# Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours 40 Years In

**Featured** — On Your Markus  
**Published:** 19 April 2026  
**Author:** Markus Hamence  
**Source:** https://onyourmarkus.au/cyndi-laupers-true-colours-40-years-in/

There are albums that define an era, and then there are albums that quietly reshape how we feel about ourselves. True Colours by Cyndi Lauper sits firmly in the second category – forty years on, it still feels like a conversation you didn’t realise you needed. Released in September 1986, the follow-up to her explosive…

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There are albums that define an era, and then there are albums that quietly reshape how we feel about ourselves. *True Colours* by Cyndi Lauper sits firmly in the second category – forty years on, it still feels like a conversation you didn’t realise you needed.

![Woman with blonde hair and floral hair clips, wearing red lipstick and dangly earrings, gazes sideways.](https://media.onyourmarkus.au/originals/41044/p07zc961.jpg)

![Performer in bright yellow hair and studded black outfit holds microphone mid-performance on stage.](https://media.onyourmarkus.au/originals/41045/cyndi-lauper-true-colors-062023-c14b892095e74e3eb78c55ce904b13e7.jpg)

Released in September 1986, the follow-up to her explosive debut didn’t chase the same wild-pop chaos. Instead, Lauper leaned into something more intimate, more deliberate, and, in many ways, more enduring. The title track, *True Colours*, isn’t just a song – it’s a cultural imprint. Stripped back, emotionally raw, and impossibly sincere, it became an anthem long before that word was thrown around so freely. It holds space. It listens. And even now, it lands with that same quiet power.

But this album isn’t a one-note emotional ride. There’s a slick, slightly darker edge running through tracks like *Change of Heart* and *Boy Blue*, where Lauper experiments with rhythm and attitude, giving the record a pulse that keeps it from drifting too far into ballad territory. *What’s Going On*, her take on the Marvin Gaye classic, is bold – reimagined through her lens, it feels urgent, personal, and surprisingly modern.

What makes *True Colours* resonate four decades later is its refusal to perform. There’s no overproduction masking emotion, no trend-chasing gloss. It’s honest, sometimes messy, sometimes restrained, but always unmistakably her. Lauper wasn’t trying to be louder than the 80s – she was carving out her own frequency within it.

Forty years on, the album feels less like a relic and more like a mirror. Its themes – identity, vulnerability, resilience – haven’t aged, because they were never tied to a moment. They were tied to being human. And that’s why *True Colours* doesn’t just survive the decades… it quietly outlives them.

In many ways she has been underestimated as an artist by the main-stream aside from her big hits. But, she’s still serving her true colours regardless. And, us fans, well, we just love her for it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

![Woman in straw hat and red lipstick posed against a harbour filled with moored boats.](https://media.onyourmarkus.au/originals/41048/cyndi-lauper-1986-billboard-1548.webp)

![Woman's face in warm sepia tones with chain and decorative elements on album cover for "True Colours".](https://media.onyourmarkus.au/originals/41041/0x1900-000000-80-0-0.jpg)

**Track List:**

Change of Heart   
Maybe He’ll Know   
Boy Blue   
True Colours   
Calm Inside The Storm   
What’s Going On (originally by Marvin Gaye)   
Iko Iko   
The Faraway Nearby   
911   
One Track Mind

**[Follow Cyndi on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/cyndilauper)**

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/embed/LPn0KFlbqX8)

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/embed/BdXklYUJCxI)

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/embed/svHeFdSvPL0)

![Black and white portrait of a person's face with colourful abstract graphics and text overlay featuring musical artist branding.](https://media.onyourmarkus.au/originals/41043/66281ea9357bf9bed0c2870d328369ef.1000x1000x1.jpg)

![Person with voluminous reddish-blonde hair wearing a gold sequined top against a vintage-styled background with "Change of Heart" text.](https://media.onyourmarkus.au/originals/41047/image_b7aefc73-dec8-4c90-b754-73b7335fd87f_1024x1024@2x.webp)

![Person with voluminous blonde hair, bold red lipstick, and blue eyeshadow against a warm yellow background.](https://media.onyourmarkus.au/originals/41046/1986.jpg)