Cyndi Lauper

True Colors, Cyndi Lauper's second album, doesn't sound much like her megaplatinum
She's So Unusual – and good for her. Lauper's out-of-nowhere 1983 solo debut was an
eminently listenable, often brave, frankly subversive work that stood pop convèntion on
its fat, stuffy head. When Lauper sang the celebratory "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" or the
dark, stark plaint "Time After Time," she wore her individuality as both a badge o... More >

Cheap sentiment plus star-budget video make the first side so disheartening that the second isn't much more than a relief. Just as the sensitive relationship songs retreat from the perils of triads and the pleasures of jerking off, "What's Going On" is a nostalgic generalization after the first album's confrontation with capital. Girls just want to have money--and no fun changes everything. (Grade: B-)