Dominating the airwaves is what Pink has aspired to since she was little, and now that she's reaching her goal, she finds herself dogged by questions about certain other airwave dominators. She addresses this issue directly on the very rock-sounding new cut "Don't Let Me Get Me": "Tired of being compared/ To damn Britney Spears/ She's so pretty/ That just ain't me."

"I've met Britney," Pink said. "She's really, really sweet. She's probably the sweetest girl I've ever met in my life. But every interview I would sit down, or just anywhere, really, and they'd be like, 'Well, how do you compare yourself to Britney and Jessica and Christina?' And I'm just thinking to myself that [they're asking this] just because we're the same age, or girls, young white girls singing pop music or whatever we do. But we're all different. And we all get our own respect."

While she has no beef with Britney personally, Pink does not hide her distaste for what she calls "teenybopper garbage." "I just think that music is so processed. I mean, anybody can do that."

And in the kind of moment you get the feeling comes up a lot with Pink, when she knows she's about to say something that might insult somebody but says it anyway, she added, "I don't think before I talk so I tend to offend people a lot. But I just don't like ... the processed stuff. I love Janis Joplin. I love Billy Joel. I think he's an incredible songwriter. I love Guns N' Roses, too. I love Tupac. Mary J. Blige.

"And I don't think there's a category for music," she continued. "If I can look at an artist and feel what they're feeling and actually start to believe it, that does something to me. That music is a revolution to me. If I can't, if I can listen to music and not feel anything from you or not feel where you're coming from or not hear a thought out of your head ... it just doesn't inspire me." [RealVideo]

Having music as an inspiration helped Pink, who was born Alicia Moore, escape and envision a better life for herself when she was growing up. "I was screwed up, lost and unhappy," she said of her childhood. Her parents fought all the time and eventually divorced. She had little interest in school and dropped out. She claims she never had friends her own age. "My best friend was an 85-year-old woman who lived across the street," she said.

Realizing she had a voice and something to say provided her with a dream. "I always knew I wanted to sing. I would tell my first grade teachers, 'Homework? What? I'm a rock star!' Seriously, I had it in my mind and that's why I fought with my parents so much because I was 30 by the time I was 10. I was ready to go, like, 'Come on. Put me onstage. Where's Star Search? What's going on?' And it couldn't happen fast enough."

It did happen pretty fast, though. As a teen in her hometown of Philadelphia, she landed a Friday night singing spot at Club Fever. A talent scout spotted her there one night and signed her up for an R&B group, and when that one fell apart she quickly joined another. That second group was picked up by LaFace Records, and eventually the label signed Pink as a solo artist and Can't Take Me Home was produced.

Two million albums and three top 40 singles later, Pink was tapped to do the remake of LaBelle's 1975 #1 hit, "Lady Marmalade," for the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack, along with Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim and Mya. That song shot to the top of the charts, and, with its award-winning cabaret-style video busting with bustiers and thigh-high stockings, brought Pink and her powerful soprano to a world stage.