She's So Unusual cover art

  Studio Album · No. 1

She's So Unusual Songwriting Credits by Cyndi Lauper

1983 Portrait Records 10 tracks 39 min

Produced by Rick Chertoff  ·  Engineered by William Wittman, John Jansen, Rod O'Brien, John Agnello, George Marino

Portrait Records Pop rockNew waveArt pop
40%
Authorship
Co-Performer

Holds writing credit on 4 of 10 tracks

Authorship Breakdown 4 / 10 documented

Who wrote the songs?

Scored across the 10 tracks with documented writers, by whether Cyndi Lauper carries a lyricist or composer credit.

40%
4 trackswritten by Cyndi Lauper 6 tracksoutside writers
Cyndi Lauper's roles on this album

Share of the 10 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.

Lyricist40%
Composer0%
Producer0%
Performer100%

By the Numbers

10
Tracks
15
Lyricists
1
Producers
1
No.1 Single
16 million
Worldwide Copies Sold
1983
Released

Awards & Recognition 4

Grammy Award for Best New Artist (1985)
Grammy Award for Best Recording Package (1985)
Grammy Award for Album of the Year (1985, Nominated)
Grammy Award for Record of the Year (for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun") (1985, Nominated)
Data Insight

She's So Unusual mixes Cyndi Lauper's own songwriting with carefully chosen covers. She co-wrote four tracks, including the signature ballad "Time After Time" with Rob Hyman and the hit "She Bop," while the other singles are reinterpretations: "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was written by Robert Hazard, "Money Changes Everything" by Tom Gray, "When You Were Mine" by Prince, and "All Through the Night" by Jules Shear. Lauper's distinctive vocal and arrangement choices reshaped the borrowed songs into her own.

Cyndi Lauper's debut studio album, released October 27, 1983 through Portrait Records and produced entirely by Rick Chertoff. The album generated four consecutive top-five Billboard Hot 100 singles ("Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Time After Time," "She Bop," and "All Through the Night"), making Lauper the first solo debut artist to send four singles from a debut album into the top five. "Time After Time" reached number one and was co-written with Rob Hyman of The Hooters, while "She Bop" was co-written with Chertoff, Gary Corbett, and Stephen Broughton Lunt. Two of the four hit singles were written entirely by outside songwriters, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (Robert Hazard) and "All Through the Night" (Jules Shear), while Prince's "When You Were Mine" appears as a fan-favorite cover that was not released as a single. The album won Lauper the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1985 and was certified quadruple platinum in the United States.

Track Listing & Credits 10 tracks

Written by the artist Written by outside writers
#TitleLyricist(s)Composer(s)Producer(s)Performers
1
Money Changes Everything #27
Tom Gray Tom Gray Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
2
Girls Just Want to Have Fun #2
Robert Hazard Robert Hazard Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
3
When You Were Mine
Prince Prince Rogers Nelson Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
4
Time After Time #1
Cyndi LauperRob Hyman Cynthia Ann Stephanie LauperRob Hyman Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
5
She Bop #3
Cyndi LauperRick ChertoffGary CorbettStephen Broughton Lunt Cynthia Ann Stephanie LauperRick ChertoffGary CorbettStephen Broughton Lunt Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
6
All Through the Night #5
Jules Shear Jules Shear Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
7
Witness
Cyndi LauperJohn Turi Cynthia Ann Stephanie LauperJohn Turi Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
8
I'll Kiss You
Cyndi LauperJules Shear Cynthia Ann Stephanie LauperJules Shear Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
9
He's So Unusual
Al ShermanAl LewisAbner Silver Al ShermanAl LewisAbner Silver Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper
10
Yeah Yeah
Hasse HussMikael Rickfors Hasse HussMikael Rickfors Rick Chertoff Cyndi Lauper

Songwriter & Credit Spotlight 17 contributors

CL
Cyndi Lauper
Writer
On this album4 written
CA
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
Writer
On this album4 written
JS
Jules Shear
Writer
On this album2 written
RC
Rick Chertoff
Writer · Producer
On this album1 written
AS
Abner Silver
Writer
On this album1 written
AL
Al Lewis
Writer
On this album1 written
AS
Al Sherman
Writer
On this album1 written
GC
Gary Corbett
Writer
On this album1 written
HH
Hasse Huss
Writer
On this album1 written
JT
John Turi
Writer
On this album1 written
MR
Mikael Rickfors
Writer
On this album1 written
P
Prince
Writer
On this album1 written

More from Cyndi Lauper

1986 70%
True Colors
Portrait Records
10 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
1989 75%
A Night to Remember
Epic Records
12 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
1993 100%
Hat Full of Stars
Epic Records
12 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
1996 100%
Sisters of Avalon
Epic Records
12 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
1998 64%
Merry Christmas ... Have a Nice Life
Epic Records
11 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
2002 100%
Shine
Oglio Records / Epic Records
13 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
2003 0%
At Last
Daylight Records / Epic Records
13 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
2005 75%
The Body Acoustic
Daylight Records / Epic Records
12 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
2008 100%
Bring Ya to the Brink
Epic Records
12 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
2010 0%
Memphis Blues
Downtown Records
12 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper
2016 0%
Detour
Sire Records / Rhino Records
12 tracksProd. Cyndi Lauper

Frequently Asked Questions She's So Unusual

Did Cyndi Lauper write She's So Unusual herself?
Partly. Cyndi Lauper co-wrote four of the ten tracks, including "Time After Time" and "She Bop." Several of the biggest hits, such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "All Through the Night," are covers she reinterpreted.
Who wrote "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper?
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was written by Robert Hazard, who originally recorded it in 1979. Cyndi Lauper rewrote parts of it as a female-empowerment anthem and took it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Who wrote "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper?
"Time After Time" was written by Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman of the Hooters. It became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 and one of her most enduring songs.
Did Cyndi Lauper win a Grammy for She's So Unusual?
Yes. Cyndi Lauper won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985, and the album won Best Recording Package. It was also nominated for Album of the Year and Record of the Year.
How well did She's So Unusual by Cyndi Lauper sell?
She's So Unusual sold around 16 million copies worldwide and was certified 7x Platinum in the United States. It was a landmark debut and one of the defining pop albums of the 1980s.
What genre is She's So Unusual by Cyndi Lauper?
She's So Unusual is a pop rock and new wave album with art pop touches. It blends upbeat dance-pop singles with ballads and quirky, theatrical arrangements.

Sources

Wikipedia: She's So Unusual MusicBrainz: She's So Unusual release group (Cyndi Lauper) Cover Art Archive: She's So Unusual front cover Cover Art Archive: She's So Unusual by Cyndi Lauper