M!ssundaztood

P!nk's debut Can't Take Me Home established her as one of Y2K teen pop's brightest stars, but its follow-up, 2001's M!ssundaztood, set her apart from the pack. In the wake of Home’s success, the Pennsylvania native wanted to try something new—so she got in touch with 4 Non Blondes mastermind Linda Perry, whose caterwauling vocal and searching lyrics hit big on 1992's "What's Up?" The collaborations between P!nk, who wanted to confront her misfit feelings and tormented upbringing in her lyrics, and Perry, whose '90s successes were a signal of her keen ear for hooks, melded turn-of-the-century pop-R&B with real talk and alt-rock riffs. Their chemistry helped M!ssundaztood become a full-spectrum pop album on which P!nk—then a twentysomething whose raspy alto was fully coming into its own—reveals her whole self.

It’s not all serious business: The album sparkles on its uptempo moments, like the feisty getting-ready jam "Get the Party Started" and the defiant rocker "18 Wheeler." But songs like the pleading divorced-kid chronicle "Family Portrait" and the glittering yet haunted look at depression "Eventually" were unflinching looks inward, at the person behind the pop star. Their potency, as well as P!nk's natural charisma, marked M!ssundaztood as the beginning of an era where she found success on her own terms.