Linda Perry - "Beautiful"

In June we will be featuring all LGBTQ+ artists in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month

In the Nineties, 4 Non Blondes broke out with their megahit “What’s Up?”– which would rock karaoke rooms for decades to come. She took some time to pursue a solo career after her band broke up, but it was the post-bubblegum pop of the early Aughts where she found her second act. Pink contacted Perry to write for her second, breakthrough album Missundaztood. “Neither one of us knew what was gonna happen,” Perry recalled years later in an interview with Huffington Post. At the time, Pink had made her name in the R&B world before Perry honed in on the pop star’s rock edge. “What happened was that we were able to open up to each other … she completely abandoned what she was told she was supposed to be, and just became Alecia Moore.” After their fruitful collaboration on the megahit “Get the Party Started,” Perry found a home extracting a similar vulnerability and honesty out of other major pop stars and has helped craft some of the 21st Century’s most memorable hits, including Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” and “Candyman” and Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?” Along the way, Perry has always been open and proud of who she is, famously playing a guitar with the word “dyke” written on it at the Billboard Music Awards in 1993. She’s been married to Roseanne star Sara Gilbert since 2011. B.S.

She has a voice that is unforgettable and has been able to use that to tell stories that are universal despite our human differences. She is a master at her art, which is understanding the human condition.

So today, with the wind in my hair and the sun in my eyes, I choose Linda Perry’s “Beautiful” as my, break off the pieces that no longer serve, shed your older skins, lift up into the brand new day, song for a, fight back where you must, surrender where you can, stand strong in your convictions, Thursday.