Released in November of 2010, P!nk‘s Greatest Hits… So Far!!! was gifted to me that Christmas, as one of my first albums. I am sure I probably owned a JLS CD or something like that before, but this album stands out to me as being the first one I really remember being obsessed with.
Adding it to my iPod Touch, I took it everywhere with me. At the time, I wasn’t aware of how empowering P!nk is as an artist; I just knew I loved the songs. But looking back on the album now, I’m so grateful that it was my first proper taste of musical obsession.
Opening with ‘Get the Party Started’, the album gets off to an instant energetic start. This was never my favourite from the album, but one that got me hyped if I was going anywhere. At 10 years old, I had found my perfect pres song.
Other notables mentions from the album were ‘So What’ (which was a Radio 1 favourite at the time) and ‘Raise Your Glass’. It’s likely that everyone would know at least one of these, being some of her most famous material to date. These songs were completely outrageous to me, but that’s why I loved them so much. As a quiet, shy 10 year old, nothing gets you excited like some raucous, angry lyrics.
And what’s better than a bit of angry, female empowerment? Well, a song about US politics.
‘Dear Mr. President’ is my all-time favourite from Greatest Hits… So Far!!! because of its dissimilar sound to those louder tracks that come before. It is still to this day one of the most powerful songs I’ve ever heard, and will be forever relevant.
This song taught me the power of music to educate and criticise, and not just to provide entertainment. Whilst I was not aware of the complications to do with US Presidencies, I knew of some of the horrific atrocities happening in the world. P!nk did an incredible job of articulating her anger and frustration into such a gorgeous, poignant song which raised awareness and educated me on power inequalities at such a young age. I will be forever grateful for this.
Greatest Hits… So Far!!! sums itself up in its title. Every single song on this album is a huge banger and all for different reasons. P!nk empowers, educates, and parties throughout and it’s one that everyone should take a listen to at some point. I’m not even a big fan of pop music anymore, yet I can’t help but love everything P!nk has to say here.
Greatest Hits… So Far!!! is available to listen to now via LaFace Records. Listen to ‘Dear Mr. President’ down below.
