It's safe to say that Pink has a bit of an authority problem. The twenty-three-year-old Philadelphia native has been brawling her whole life -- with teachers, her parents, boyfriends, music executives. She is growing up -- messily, fascinatingly -- right in front of our eyes. Her first album, 2000's Can't Take Me Home, got this whiskey-throated daughter of a Vietnam vet and a nurse lumped in the same category as your Christinas and your Britneys, rather than, more rightfully, with Courtney Love. Her latest album, the raw, rocking -- and now triple-platinum -- Missundaztood, swiftly ended those comparisons. Pink recently ended a tour with Lenny Kravitz and heads overseas for the fall. What effect do you think being a woman has had on your music and your career? I would not want to be a man, that's for sure. Why? Honestly? My biggest reason is I wouldn't want to have anything swinging between my legs. It seems really uncomfortable. But I guess being a woman has been an advantage. You have to work much harder to get the respect you deserve, and you have to command respect and carry yourself in a certain way. But I've been able to be very outspoken and fight the good fight, and I think if I was a man, people might not have been as willing to hear me out. What female musicians do you admire, and why? Growing up, I completely admired Madonna. I was always getting in trouble, and I felt like she was, too. She was breaking down boundaries and mixing color lines and sex, and I followed her like a puppy dog. I also loved Janis Joplin because she never quite fit in, but everyone adored her. She was such a smart, witty, charming person. What advice would you give to female musicians who are starting out? The first thing I say to them is don't sleep around, and don't use your body to get to the top. Being a female in this industry, that's one of the cons: mostly male executives. There's a lot of pressure on young women who want to get ahead to do whatever they have to do to get there. Were you hit on a fair amount? Oh, absolutely. I was a sixteen-year-old girl when I signed my record deal. Dropped out of school, moved from Philadelphia to Atlanta by myself and paved my way through this world. But I have a lot of respect for women who use their talent and mind and heart instead of flirting with people to get ahead. The other thing I would say is, I put out an R&B, overproduced record the first time. I was very proud of it, but when it came time for the second, I had a lot of time to soak up the business and what goes on. And I kind of went AWOL on everyone and went after Linda Perry from 4 Non Blondes, who I totally admire. We made an incredible record, and it's only because I fought and cursed and kicked and screamed that it was able to happen. I love the fight, and I won't lose. What is your earliest musical memory? Every night when I was a kid, up until the age of four, my dad would sing me to sleep in a rocking chair. And he's got a really good voice. He'd sing me "Camelot." He'd sing me John Denver and Bob Dylan, and play the guitar. How about the first concert you ever went to? Billy Joel. I love him to this day. I think he's an awesome songwriter. I was three or four, and my brother got a stomachache and we had to leave, and I was really pissed off. How about the first album you ever bought? It was either Bad Religion or Mary J. Blige, What's the 411? What's the best advice you ever got? There's two different things -- one from my dad, and one from L.A. Reid. The one from my dad was, "Always tell the truth. You might not have many friends, but you'll never have any enemies, because people will always know where you're coming from." And L.A. sat me down in the very beginning and said, "Don't ever let people rob you of your enjoyment of this."