A rebel diva hits a soulful groove

Pink isn’t the first person who comes to mind when the subject is protest music, but there she was at Avalon Hollywood on Wednesday, backed by a couple of acoustic guitars as she trained her sights on the chief executive. “How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?” she sang with a soulful, bluesy rasp. “How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?”

Pink’s new song “Dear Mr. President” zeroed in on what it sees as his indifference to the disadvantaged, and when she sang, “What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?” she got a huge roar from the crowd that seemed to affirm her position as a leading outsiders’ diva.

That’s not where the Philadelphia-raised, Los Angeles-based singer seemed headed a few years ago. But over the course of her four albums, Pink has charted an unusual path, from disposable dance-pop cutie to feisty rock chick with a huge hit on her hands in the 2001 album “Missundaztood” and its upbeat anthem “Get the Party Started.”

Pink then followed her idiosyncratic instincts into a teaming with L.A. punk musician Tim Armstrong, which yielded some interesting music and marked a precipitous decline in popularity. Her new “I’m Not Dead” hasn’t reversed the trend, despite some good reviews and a radio hit with “Stupid Girls.”

So while Pink earns some grudging respect as an unpredictable rebel, it doesn’t translate into the kind of credibility that accrues to “indie” artists.

But in a way, being caught in between like that creates a reinforcing context for the Pink incarnation that prevailed at the Avalon on Wednesday -- the scrappy underdog who’s going to follow her heart, the troubled kid determined not to be a victim anymore.

That’s something that fans can relate to strongly, and spirits were high as Pink ran through an hour-plus set that jumped from power ballads to New Wave-y rock to dance-pop hybrids. She also dropped in a soaring “What’s Up?,” the 1993 hit by her one-time mentor Linda Perry’s old band 4 Non Blondes.

The best songs firmly laid out her agenda, notably the dynamic “Stupid Girls” and the older ballad “Family Portrait,” which details a soul-scarring upbringing.

Pink was engaged from start to finish, but it was her encores that provided the emotional heart, with “Dear Mr. President” preceded by another acoustic tune, “The One That Got Away,” about an infatuation with a singer, which had an element of intimacy and vulnerability that was sometimes missing from the more generic pop pieces.

Whether or not there’s a commercial resurgence in her future, Pink seems to have found some kind of comfort zone. It’s her party, and she’ll do what she wants to.