This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
P!nk is clearly a woman who will try anything once — at least musically.
Her 2000 debut Can’t Take Me Home was a tepid set of teen-pop and soul-hop. The 2001 followup M!ssundaztood was a harder-hitting amalgam of R&B grooves and pop-rock power thanks to producer Linda Perry. Now, on her third CD Try This, the magenta-haired Alecia Moore gets the party started in a whole new direction by temporarily collaborating with the last person you’d expect: Rancid singer-guitarist Tim Armstrong. The punk icon co-wrote, played and produced nine of the disc’s 15 tracks, giving P!nk a sharper edge, both on pop-punk anthems like Trouble and on groovier electro-punk offerings like Last to Know. Pity Armstrong didn’t helm the whole disc. In what seems like an obvious label-enforced compromise, P!nk also includes a couple of blatantly commercial dance-pop throwaways and a few tracks from old pal Perry, which have a decidedly been-there-done-that feel. Their inclusion may give the album a few more singles, but they also derail and dilute it, leaving Try This a schizophrenic, unfocused mish-mash. Ultimately, you’re get the feeling P!nk was trying too hard. Or perhaps not hard enough.
