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''True Colors'' is the second studio album by American pop singer
Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...
, released on September 15, 1986, by
Portrait Records Portrait Records was a sister record label, label of Epic Records and later of Columbia Records. Notable artists Cyndi Lauper and Sade (band), Sade signed with Portrait, but their contracts were absorbed by Epic after that incarnation of the lab ...
. The album spawned several commercially successful singles as " True Colors", " Change of Heart", and " What's Going On" reached the top 20 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, with the first two charting within the top five. The album was produced by Lauper herself together with Lennie Petze. Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album earned Lauper several awards and accolades, including two nominations at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. ''True Colors'' peaked at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. The album is Lauper's second best-selling release with around seven million copies worldwide.


Background and production

By the end of 1985, Lauper was established as one of the best-selling artists in the world. Her first studio album ''
She's So Unusual ''She's So Unusual'' is the first solo album by American pop singer Cyndi Lauper, released on October 13, 1983, by Portrait Records. It stands out for its commercial success, achieving four top-five singles—a pioneering achievement for a fema ...
'' (1983) was certified four times platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) and received a diamond certification in Canada for sales in excess of one million copies, making her the first singer to achieve such a feat at that time. According to ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' magazine, the music industry was eyeing Lauper's next steps anxious to know if she could maintain the success of her debut. In her autobiography ''A Memoir'' (2012), Lauper said that she had initially planned for Rick Chertoff, who had produced ''She's So Unusual'', to produce what would become her second studio album; however, the experience with him was problematic and she changed her mind, and she likewise refused to produce the album with
Rob Hyman Robert Andrew Hyman (born April 24, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player, producer, and arranger, best known for being a founding member of the rock band the Hooters. Early life Hyman started taking piano lesso ...
since he was affiliated with Chertoff. ''True Colors'' was then produced by her and Lennie Petze, with Lauper also composing most of the songs on the album. "The second album says, 'Have the courage of your convictions and love yourself a little'," Lauper told ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' in 1986, adding that she wanted its songs "to say, 'Love yourself', because we really are taught not to. When babies are born, they're just nuts about everything about themselves. Then, as we get older, we're taught that, oooh, that's disgusting, and that if we like ourselves then that's considered conceit. That's part of the album, too—not to be so hard on yourself." The
title song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
, written by
Billy Steinberg William Endfield Steinberg (born February 26, 1950) is an American songwriter. He achieved his greatest success in the 1980s with songwriting partner Tom Kelly (musician), Tom Kelly; together they wrote or co-wrote the No. 1 hits "Like a Virgin ...
and Tom Kelly, has been covered by many other artists, and was used as the theme song for the
1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...
, the
2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...
and for
Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
cameras and film. In 2010, the song was also featured on the soundtrack of ''
Sex and the City 2 ''Sex and the City 2'' is a 2010 American romantic comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Michael Patrick King. It is the sequel to the 2008 film ''Sex and the City','' which was based on the 1998–2004 HBO television series of ...
''. ''True Colors'' was reissued in a Japanese exclusive limited edition box set 11-track digitally remastered CD album.


Critical reception

''True Colors'' received favorable reviews from
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
. In the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', Lynn Van Matre praised it as a "winning effort" with "plenty of fun", while Ian Cranna singled out Lauper's "outstanding, marvellous voice" for praise in '' Q'', stating that "she breathes life into the songs, and slowly but surely the strengths of this LP begin to reveal themselves through the unorthodox structures and treatments." Jimmy Guterman from ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' wrote that Lauper "sounds more comfortable at any given moment on ''True Colors'' than she did on all of ''She's So Unusual''", and that the album "seems to indicate her extreme ease in her new surroundings". Noting that "she's found a new sense of peace—or at least she's heading in that direction", Guterman also opined, however, that "her uneasiness gave her early work much of its spark; what places ''True Colors'' a notch below her debut is that Cyndi Lauper just isn't that unusual anymore." ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
''s
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
was less impressed, commenting that the first side of the LP consists of "cheap sentiment" and is "disheartening" and that "the second isn't much more than a relief", before concluding, "girls just want to have money—and no fun changes everything." In a retrospective assessment for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
,
Eugene Chadbourne Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic. Life and career Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar wh ...
wrote that while ''True Colors'' is "ambitious" and "some of the stretches really pay off", some of its aspects "date badly", like the "highly reverberated and artificial sounding drums and keyboards" which "were really popular at the time". He concluded that despite those problems "there really wasn't that much music recorded by this artist during her most popular period, so fans will no doubt want to own it all." Writing for ''
Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...
'',
John Earls John Earls (born 25 August 1972) is an English music and sports journalist. He has been a regular contributor to music magazines such as the ''NME'', ''Record Collector'', ''Classic Pop'', and ''Planet Sound'', which he edited from 2001 until its ...
said that although the album's "unusually subdued" cover songs "suggested severe writers' block", the remaining tracks "had no such worries, whether in the peerless title track or the
doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...
delight in ' Change of Heart'." The pan-European magazine ''
Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...
'' named ''True Colors'' one of its "albums of the week" in the issue dated October 4, 1986. The magazine felt the album "boasted several hit singles", noting the album began "confidently" with "Change of Heart", had a "striking" cover of
Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...
's " What's Going On", with "good build up and atmosphere", and showcased "terrific vocal form" on the song " Boy Blue".


Commercial performance

In the United States, ''True Colors'' has been certified double platinum by the RIAA and peaked at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200. It topped the Australian chart for four weeks and, in Japan, outsold ''
She's So Unusual ''She's So Unusual'' is the first solo album by American pop singer Cyndi Lauper, released on October 13, 1983, by Portrait Records. It stands out for its commercial success, achieving four top-five singles—a pioneering achievement for a fema ...
'', although that was not the case in most countries. The album produced the singles "True Colors" (No. 1 ''Billboard'' Hot 100), "Change of Heart" (No. 3), "What's Going On" (No. 12), and "Boy Blue" (No. 71). Each single had a
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
although the video for "Boy Blue" was just a live performance from her Le Zénith concert in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France. According to Lauper's official website, the album was certified 4× Platinum in Australia and Platinum in Italy. The album sold around 7 million copies worldwide.


Track listing


Personnel

Musicians * Cyndi Lauper – lead vocals; arrangements; backing vocals (4, 6, 7, 10); jam box (7); Emulator voice (10) *
Jeff Bova Jeff Bova (born Jeffrey Bova in 1953) is an American musician. He has been active in the music industry since the mid-1970s, contributing to recordings by significant mainstream artists like Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Blondie, Eric Clapton, ...
– keyboards (1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10); arrangements (1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10) * Peter Wood – keyboards (2, 4, 5, 6); arrangements (2, 4, 6, 9); additional keyboards (3); synthesizer bass (7) * Jon Goldberger – sound effects (7) *
Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...
– guitars (1) *
John McCurry John McCurry (born June 24, 1957) is an American musician, songwriter and composer based in New York City. He has worked with many well-known musical artists, including Chicago, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, John Waite, B ...
– guitars (2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10) *
Rick Derringer Richard Dean Zehringer (August 5, 1947 – May 26, 2025), known professionally as Rick Derringer, was an American musician, producer and songwriter. He gained success in the 1960s with his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, " Hang On Sloopy", ...
– guitars (5, 8) *
Adrian Belew Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual approach to the instrument, his ...
– guitars (6); arrangements (6) * Robert Holmes – guitars (6) * Neil Jason – bass guitar (2, 4, 6, 9) * Jimmy Bralower –
LinnDrum The LinnDrum, often erroneously referred to as the LM-2, is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics between 1982 and 1985. About 5,000 units were sold. Development The LinnDrum was designed by the American engineer Roger Linn. It was ...
programming; arrangements (1, 2, 5, 7–10); percussion (4, 7); jam box (4, 10) * Anton Fig – drums (2, 6) * Stephen Broughton Lunt – arrangements (3) * Lennie Petze – arrangements (3, 5, 6, 7, 10); percussion (7); backing vocals (10) *
The Bangles The Bangles are an American all-female band, all-female pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, in 1981. They are known for hit singles during the 1980s that made them one of the most successful pop rock groups of the decade. The band’s biggest ...
– backing vocals (1) *
Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...
– backing vocals (2) * Angela Clemmons-Patrick – backing vocals (4, 5) *
Ellie Greenwich Eleanor Louise Greenwich (October 23, 1940 – August 26, 2009) was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Da Doo Ron Ron", " Be My Baby", " Maybe I Know", " Then He Kissed Me", " Do Wah Diddy Did ...
– backing vocals (5) *
Aimee Mann Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released ten studio albums as a solo artist. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyrics about dark subjects, often d ...
– backing vocals (8) * Pee-wee Herman (
Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; ; August 27, 1952 – July 30, 2023) was an American actor and comedian, widely known for creating and portraying the character Pee-wee Herman. Born in Peekskill, New York and raised in both Oneonta, New York and Sarasota, Flo ...
) – guest operator (9) Production * Cyndi Lauper – producer; art direction * Lennie Petze – producer * David Wolff – executive producer * Brian McGee – engineer; mixing * Jon Goldberger – assistant engineer * Tim Kramer – assistant engineer * Dave O'Donnell – assistant engineer * Jason Corsaro – additional mixing *
George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...
– mastering at Sterling Sound (New York, NY). * Jude Wilder – product manager * Holland Macdonald – art direction; design *
Annie Leibovitz Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American Portrait photography, portrait photographer best known for her portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid ...
– cover photography * Bruce Ando – inner sleeve photography * Patrick Lucas – hair stylist; make-up * Ralph Scibelli – hair colorist * Laura Wills – stylist


Accolades

, - , rowspan="4" , 1987 , " True Colors" ,
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...
, , - , "911" , Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance , , - , " True Colors" ,
MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video is one of the original general awards that has been handed out every year since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, however, the award was briefly renamed Female Artist of th ...
, , - , " What's Going On" , MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography ,


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:True Colors (Cyndi Lauper Album) 1986 albums Albums recorded at Power Station Cyndi Lauper albums Portrait Records albums