She's So Unusual (Remastered)

iTunes Review

Looking back, it’s hard to imagine the mid-1980s without Cyndi Lauper — her giddy vocal hiccup and dizzy-dame persona helped define the pop culture of the time. She’s So Unusual (1983) launched her as a solo artist and remains her definitive statement. Lauper came across as lovably odd, but no bimbo — she played the hard-boiled realist in “Money Changes Everything” and the freewheeling hedonist in “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” with equal conviction. Sexual rule-breaking is a persistent subtext in these tunes, heard in the twitchy “She Bop” and the lustful “I’ll Kiss You.” From a different place comes the naïve tenderness of “All Through The Night” and “Time After Time.” Cyndi veers between punky affectation and old-fashioned sincerity with aplomb, propelled by techno-pop keyboard lines draped in atmospheric guitar shadings. She’s So Unusual made Lauper a star and gave the music world a much-needed dose of pure pop pleasure. Its combination of good-natured raunch and girlish innocence still has the power to send you bouncing and bopping (if not hiccupping) with abandon.