Ariel Pink: "Picture Me Gone"

It’s yet to be determined how Ariel Pink’s new album pom pom will be received, but there appears to be a general consensus on how the divisive rollout has gone over. Opinions on Madonna’s late catalog aside, the clown prince of trash pop managed to pull his foot out of his mouth long enough to do something uncharacteristically sweet last month (even if few noticed). Bringing a pair of new songs to the boys and girls of everyone’s favorite elementary school chorus, Staten Island’s PS22, Pink got to play his strangest role yet: Lead Choirboy.

The joke-y “Jell-O” was sure to be a hit with the kids, but it was “Picture Me Gone”—a father’s lament over the devaluation of physical family keepsakes in the digital era—that made the most impact. It’s no wonder, really. “Picture Me Gone” is one of the most sentimental things Pink has ever done, a torch song steeped in defeat, the sound of the last man on earth without an iPhone finally caving and picking up a 6 at the mall’s loneliest AT&T pagoda. In a year where pop’s opinion of technological encroachment at times erred on the side of condescension, “Picture Me Gone” is instead a heart-crushing concession. For those worrying that Pink has gone soft, fret not: the video for “Picture Me Gone” features Eyes Without a Face-masked characters “in pursuit of sexual encounters and inner content.” Some things never change.

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