She’s So Unusual – Cyndi Lauper (1983)

July 11, 2025

Prior to the release of her smash hit debut solo album, Cyndi Lauper was down bad. Her band, Blue Angel, had broken up as a result of their first and only album tanking; they were sued by their former manager after he was fired; and Lauper was sent into bankruptcy. And on top of that, she developed a cyst in her vocal cords that resulted in her temporarily losing her voice (and by extension, her livelihood). So Cyndi found herself taking jobs at retail stores and waitressing at IHOP (where she was sexually harassed by her manager), assuming her chance at a music career had passed her by. But after regaining her voice and starting to take gigs at nightclubs in New York City, she was discovered by David Wolff of Portrait Records, who immediately recognized the potential of her lethal combination of vocal ability and star power.

Lauper in her Blue Angel years

Two years after her discovery, Lauper was in the studio recording her debut album, She’s So Unusual. And despite her obvious talent, I cannot imagine that Lauper, Wolff, or frankly anybody at the record label could have ever imagined just how successful her debut album would become. After recording all of the album’s tracks, the label’s instinct was to have “Time After Time” be the lead single, but Lauper had the good instincts to veto the idea because she feared being typecast as a balladeer (which at this early stage of her career could have completely doomed her). Instead, she decided to lead with “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” which gained massive attention from its popular music video that got regular rotation on MTV and shot to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. This would begin the incredible run of ensuing hit singles, including “Time After Time” (#1), “She Bop” (#3), and “All Through the Night” (#5) – making her the first ever female artist to have four singles from one album reach the top 5. And in addition to the success of all its singles – the album itself climbed all the way to #4 on the Billboard 200, gained her immense critical praise, and brought her six Grammy nominations with two wins (Best New Artist and Best Recording Package). 

Not known as a natural songwriting talent, Lauper and producer Rick Chertoff were wise enough to not only bring in others to co-write, but to include an array of covers – “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was a feminist take on a 1979 rock song by Robert Hazard, “When You Were Mine” was originally a track from Prince’s 1980 album Dirty Mind, “All Through the Night” was released the same year by Jules Shear (and produced by Todd Rundgren), and “He’s So Unusual” was a Betty Boop-inspired song from the 1920s by Helen Kane. The majority of the songs on the album deal with love and relationships (as is to be expected from most pop releases), but Lauper does include a healthy dose of feminist themes throughout the album as well. On top of the rewrite of the Hazard song, the lyrics of “She Bop” are pretty blatantly about masturbation, which at the time (and frankly even now) was a very risky (and risqué) move for a young, female artist. But ultimately, the album’s two greatest crown jewels are “Time After Time” and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” – both of which are not only two of the signature pop songs of the 1980s, but have also been on constant dance floor rotation at proms and weddings for the last forty-two years.

Lauper poses during a photo shoot

Cyndi Lauper’s sudden leap from a complete unknown to one of the biggest stars on the planet is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of pop music. Aside from the undeniably raw and unique voice that she possessed, she showed a deep understanding of the industry with her pivot away from the label’s suggestion on her first single, and was able to put together one of the finest debuts of all time. And what makes her sudden rise especially impressive was the fact that she wasn’t a conventionally attractive knockout like Madonna, whose fame can be equally attributed to her voice and her sex appeal – instead, she was a quirky girl with wild, red hair; a punk rock aesthetic; and a Betty Boop-like voice. And I’m fairly certain that if you asked most people who the first female artist was to have four singles from one album reach the top 5, the guesses would include the likes of Barbara Streisand, Donna Summer, Diana Ross, and Madonna – and most certainly would not include Cyndi Lauper. But despite the lack of respect and recognition, the reality is that Lauper’s vocals are exceptional, her songs are catchy, and she’s not only a great artist – she’s so unusual.