It's Sunday, the 18th of October, and P!nk is sending 2-year-old daughter Willow off to play with her touring friend, "Chef Robbie," for the next hour while Mommy sits down for an interview.
P!nk is sitting in a backstage lounge at Seattle's KeyArena that has been converted into a temporary play place for Willow, complete with a pink princess castle. She sips from a hot Starbucks cup of tea, as Willow leaves with Robbie Grantham-Wise.
Another mug with a fresh bag of soothing tea leaves awaits—tonight is her first show back on schedule, having postponed the last two dates of her The Truth About Love tour to take some much--needed vocal rest. She's already 100 dates into the tour, and will stay on the road through mid-January.
And yet, today is palpably less stressful than when P!nk played Seattle in 2009, to kick off the North American leg of her Funhouse tour.
"Oh, man. The last time I was here, I went skateboarding to Pike Place Market with my husband [motocross racer Carey Hart] and I separated my shoulder," P!nk recalls in between sips of tea. "I couldn't do any of my stunts. So . . ." She grips her throat. "This is nothing."
On Dec. 10, P!nk, aka Alecia Moore, will accept Billboard's 2013 Woman of the Year award at Capitale in New York—yet one more high point in what has been a whirlwind 12 months for the 34-year-old artist, a year she's quick to call her best yet.
"P!nk has almost been in a class by herself among women in music this year, and we're thrilled to recognize her successes by honoring her with the Billboard Woman of the Year award," Billboard editorial director Bill Werde says. "When our 2013 midyear numbers were released, she had the top-selling album and song for a woman, and a blockbuster, sold-out, international arena tour. Earlier this year, 'Just Give Me a Reason' topped the Billboard Hot 100, extending her amazingly consistent chart success, which dates back to her arrival in 2000. Combine all of this with a spirit that inspires fans of every stripe, and you arrive at the remarkable package that is P!nk. She will undoubtedly continue to accomplish great milestones in the years to come."
P!nk's sixth studio album, "The Truth About Love," was a hit upon its release in September 2012, becoming her first to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 280,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The RCA Records release ranks as the year's top--selling album by a woman with year-to-date sales of 886,000 units and total sales of 1.83 million.
The album's first three singles all cracked the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with "Just Give Me a Reason" (a duet with fun.'s Nate Ruess) becoming her fourth No. 1 single in April and the biggest hit of her 14-year career.
And P!nk's current tour has broken her own previous records with 18 consecutive sellouts in Melbourne, Australia, while also scoring the highest gross for a headliner at a single venue in 2013 with combined ticket sales of $29.2 million, according to Billboard Boxscore. At the Billboard Touring Awards on Nov. 14, P!nk won the top boxscore honor for her shows at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
The tour has also become P!nk's largest and longest in her home country of the United States, having started in North America for the first time and stretching across two legs with more than 30 dates apiece.
With so many achievements and all-time highs in her latest album cycle, it's no wonder P!nk hasn't given much thought to her career future beyond the 2014 Grammy Awards. At that event, she says, "I know exactly what I want to do," confirming that she'll be a performer. "I won't tell you, but it's going to be f*cking amazing."
Her memorable performance at the 2010 ceremony set a very high bar, of course. The five-minute number, currently being re-created on the U.S. leg of her tour, featured P!nk swinging around the Staples Center in Los Angeles unharnessed in a white sheet, dipped in water and splashing all the celebrities and industry bigwigs beneath her.
Amid all her other recent milestones, P!nk (credited as Alecia Moore) also appeared this year in the film "Thanks for Sharing" as part of a cast that included Gwenyth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo and Tim Robbins. (billboard)
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