That's What I Think

Song: That's What I Think
Artist: Cyndi Lauper
Album: Hat Full of Stars






The one thing that is a constant in the music business is how much it changes, and fast. An artist can be riding the fame train for a good long while and suddenly may find themselves having a hard time selling records, even when the quality of the music is actually pretty high. Nobody knows this more than Cyndi Lauper who has tried to keep herself relevant since her break out debut “She’s So Unusual.” That album, which included the smash anthem “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” as well as hits “Time After Time,” “She Bop,” and “All Through The Night” went platinum five times. It remains the biggest part of her career, and it was the beginning.

What endears me to Cyndi is that she has continued to keep her career going, despite the mild success, and has released some pretty good records past the 80’s. I am fond of “Hat Full of Stars,” which oddly, was produced by DJ Junior Vasquez. It contains stabs at greatest including the lead single that went nowhere, “That’s What I Think.” The song is so infectious, so bouncy, so CYNDI, that it is the song that should have been on the follow up to “Unusual.” But Cyndi is obviously a woman who follows her muse and while she hasn’t has a monster hit since the 80’s, she’s been able to keep her career afloat through extensive touring and projects that suit who she is now.

Most recently, Cyndi released “At Last” an album of standards that I quite liked, and last year “the Body Acoustic,” re-interpretations of her hits acoustically with guests such as Shaggy and Sarah McLachlan. It’s a nice record and a great companion to her greatest hits record “Twelve Deadly Cyns,” which should be your starting point if you don’t own any Cyndi. Unfortunately, her theme song to the 80’s kids classic “Goonies” is nowhere to be found… but most likely because of the more A/C leanings of her post “She’s So Unusual” work. Also, the name of the bloody song is “The Goonie ‘R’ Good Enough.”

Enjoy.