Trustfall

Trustfall is the ninth studio album by American singer Pink. It was released on February 17, 2023, through RCA Records. Her first studio album since Hurts 2B Human (2019), Pink worked on the production and lyrics with Fred Again, David Hodges, Max Martin, Johnny McDaid, and Shellback, and others. The Lumineers, Chris Stapleton and First Aid Kit feature as guest vocalists. Sonically, Trustfall is a dance-pop record, with inclusion of various subgenres, such as pop rock and folk. Lyrically, it speaks of various subjects, including motivation, self-acceptance, loss and love.

Trustfall received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album reached number one in several countries, including Australia, Canada and the UK, while reaching number two in the US, becoming Pink's fifth consecutive top-two album in her home country. It was certified Gold by British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The album's lead single, "Never Gonna Not Dance Again", achieved moderate success worldwide. The second single, "Trustfall", reached top-ten positions in many European countries, while also peaking within top-twenty in the United Kingdom and Australia. To promote the record, Pink embarked the Summer Carnival and Trustfall Tour throughout 2023 and 2024.

Background
After the publication of her eighth studio album Hurts 2B Human in 2019, Pink collaborated on "One Too Many" (2020) with Keith Urban and "Anywhere Away from Here" (2021) with Rag'n'Bone Man. On May 21, 2021, the singer released All I Know So Far, a documentary chronicling Pink on her record-breaking Beautiful Trauma World Tour. The project was promoted by two new original songs "Cover Me in Sunshine" and "All I Know So Far", as well as a live album. During a 2021 interview, promoting the documentary, Pink was questioned about her next studio album. When asked about the tone of the album, she replied saying she was not sure as it was in the "early days" but that it would be "very honest."

On July 14, 2022, Pink surprise released her first single since 2021, "Irrelevant", as a protest song in response to her outrage with the overrule of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. From May to October 2022, Pink headlined at Bottlerock Napa Valley, Ohana Festival, and Austin City Limits, while also performing a show at Yaamava Theater in Southern California. She also played at the second Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert in Los Angeles and Foo Fighter's The Hanukkah Sessions.

Composition and production
Primarily a dance-pop album, Trustfall incorporates elements of a wide variety of sub-genres, namely pop rock, Americana, country music, and folk. Some tracks also contained military drums and the playing of solo piano and guitar stomps. Lyrically, Trustfall contains themes of self-motivation, self-acceptance, afterlife, loss and love. She stated that the album is "the best album [she] had ever made" and that it was inspired by many personal events in her life, including her experiencing a serious bout of COVID-19 together with her infant son as well as her father's death in April 2021. In an interview with Billboard, Pink explained the meaning of the album and the recording process: "'The sequencing of this album was really important to me, in case someone does listen to it from start to finish. Because life is like this to me, it’s an emotional roller coaster and it’s a journey, and this album is that. [...] But that’s not life. Life is messy and beautiful and messy again. [...] It was three years in the making. 'Lost Cause' and 'Never Gonna Not Dance Again' were the two album-starters. And 'Never Gonna Not Dance Again' was my reaction to adrenal fatigue, cortisol, stress. It was like, 'If the world’s ending and we’re sliding sideways off our axis, I’m gonna get my roller skates. Let’s take a cocktail class online! What are we doing?' So those songs on the record were a reaction to, 'I can’t care all the time. I also need to feel joy, and let that s–t run off my back.'"

Release and promotion
On November 18, 2022, Pink announced Trustfall on American morning television program Good Morning America and its release date through her social media accounts. On October 6, 2022, she further announced that she would be touring in the United Kingdom and Europe as part of her Pink Summer Carnival Tour in 2023. North American dates were announced a month later. On October 17, 2022, Pink teased the album's lead single "Never Gonna Not Dance Again" and released a snippet on social media. The song became available for streaming on November 4, 2022. Pink first performed the song live for the first time at the American Music Awards on November 20, 2022.

On January 18, 2023, Pink announced the album's second single "Trustfall" and released a snippet of the song on social media. On February 6, she appeared on singer Kelly Clarkson's daytime television variety talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show. On February 14, 2023, Pink released the album's third single, "When I Get There", written by Amy Wadge and David Hodges in honor of Pink's late father, Jim Moore. Fourth single "Runaway" was sent to radio in Australia and Germany on July 7, 2023.

On October 13, 2023, Pink announced the release of a deluxe edition of Trustfall. The new edition, which includes her past-year-single "Irrelevant", two new songs and six live recordings from the Summer Carnival Tour, was released for digital download, LP and CD purchase on December 1, 2023. She also announced the Trustfall Tour between October and November 2023 in United States as break of the Summer Carnival Tour, which will be extended to Australia in 2024.

Critical reception
Upon release, Trustfall was met with a positive response from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 71 out of 100, based on reviews from nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

AllMusic editor Neil Z. Yeung rated the album four out of five stars and called it "a motivational therapy session that hinges on themes of change, self-acceptance, loss, and love, reminding listeners (and herself) that everything will be OK if there's faith in the face of fear and the unknown. Buoyed by this spiritually liberated energy, Pink pushes her vocals to higher highs with shiver-inducing results, backed by some of the most thoughtful messages in her catalog." Maura Johnston of Rolling Stone wrote that the songs on Trustfall lyrically "don't shy away from irascibility or eye-rolling" but "feel like they're coming from a genuine place" and that "Pink's appeal comes from her ability to turn the everyday into the stereo-ready." PopMatters critic Jeffrey Davies felt that Trustfall "is the most vulnerable pop star Pink has been in years in a way that doesn’t sound formulated but rather honest and reflective."

PopMatters critic John Murphy found that Trustfall is Pink playing it safe. Which, given the success she’s achieved with this formula in the past, isn’t the unwisest course to take. There’s a truly startling album lurking somewhere within Moore, but she’ll need to start taking a few more risks for that to be unleashed." Cady Siregar of Consequence found the singer "still wearing her emotions on her sleeve, keen to embrace a deep sense of vulnerability as she processes some extremely difficult events," publishing her "most overt attempt at storytelling and introspection" in her discography. However, Siregar also wrote that Pink "is playing it safe" because "trying to radiate emotional honesty without the risk of coming off as slightly banal is something even the best pop stars find hard to do." In a mixed review, Michael Cragg of The Guardian wrote that the album is "patchy but playful in places," showing a "reliably Pink," thanks to her voice, "the key element" of not "always up to scratch" materials.

Commercial performance
Trustfall debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with over 65% of its total made up of physical sales, becoming Pink's fourth album and her third consecutive to do so, following Beautiful Trauma (2017) and Hurts 2B Human (2019). It also debuted at number two on the UK Official Vinyl Albums Chart. In Australia, the album debuted at number one on the Australian Albums Chart, becoming her seventh number-one album in the country. In the United States,Trustfall debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 74,500 album-equivalent units, of which 59,000 were pure album sales. It became Pink's first album since Funhouse (2008) to not debut atop the chart.

Track listing
Notes
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 * $undefined$ signifies an additional producer
 * $undefined$ signifies a vocal producer

Personnel
Musicians


 * Pink – lead vocals (all tracks), background vocals (tracks 1, 2, 5, 8)
 * David Hodges – background vocals, guitar, piano, programming (1)
 * Fred – background vocals, bass guitar, drums, guitar, keyboards, programming (2)
 * Johnny McDaid – background vocals (2)
 * Byron Isaacs – background vocals, bass guitar (4)
 * James Felice – background vocals (4)
 * David Baron – bass guitar (4)
 * Jeremiah Fraites – drums, electric guitar, percussion, piano, synthesizer (4)
 * Wesley Schultz – vocals (4)
 * A Strut – background vocals, drums, programming (5)
 * Elvira Anderfjärd – background vocals (5)
 * Klara Söderberg – background vocals, guitar (5)
 * Johanna Söderberg – background vocals (5)
 * Fat Max Gsus – bass guitar (5)
 * Max Martin – background vocals, keyboards, programming (6)
 * Shellback – background vocals, bass guitar, drums, guitar, keyboards, percussion, programming (6)
 * Wojtek Goral – alto saxophone (6)
 * Tomas Jonsson – baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone (6)
 * David Bukovinszky – cello (6)
 * Helena Stjernstrom – English horn (6)
 * Mattias Bylund – orchestra, synthesizer (6)
 * Magnus Sjölander – percussion (6)
 * Noos Johansson – trombone (6)
 * Janne Bjerger – trumpet (6)
 * Magnus Johansson – trumpet (6)
 * Mattias Johansson – violin (6)
 * Doris Sandberg – vocals (6)
 * Jameson Moon Hart – vocals (6)
 * Willow Sage Hart – vocals (6)
 * Laura Mace – background vocals (7)
 * Maize Jane Olinger – background vocals (7)
 * Greg Kurstin – bass guitar, drums, electric guitar, keyboards, percussion, synthesizer (7, 9)
 * Billy Mann – acoustic guitar, arrangement, background vocals, bass guitar, programming (8)
 * Pete Wallace – arrangement, programming (8)
 * Aaron Sterling – drums (8)
 * Justin Derrico – electric guitar, mandolin (8); guitar (13)
 * Stephen Wrabel – background vocals, piano (10)
 * Sam de Jong – programming, strings (10)
 * Jason Evigan – background vocals, guitar (11)
 * Nate Mercereau – guitar (11)
 * Jessica Karpov – piano (12)
 * John Ormond – bass guitar (13)
 * Chris Stapleton – electric guitar, vocals (13)

Technical


 * Randy Merrill – mastering (1, 3–5, 7–13)
 * Dave Kutch – mastering (2, 6)
 * Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing (1, 3, 8–10, 12, 13)
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing (2, 4–7, 11)
 * David Hodges – engineering (1)
 * Bryce Bordone – engineering (2, 4–7, 11)
 * Fred – engineering (2)
 * Graham Archer – engineering (2)
 * Johnny McDaid – engineering (2)
 * David Baron – engineering (4)
 * Lasse Mårtén – engineering (6)
 * Sam Holland – engineering (6)
 * Mattias Byland – engineering (6)
 * Greg Kurstin – engineering (7, 9, 13)
 * Julian Burg – engineering (7, 9, 13)
 * Matt Tuggle – engineering (7, 9, 13)
 * Aaron Sterling – engineering (8)
 * Billy Mann – engineering (8)
 * Justin Derrico – engineering (8)
 * Pete Wallace – engineering (8)
 * Jesse Shatkin – engineering (12)
 * Vance Powell – engineering (13)
 * Matt Wolach – engineering assistance (1, 3, 8–10, 12, 13)
 * Will Reynolds – engineering assistance (2)
 * Renée Hikari – engineering assistance (3)