Pink loves a challenge, and on her strident new protest single “Irrelevant,” she takes on anyone who would dare make her feel invisible or powerless.
“You can call me irrelevant, insignificant / You can try to make me small / I’ll be your heretic, you fucking hypocrite / I won’t think of you at all / Sticks and stones and all that st / Does Jesus love the ignorant? / I like to think he likes to take us all along,” she sings in the song’s combative pre-chorus.
Proceeds from the track, which fell unexpectedly on Thursday, will be donated to former first lady Michelle Obama’s impartial voting initiative When We All Vote. The provocative chorus features a play on The Who’s iconic 1965 debut album “The Kids Are Alright,” with Pink’s warning: “The kids aren’t okay/ None of us is right/ I’m tired, but I won’t sleep tonight/ Cause I still feel alive/ The kids are not alright (not alright).”
It also nods to another iconic song on the last bridge, Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 feminist anthem “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, when Pink reads “Girls just wanna have rights/ So, why do we have to fight?” sings.
As if the message wasn’t clear enough, the single art is a blurry wink from the singer who happily raises the middle finger. It marks the first time Pink has collaborated on a song with Grammy-winning producer/songwriter Ian Fitchuk (Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris).
In a statement about the song, Pink explains: “As a woman with an opinion and the fearlessness to express that opinion, it gets very exhausting when the only answer is to tell me how irrelevant I am. I’m relevant because I exist, and because I am human. No one is irrelevant. And no one can take away my voice.” The mission of When We All Vote is to increase participation in every election cycle and change the culture around voting.
Earlier this week, Pink teased the song in a 16-second video message that read “irrelevant #shutupandsing #challengeaccepted,” staring closely into the camera and singing what is part of the chorus. On Tuesday, she revealed, “Woke up. Got heated. Written song. Coming soon,” alongside what appeared to be the handwritten lyrics to the new song
Listen to “Irrelevant” below.
A version of this story first appeared on billboard.com