Still a Rock Star: Five Reasons Why Pink Rules

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IF WE COULD be friends with any pop singer who references the Big Top, it would be Pink.

Sure, being pals with Britney Spears (most recent album: "Circus") would be cool, but she'd probably always being asking us to sneak her out of the house or begging us to provide with her prepaid cell phones so she could gab past her court-approved curfew.

Christina Aguilera (her ballad "Hurt" had a music video starring Aguilera as a circus performer) would need us to babysit all the time so she could go clubbing and spend hours reapplying her face.

And Kelly Clarkson, although she seems like the realest of the "American Idol" winners (rumors swirled in early 2009 that her latest album, "All I Ever Wanted," was originally going to be called "Masquerade"), would probably get bored of us asking her to sing "Since U Been Gone" over and over again so we could obsessively lip-synch to it.

So instead, our alliances lie squarely with Pink, the wonderfully outspoken songstress who has straddled genre lines throughout her career as she's transitioned from confident R&B crooner to party-happy pop-punk singer to finally settling on rock-leaning, politically incorrect badass, her current incarnation. With her latest album, "Funhouse," Pink has gotten her first No. 1 single in the United States ("So What," a kiss-off to husband Carey Hart, who she had then split with but is now dating again) and is drawing huge crowds with her international tour, which stops tonight at the Patriot Center.

If you already respected her for her music, great — but we amassed five other, more gossip-heavy reasons to love Alecia Moore. And, if you're really sick of Kanye West news, sorry — it's just that Pink's unabashed hatred of him is so glorious that we had to include it.

CALLING OUT PEREZ
In the world of fame-whores, Perez Hilton reigns supreme. The gossip blogger who yearns to himself become a celebrity — and pretty much has, thanks to friendships with Paris Hilton and his ability to promote himself in any way possible, such as on the disastrous MTV show "Celebrity Rap Superstar" — has a reputation for swearing things are true on his blog that later come out as being utter fabrications. One particularly high-profile case of this came when Perez claimed Fidel Castro died last year and that Cuba was on the brink of revolution. Months later, there's still no revolution and no confirmation that Castro is anything but alive.

But leaving decrepit dictators aside, we're impressed that Pink is gutsy enough to stand up to Perez's spreading of rumors about her sexuality: When he posted in May that she had given an interview with the UK's News of the World admitting her bisexuality, the singer immediately fired back, first writing on her Twitter that the fake interview was "so 1991" and later responding to Perez's insistence that the rumors were true with a flat denial: "100% FABRICATION."

It'll take more than that to truly put Perez in his place, but Pink has definitely gotten a good start.

YOU STUPID GIRLS
If you missed the video for "Stupid Girls," Pink's first single from her 2006 album "I'm Not Dead," then you should probably invest in those three-and-a-half minutes. Her snarkiest, most sarcastically funny diatribe against society, the song rails against celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton and gave us a look at the kind of social commentary Pink is capable of delivering. She also attacked George W. Bush on the album with song "Dear Mr. President," but while that one just makes us depressed about those eight years of American history, at least "Stupid Girls" is worthy of some laughs.

MAKING IT WORK
Given the ubiquity of divorce among the celebrity set — in case of boredom, break glass — the fact that Pink and husband Carey Hart are trying to make it work after nearly splitting up last year fills us with joy. Hart told English paper The Sun that "we're working shit out, I admit it" and mused to People that "Sometimes you have to take a couple of steps backwards to move forward," and it seems like the two are slowly reconciling.

Plus, they must also get along reasonably well as friends — he did appear in the music video for "So What," a song that's not exactly complimentary toward him. Good sport, indeed.

POWER THROUGH IT
As much as Lady Gaga would probably like to think that her blood-splattered and murder-heavy performance at this month's VMAs was the highlight of the show, we'd beg to disagree: That designation has got to go to Pink, who performed half-topless while swinging through the air on a trapeze, as she does on her Funhouse tour.

Fast-forward to a few days later, though, and Pink has suffered a separated shoulder, which inflicted a pain similar to "50 angry invisible demon fairies ... stabbing me," she wrote on her Twitter. With such an injury, most other performers would have canceled the rest of their concerts — for example, Aerosmith recently nixed their upcoming gigs because of Steven Tyler's ugly fall off stage Aug. 5. But not Pink, who despite phasing out some of her aerial work has continued the tour with full steam ahead — according to what her rep told People, "the show must go on." Very "Moulin Rouge" of her, and very lucky for us.

SHE IS NOT THE ONE
If you didn't hate Kanye West already for his inflated ego and ability to spew uselessness whenever near an awards show stage, his antics during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the VMAs probably turned your tide. Although some tried to defend West (like Jay-Z, who recently rationalized to BBC Radio that his protege's douchery was driven by deep artistic passion), more celebrities spoke out negatively about the incident — and Pink's Twitter update about it all is probably our favorite: "Kanye west is the biggest piece of shit on earth. Quote me."

Done and done.

» Patriot Center, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, Va.; Mon., Sept. 28, 8 p.m.; $39.50, $49.50; (703) 993-3000. (Vienna)