Welcome to the Funhouse

Okay...I admit it. I've become a little bit obsessed with P!nk over the past week. I've actually been a fan for a while. Loved her edgy pop rock singles going all the way back to "Get The Party Started" and "God Is A DJ," but it was her album "I'm Not Dead" that turned me into a fan.

Last Sunday, P!nk performed at the 2010 Grammy Awards, and for those of you who were lucky enough to see this performance, you knew as she was singing that you were witnessing a moment. It actually doesn't happen all that often. But every once in a while a performer experiences this. A moment when their talent is showcased before a global audience, and they transfix an audience and knock it out of the park. P!nk's performance of her song, "Glitter In The Air" at the 2010 Grammy's was just such a moment. The music, her voice, her look, and presentation -- which was intimate, sophisticated, and somehow both restrained and a spectacle all at the same time -- all came together in this moment.



Accompanied by piano and guitar, P!nk walks slowly down stage alone, draped in elegant white hooded silk, singing a contemplative ballad that showcases the rich beauty of her scotch and honey voice. She proceeds off the stage and into the aisle mid way through the audience. Then in a simple move sheds the silk robe revealing a spare, shimmering body suit, and climbs a platform to sit in a white swing if silk fabric which lifts her into the air spinning slowly. By the song's end she has been dipped into a pool of water, is lifted high over the audience spinning gracefully like a wind chime, dripping glittering water over the rapt crowd, and continuing to sing this heartfelt ballad live, all the while. At the songs conclusion she is returned softly, like an angel, the the stage. And this jaded audience of music industry professionals who have seen it all rises to their feet with looks of stunned, smiles of amazement.

Even sitting in my apartment watching this on TV, I could feel the collective "Wow" occurring across the nation from anyone who witnessed this performance.

For those who mainly knew P!nk as the husky-voiced, tough girl, rocker chick who shouted girl power anthems, she revealed a new vulnerability and tenderness, as well as amazing vocal chops, never mind the amazing acrobatics. For those of us who were already fans, and knew this incredibly talented singer and performer always had many layers, it was simply wonderful to know that millions of people were now in on our secret.

Lady Gaga had just opened the show with a rousing mash-up of "Speechless" and "Your Song" with Elton John. Beyonce had just torn up the stage with a cadre of black-clad storm trooper/back-up dancers singing a mash-up of "If I Were A Boy" and Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know." How the hell could any performer top these two performances. Yet the artistry of P!nk's refined, sumptuous and soaring (literally) ballad stole the show (in my book anyway).

I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Oprah Winfrey was so moved by the performance that she had P!nk on her show a few days later to talk about this "moment." As Winfrey said, sometimes you see a talented individual deliver such a powerful performance that it inspires you yourself to try to be a better person. And I completely recognized this feeling. After watching P!nk, I remember thinking, how does someone get that good? How does someone deliver on so many levels in front of such a daunting audience so flawlessly? And what do I need to do to raise my own level of performance in what I do in my own life?

And just to show that her Grammy performance was no fluke, P!nk performed live on the Oprah Winfrey show singing another gorgeous ballad, "I Don't Believe You" from her album "Funhouse." This time playing guitar surrounded by candles. And again, delivers another unbelievable performance.




And if you know the back story of P!nk's tumultuous romance, marriage, break-up and reuniting with motocross/motorcycle racer Carey Hart, which informs many of the songs on her album Funhouse, the emotional resonance of this moment only deepens. So yeah, I'm a goner for Alecia Moore. Consider me officially obsessed.
And color me P!nk.