Last night the VMAs were not afraid to get radical and neither was Pink, who was awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Pink’s six-year-old daughter recently told her mom that she worried she wasn’t beautiful, she called herself the “ugliest girl.” Hearing that from any child is heartbreaking, especially a young girl living in a world where women are constantly told how they need to be more beautiful constantly.
Of course, this set Pink into action. She told the audience at the VMAs that she promptly made a powerpoint presentation for her daughter, rounding up stories and images beautiful androgynous rockstars and artists who “lived their truths and were probably made fun of every day of their lives, and carry on and inspire the rest of us.” There are so many to pull inspiration from: Michael Jackson, Prince, David Bowie, Annie Lenox, Janis Joplin, George Michael, Grace Jones.
Pink continued her speech with going into the dialogue she then had with her daughter:
“Do you see me growing my hair?”
“No mama.”
“Do you see me changing my body?”
“No mama.”
“Do you see me changing the way I present myself to the world?”
“No mama.”
“Do you see me selling out arenas all over the world?”
“Yes mama.”
“Baby girl, we don’t change. We take the gravel and the shell and we make a pearl. And we help other people to change so that they can see more kind of beauty.”
Before accepting her award, Pink performed a stunning medley of her past hits. From “So What” to “Get The Party Started” and of course, her most recent single “What About Us.” Pink is never afraid to make a bold statement with her art. Her music video for “What About Us” makes an incredible political statement about our current administration—and so did her outfit last night. With a badass white jumpsuit on, with sparkly streamers coming down saying “FUCK TRUMP” “STAY WOKE” and “WAKE THE FUCK UP.” Basically, we love everything about Pink and she brought us to tears last night, more than once.
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