{"id":1180072,"date":"2026-09-01T03:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1180072\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T03:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:40:15","slug":"the-1986-hit-cyndi-lauper-hoped-would-help-you-love-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1180072\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1986 hit Cyndi Lauper hoped would help you “love yourself”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cyndi<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy<\/p>\n

Tue 1 September 2026 2:00, UK <\/p>\n

By 1986, the pop battle between Madonna and Cyndi Lauper<\/a> was starting to point to a victory for Bay City\u2019s most famous daughter.<\/p>\n

Three years earlier, Lauper stood as the undisputed \u2018Queen of Pop\u2019. After jumping from her Blue Angel entrance to the new wave in 1980, she hustled the New York club circuit and eventually landed an eager spot in David Wolff\u2019s management, leading to the fateful signing with Portrait Records and the road to 1983\u2019s She\u2019s So Unusual\u2019s pop explosion.<\/p>\n

Before Madonna stole the VMA show with \u2018Like a Virgin\u2019s wedding cake, it was Lauper who towered the tallest amid the new MTV landscape. Giving even the second British Invasion bunch a run for their money, Lauper\u2019s thrift store glam and bursting ball-of-energy presence were exactly what the new cable channel demanded. The aesthetic was there, and luckily, she had cuts like the feminist reimagining of Robert Hazard\u2019s \u2018Girls Just Want to Have Fun\u2019<\/a> and the \u2018Time After Time\u2019 ballad in the bag, peaking at number two and one, respectively.<\/p>\n

Lauper was an American pop sensation. But over the next few years, Madonna\u2019s stature as the decade\u2019s chart icon only grew, adding a new dimension of sexual allure, cultural debate, and intelligent popcraft that made the \u2018Holiday\u2019 singer a worldwide superstar. Lauper\u2019s distinct brand of colourful synthy bubblegum didn\u2019t seem as sophisticated in Madonna\u2019s shadow.<\/p>\n

Still, while Madonna\u2019s True Blue was dominating pop, Lauper was gearing up for her big sophomore effort. \u201cThe second album says, \u2018Have the courage of your convictions and love yourself a little\u2019,\u201d Lauper told The New York Times in 1986.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say, \u2018Love yourself\u2019, because we really are taught not to,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen babies are born, they\u2019re just nuts about everything about themselves. Then, as we get older, we\u2019re taught that, oooh, that\u2019s disgusting, and that if we like ourselves, then that\u2019s considered conceit. That\u2019s part of the album, too \u2013 not to be so hard on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such sentiments were given their defining anthem with the title track and lead single to True Colors. Dropped a month ahead of the album in August 1986, Lauper teamed up with the \u2018Like a Virgin\u2019 hitmakers Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly to pen a song celebrating one\u2019s individual, \u2018unusual\u2019 nature amid a sea of conformity.<\/p>\n

Further reading: From The Vault<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some would praise the single; others would deem the cut saccharine, but \u2018True Colors\u2019 landed with a pertinent chime in the LGBTQ+ community as the AIDS\/HIV epidemic was wreaking its devastating effects and inflaming society\u2019s homophobia across the late 1980s.<\/p>\n

It was a final roll of the dice. While Madonna\u2019s pop reign would continue into the 21st century<\/a>, \u2018True Colours\u2019 would stand as the last time Lauper ever sat atop the Hot 100, managing to eke out a couple more top tens before largely playing the cult, nostalgic circuit from then on. However, its message has endured on a personal note for Lauper and her longtime fans, triggering the True Colors United campaign to end homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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