While Pink undeniably has a reputation as one of the faces of feminism in the music industry, the controversy has resurfaced that this could be a fragile façade, since on many occasions she has built her career by belittling other women.
During her performance at the 2001 AMAs awards ceremony, different groups of women appeared talking about men, makeup, and materialistic things such as wanting to find a “rich husband”. But then, three women dressed distinctly as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Jessica Simpson laughed and posed together after asking: “How can I be bolder?”
From that moment on, she also made her poor relationship with Christina Aguilera evident after they worked together on the hit song “Lady Marmalade”, where Christina was assigned all the high notes in the song. She even went so far as to mock her on set.
Her resentment grew after Cristian Perri rejected her request to write the song “Beautiful”; instead, it was given to Aguilera, who had great success with it. From then on, Pink began repeatedly attacking the singer during her live performances, to the point that in 2004 she added an inflatable doll of Christina to her repertoire every night of her tour.
Try This,where she simulated having sex with the doll and, in case there was any doubt about whom it represented, then sang “Beautiful” to it.
Pink’s fame grew on the basis of these mockeries, but at the time they went unnoticed. But for the singer, that success at the expense of others was not enough.
In 2006, Pink released Stupid Girls. A sort of anthem in which she was the intelligent woman, unlike the blondes who lived for the paparazzi. The video ended with a girl choosing a soccer ball instead of a doll.
But besides her classic mockery of celebrities’ superficial culture and somewhat foolish girls, the singer recreated, in a degrading manner, the sex video of Paris Hilton when she was only 19, which leaked without her consent in 2004. Instead of supporting someone who had been humiliated by a video she had recorded in private and that had come to light without her knowledge, Pink used it as a way to feel superior.
That same year, Britney was disappointed when Pink mentioned her in her song “Don‘t Let Me Get Me”, where she sings: “Los Angeles told me: ‘You’ll be a pop star / All you have to change is everything you are’ / Tired of being compared to the damn Britney Spears / She’s so pretty / That’s simply not me”
Other outlets such as Rolling Stone reported that she referred to Britney as a “puppet”. According to the pop princess, those comments came exactly one week after Pink sent her flowers.
“Don’t be a hypocrite and don’t belittle me when you also perform showing your belly, but all of that hurt me. I felt as if she was thinking: ‘I thought you liked me. You sent me flowers'”, Britney said.
All these girls, coincidentally, were her competition at the peak of her career, and although Pink has apologized for some of her actions—for example, in 2021, she apologized for not having helped Britney more—her actions continue to generate controversy over how she chose to build her musical fame.
In a post on Instagram, the singer questioned why, among women, every fight and misstep is remembered, even though men have had them too, while the same is not done with men.
For every one or two women I’ve had problems with, there are hundreds whom I’ve praised, supported, and loved. But we don’t talk about that. I wonder when was the last time Bradley Cooper or Robert De Niro were asked, interview after interview, about an argument they had had. And what about Christian Bale? With them, we focus on the art, right? I’d like to have the same opportunity.