Acoustic Clip of the Month – P!nk’s Who Knew

This month’s acoustic clip is Who Knew by Pink. The single is off her 2006 album I’m Not Dead. Writing credits go to Pink, Max Martin, and Dr. Luke.

For me Pink is something of a guilty pleasure, but I don’t know why I appreciate her in secret … the girl can really bring it. Let’s make it official, no more secrets, I’m letting the cat out-of-the bag now, I’m a bit fan of Pink.

The Song’s Release

Who Knew was actually the second single released off I’m Not Dead, but it wasn’t initially a hit and didn’t get it’s audience. However, when the single U + Ur Hand was released and enjoyed commercial success, they re-released Who Knew in July of 2007, and it found its following.

Ultimately, the single earned top spots in many European charts, but here in the United States, it only had that type of success in component charts. However, it is Pink’s longest running song on the Hot 100 (as of the date of this post).

While the song was received well by critics, there were some who criticized the song as being too much like Kelly Clarkson’s Since U Been Gone. I don’t hear that … maybe because I typically listen to the acoustic version. It seems to me that Who Knew has more of a rock, ballad sensibility and a little less pop than Clarkson … but I’m just an insurance agent right?

By the way, I totally guess Kelly would win the first American Idol! 🙂

About the Song

The song is about a childhood friend who Pink lost to a drug overdoes when she was only 14-years old. Pink has been very honest about her youthful indiscretions, and in an interview with the Daily Mail she said:

“My life was insane, I was [was] out of control and doing lots of stupid things. Some of my friends were selling crack, and I got into drugs too. I’ve always been honest about that, although I don’t like going into details. I’ve got lots of young fans and I wouldn’t want to give them any ideas. I found a friend dead from a drug overdose when I was 14. He was a male friend, not a boyfriend. Most of the people at the funeral were just children. It should have been a wake-up call for me, but it wasn’t.”

About the Clip

The clip has great audio and video quality. It’s from a live performance on the SiriusXM channel The Pulse. We’ll give a plug to SiriusXM for providing our monthly clip, you can get a free trial of SiriusXM, and then maybe you’ll catch Pink the next time she’s live.