In 2019, the iconic singer and songwriter Pink returned to New York City’s Madison Square Garden for a performance that included country and western singer Chris Stapleton. During her performance, Pink announced to the crowd that she had a special surprise for them. As she started singing the song “Love Me Anyway,” Stapleton slowly walked onto the stage as the crowd cheered excitedly. What’s amazing about this performance is that Pink is clearly as excited to have the country singer onstage as the crowd was. Together, the two delivered beautiful harmonies with the backdrop of a string orchestra and a haunting piano. The performance itself was as moving and powerful as the emotional lyrics of the song.
“Love Me Anyway” was written by Pink for “Hurts 2B Human,” her eighth studio album that was released in 2019. To write the song, Pink collaborated with Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin. The strings were recorded, arranged, and performed by Stevie Black. A rare country-style song by Pink, “Love Me Anyway” was released to Country radio in September of 2019. It ended up reaching the number 24 spot on Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs and has sold 171,000 copies in the U.S. as of December 2019. In addition to their Madison Square Garden performance, Pink and Stapleton performed “Love Me Anyway” at the 53rd Annual Country Music Association Awards in November of 2019.
Video screengrab via Billboard
As Pink and Chris performed breathtaking and powerful vocals, the admiring fans were screaming in appreciation. By the time the song was finished, the crowd was on its feet applauding in a standing ovation. When they were finished performing, Pink bowed down to Stapleton and jokingly collapsed in awe before saying, “What just happened?” Clearly, these two have some intense creative chemistry between them. I hope we get to see more work from the two of them together.
Video screengrab via Billboard
After the performance, Pink posted a photo with Stapleton to her Instagram account with the caption, “One of my absolute favorite songwriters, favorite voice, and person. Chris Stapleton.” She added that it was an “absolute honor” to share the stage with her friend.
Watch this moving video below. This is just proof that Pink can do any style of music and perform it beautifully.
