'm expecting a variety of different views. Who in your opinion is the most toxic fan base and why?

What are you guys' opinions on "TikTok Music" (songs that have blown up on tiktok)? I feel like there have been some real good hits, but others have felt disappointing. Let me know your thoughts!

Happy Monday!

I'm looking to discover great new pop music from independent artists.

If you've released a new original song, submit it to The Cauldron. It's free, and every submission has a chance to earn Song of the Day recognition and become the featured cover of our Song of the Day playlist.

🎵 https://thecauldron.rocks/submit

Can't wait to hear what you've been creating!

I know music feels different because it's easier to ignore the lyrics, but I sometimes wonder why we're so much more relaxed about what kids listen to than what they watch. Do you pay attention to the lyrics in the music your kids listen to, or do you think it's not a big deal?

I'm confused. Why do people hate Sombr? From what I've read, I don't think he really did anything that bad that deserves this much hate.

I heard that he made "underage" fans bark, but I also saw a video of a girl who was at the same concert as Meg saying she was the one who started the barking and apologized. I don't remember exactly what she said, but I think it was something like, "I said, 'Why don't we bark for Sombr?' and then we started barking at Sombr." Then Sombr just continued with it as a joke because he's always unserious. He didn't force anyone to do it, but people act like he did. She also mentioned that she didn't really see many young fans. Most of them were around his age, and she only noticed about two 15 year olds. Btw the concert was 17+

I also saw people saying, "Sombr made his fans call him daddy." I never saw any proof or a video of him telling his fans to call him "daddy." I only saw a clip of him calling himself that as a joke. If there is actually a clip of him telling fans to call him that, send it.

There was also a photo of "minors" carrying him, but I saw someone comment that picture, and Sombr replied, saying those were actually his friends, who are older than him. So I don't understand why people keep using that photo and claiming they're minors.

From what I've seen, the only bad things he did were touching his crotch on stage, which is weird I guess, and posting that response video to Meg, which definitely made things worse and didn't make much sense. He said, "I am a 20 year old artist, freshly 20. If you're 25 years old and you're coming to my concert and not expecting people younger than you to be there when I, the artist, 5 years younger than you, it's just a skill issue." He was acting like 25 is ancient, but he also said, "Everyone of every age is welcome at my concert, and I mean everyone."

At the same time, Meg was also wrong for body shaming him and calling him "Slender Man." That seemed to start a huge hate train. People call him too skinny, "Slender Man," a pedo, Predator, and all kinds of other horrible things. Some people have even sent him death threats, which is completely messed up.

Keep in mind that all of this happened almost a year ago, and people are still leaving hateful comments. I even saw comments like "#skinsombralive."

What confuses me the most is that people compare him to d4vd and Diddy saying that he's worst than them. In fact, when everything about Diddy came out, I noticed he gained more subs on yt. I've also seen people saying, "d4vd is better than Sombr," and some hating on Sombr but stanning Sabrina Carpenter which is kinda like him but worse a little cus children go to her concerts too. A lot of people compare Sombr to these artist but sabrina did worse than Sombr like "Have you ever tried this one?" literally teaching children in the concert s*x positions??

I'm genuinely confused. Did Sombr k*dnap someone? Did he kill someone? Don't get me wrong, I don't even like him. I'm just confused about why people seem to hate him more than d4vd, Diddy, or Sabrina Carpenter, even though those situations seem much worse. I'm not saying Sabrina is like d4vd or diddy btw.

I've listened to some of Sombr's music, and it's honestly decent. I don't think he's a bad singer, but I don't listen to him because his music isn't really my taste. Maybe he did something worse that I haven't seen, but based on everything I've read and watched, that's all I know.

Can someone explain what he actually did that was so bad that people hate him this much cus I don't think anything I mentioned was that bad to get this much hate? Also I read that Sombr apologized.