P!nk

Check out the sleek dance-soul single "Most Girls" from P!nk's 2000 debut, and you get but a glimmer of the girl's revolutionary spirit — which irked the young up-and-comer to no end. By the time her next record dropped, P!nk made sure to pull away from the teen-pop pack she'd been lumped in with, grabbing the country firmly by the ears (and hips) with her musical mission statement, "Get the Party Started." From there, it was all purely P!nk, whether she was honing her inspirational mover "God Is a DJ" to a hard-rock edge, opening up a painful past on the wrenching "Family Portrait," or defiantly baring her broken heart (and huge-hook prowess) on "So What."

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If there's one thing that's constant about P!nk's ever-evolving music, it's that she's not afraid of a challenge, taking the twists and turns of her career like a Ferrari on a winding mountain road, yet always hugging those curves with fierce energy and precision. That's the case whether she's blending voices with rock god Steven Tyler on the bluesy duet "Misery," exorcising some haunting memories on a delirious "Funhouse," or stripping down for an unplugged, special-session "Trouble." With all the tricks P!nk has up her sleeve, it's easy to forget that the girl's got knock-out chops — that is, until you hear the potent power ballad "Nobody Knows."

The former Alecia Moore seemed destined for a colorful life early on, writing songs and performing in local clubs by the time she'd hit her teens. Yet, when P!nk finally emerged with her 2000 solo debut, she came dangerously close (despite the decidedly in-your-face quality of tracks like "You Make Me Sick") to being washed away in a sea of smiling teen queens. Her response? "Don't Let Me Get Me," a snarl-pop anthem of individuality and a straight-up sonic announcement that P!nk was gonna be P!nk and nothing — or no one — was gonna stand in her way. Our P!nk Essentials playlist reads like a manifesto of independent music-making, from the brutal rock-pop kiss-off "U + Ur Hand," to the hip-hopped confessional "Dear Diary," to the startlingly sensitive, harmony-drenched protest song "Dear Mr. President" with none other than the Indigo Girls.