Try This

Try This
Studio album by P!nk
Released	November 10, 2003 (UK) November 11, 2003 (US)
Recorded	2002-2003
Genre	Rock, pop rock, alternative rock
Length	53:00 (Explicit U.S. Edition) 48:51 (Edited Version) 55:48 (European Edition)
Label	Arista
Producer	John Fields, Tim Armstrong, billymann, Q-Tip (rapper), Linda Perry, Damon Elliott, William Orbit
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau link Entertainment Weekly (B+) link The Guardian link Q link Rolling Stone link Slant link Village Voice (favorable) link Yahoo! Music (favorable) link
P!nk chronology
Missundaztood (2001) Try This (2003) I'm Not Dead (2006)
Singles from Try This
"Trouble" Released: October 28, 2003[1] "God Is a DJ" Released: March 2004 "Last to Know" Released: May 2004

Try This is the third album by pop singer P!nk, released on November 11, 2003 (see 2003 in music). It features the singles "Trouble", "God Is a DJ" and "Last to Know", and is her first album to feature a Parental Advisory warning. Pink's lowest selling album to date, Try This has sold over 750,000 copies in the U.S. and over 3 million worldwide. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA with one million units shipped in the U.S. Try This is also Pink's final studio album for Arista before her long-term international success.

Background

Most of the tracks were produced and co-written by punk band Rancid singer and guitarist Tim Armstrong, whom Pink met through a mutual friend at a Transplants video shoot. The two hit it off and Pink ended up co-writing ten songs with him in a week when Rancid was on a tour with the Foo Fighters. Eight of these tracks appeared on Try This, which also features three songs written with Linda Perry, who co-wrote much of Missundaztood (2001), Pink's second album. The album includes a collaboration with electroclash artist Peaches, "Oh My God", and Pink's contribution to the Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle film soundtrack, "Feel Good Time" (produced by and featuring William Orbit), as a non-U.S. bonus track.

Pink said in an interview with The Irish Times in 2006 that she wasn't happy with the way the label wanted her to make an album after the success of M!ssundaztood. "I was kind of rebelling against the label on that one", she said. "I was going: 'You want a record? Fine, I'll write 10 songs in a week for your fuckin' record and you can press it up and put it out.'"^[2] During the promotion of the record, she was very emotional, saying "That was an awful time. I was walking out of half my interviews crying. I just felt they were putting a quarter in the slot to watch the monkey dance."^[2]

Critical reception

The album received mainly positive reviews from critics with an average metacritic rating of 71 (indicating generally positive reviews). However, there were some negative reviews, New York Magazine stating "Pink pitches a brand of seriousness that is pure Lifetime-TV mawkishness".

The Guardian commented that "Like a lot of pop at the moment, it just sounds like a wan imitation of Pink's second album".

Entertainment Weekly gave the album a positive review and said "A hooky, engaging throwaway that expands Pink's range while holding on fiercely to her irascible inner child."

Chart performance

Try This debuted at number nine on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 147,000 copies, a weaker debut than that of Missundaztood.^[3] As of May 2, 2004, the album had reached the top ten on album charts in the UK, Canada and Australia. As of March 2007, it had sold 719,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan,^[4] and three million copies worldwide according to Pink herself on her E! True Hollywood Story.

The album's first single, "Trouble", reached number two in Canada and the top ten in the UK and Australia, but it peaked only at number 68 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In 2003, "Catch Me While I'm Sleeping" was issued as a promotional single in the U.S.;^[5] in the same period, a promo CD-R acetate of "Humble Neighborhoods" was made available in the UK.^[6] Follow-up single "God Is a DJ" failed to chart on the Hot 100, reached number 11 in the UK and reached the top 20 on the world dance/trance chart (which is derived from U.S., UK, German, Australian, Japanese and Italian dance charts). A third single, "Last to Know", was released exclusively in Europe and peaked at 21 in the UK. Test promo CDs for "Catch Me While I'm Sleeping" were sent to radio stations in the U.S. shortly before "Last to Know".^{[citation needed]}

Pink embarked on the Try This Tour in Europe during 2004, and a DVD chronicling the tour was released in 2006. "Trouble" was used in the 2004 film White Chicks, the same song was used in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, and "God Is a DJ" was featured on the soundtrack of the film Mean Girls. As of June 1, 2009, Try This reentered the Australian Aria charts at #37 and by June 15 had reached #18[1].

Singles

Official Singles

• "Feel Good Time"
• "Trouble"
• "God Is a DJ"
• "Last to Know"

Promotional Singles

• "Humble Neighborhoods"
• "Catch Me While I'm Sleeping"

Track listing

Worldwide

1. "Trouble" (Tim Armstrong, Pink) – 3:13
2. "God Is a DJ" (Billy Mann, Jonathan Davis, Pink) – 3:46
3. "Last to Know" (Armstrong, Pink) – 4:03
4. "Tonight's the Night" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:56
5. "Oh My God" (featuring Peaches) (Armstrong, Merrill Nisker, Pink) – 3:44
6. "Catch Me While I'm Sleeping" (Linda Perry, Pink) – 5:03
7. "Waiting for Love" (Paul Ill, Brian MacLeod, Perry, Pink, Eric Schermerhorn) – 5:28
8. "Save My Life" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:16
9. "Try Too Hard" (Perry, Pink) – 3:14
10. "Humble Neighborhoods" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:52
11. "Walk Away" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:39
12. "Unwind" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:14
13. "Love Song" (Damon Elliott, Pink) / "Hooker" – 2:29 (edited version only), / 6:30 (explicit version, with "Hooker" appended to the end of the song)

• "Hooker" is only available on the explicit version of the album as a hidden track appended to "Love Song". "Love Song" runs 2:29, followed by one minute of silence, and then "Hooker" starts, and runs for 3:02. "Hooker" is not mentioned on the album packaging anywhere, and on all editions of the album "Love Song" is listed as being 2:29 on the back cover. On the edited version, "Hooker" is omitted, (most likely due to highly explicit nature and theme of the track), thus leaving "Love Song" as a standalone track which clocks in at the printed run time of 2:29.
• On some non-U.S. editions, the track "Feel Good Time" is added to the track listing, and "Love Song" and "Hooker" are their own separate tracks, rather than being indexed together on one track.

Limited Edition Bonus DVD

Initial pressings in the U.S. came with a Limited Edition bonus DVD. The DVD included album lyrics, a photo gallery, an interview in which P!nk discusses various aspects and songs off the album, a featurette, and the music video for Trouble. The limited edition bonus DVD was included with both the explicit and clean versions of the album, and there was no difference in the versions of the DVD that came with the explicit version of the album and those that came with the clean version. Editions of the album with the bonus DVD have since gone out of print and are somewhat hard to find.

1. P!nk's P!x

• A photo gallery featuring pictures from the "Try This" photo shoot and more.

2. Album Lyrics

• The same lyrics that are printed in the album's booklet.

3. The Many Faces of P!nk

• An interview with P!nk about songs on the album and the making of the album.

4. Feel Good Time Lifestyle

• A behind-the-scenes look at what P!nk's life has been life after achieving the international success with her album M!ssundaztood.

5. "Trouble" Music Video

Europe

1. "Trouble" (Tim Armstrong, Pink) – 3:13
2. "God Is a DJ" (billymann, Jonathan Davis, Pink) – 3:46
3. "Last to Know" (Armstrong, Pink) – 4:03
4. "Tonight's the Night" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:56
5. "Oh My God" (featuring Peaches) (Armstrong, Merrill Nisker, Pink) – 3:44
6. "Catch Me While I'm Sleeping" (Linda Perry, Pink) – 5:03
7. "Waiting for Love" (Paul Ill, Brian MacLeod, Perry, Pink, Eric Schermerhorn) – 5:28
8. "Save My Life" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:16
9. "Try Too Hard" (Perry, Pink) – 3:14
10. "Humble Neighborhoods" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:52
11. "Walk Away" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:39
12. "Unwind" (Armstrong, Pink) – 3:14
13. "Feel Good Time" (William Orbit, Beck) – 3:58
14. "Love Song" (Damon Elliott, Pink) – 2:29
15. "Hooker" (no silence between the previous track and the hidden track in UK edition) – 3:04

Bonus tracks

• "Feel Good Time" (William Orbit, Beck) – 3:58 (non-U.S. bonus track)
• "Free" (Japan)
• "Delirium" (Japan)

• Note: "Free" and "Delirium" also appear as b-sides of the Trouble single.

Personnel

• Pink - lead vocals
• Tim Armstrong - guitar, acoustic bass, keyboards, backup vocals, loops, sound effects, engineer, producer
• Jonathan Davis - guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, drum programming, producer, keyboards, engineer, arranger
• Linda Perry - guitar, sitar, mellotron, producer
• Damon Elliott - percussion, keyboards, programming, producer
• John Fields - bass, guitar, percussion, piano, keyboards, drums, wah wah guitar, programming, engineer, producer
• Robbie Campos - acoustic guitar, producer, keyboards, arranger
• Dave Carlock - organ, keyboards, bass, drum programming, backup vocals
• Matt Mahaffey - synthesizer, glockenspiel, turntables, omnichord, keyboards, drums
• Atticus Ross - synthesizer, percussion, loops, engineer
• Vic Ruggiero - piano, Hammond organ
• David Paich - organ, Hammond organ
• Grecco Buratto - guitar
• Eric Schermerhorn - guitar
• Steve Stevens - guitar
• Matt Freeman - bass
• Janis Tanaka - bass
• Nick Lane - trombone
• Lee Thornburg - trumpet
• Greg "Frosty" Smith - baritone sax
• Charlie Bisherat - violin
• Travis Barker - drums
• Dorian Crozier - drums
• Joshua Seth Eagan - percussion, drums
• Brian Keeling - drums
• Brett Reed - percussion, drums
• Galadriel Masterson - backup vocals
• Hopey Rock - backup vocals
• Lon Price - horn arrangements
• Roger Davies - executive producer
• Craig Logan - executive producer
• Chris Lord-Alge - mixing
• Dave Pensado - mixing
• Brian Gardner - mastering
• David Guerrero - engineer
• Dylan Dresdow - engineer
• Padraic Kerin - engineer
• Steven Miller - engineer, mixing
• Tony Cooper - assistant engineer
• John "Silas" Cranfield - assistant engineer
• Pat Dammer - assistant engineer
• Jay Goin - assistant engineer
• Femio Hernández - assistant engineer
• Chris Testa - assistant engineer
• Ethan Willoughby - assistant engineer
• Joshua Sarubin - A&R
• Jeri Heiden - art direction, design
• Glen Nakasako - art direction, design
• Andrew McPherson - photography

Charts

Notes