I wanna be the one to walk in the sun

We love Cyndi Lauper. Who doesn't!? She's entirely harmless yet not the bland inoffensive kind either. She's witty, she's constantly stoned and she's one of the biggest gay rights activists in showbusiness right now. We're sure she herself loves GaGa but we would love to sit all the little queens who bang on and on about how GaGa is the saviour of gay rights and has suddenly made it okay for all gays to go to school and not get the shit kicked out of them in a room with a documentary on Cyndi Lauper and the work she's done. The True Colors Tour was single-handedly organised by this woman and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for LGBT charities in the US, not to mention taking Scissor Sisters, Gossip, Tegan & Sara, Margaret Cho, Regina Spektor, Joan Armatrading, Sarah McLachlan, Rosie O'Donnell and Wanda Sykes with her, to mention just a few. Born this way? Fuck off. And not once has she tried to re-appropriate the struggles of gay people for herself - she's fully aware of her position as a privileged white woman and not once has she pretended she's an outcast, a reject of society. Because she doesn't need to be, she's not a fraud. Anyway this rant is for another time.

Back to Cyndi Lauper herself. God love the woman, she's playing theatres for £35 a ticket and she still puts on a cracker. A tiny little ball of energy, constantly running around the stage and throwing fierce shapes. The album the tour was in support of is, straight off, not our thing; an addition to the clichéd canon of well established artists doing an album of jazz or in Cyndi's case, blues, standards, which is a shame because her previous album was 'right up our street', the alternative Confessions (again the concept of Cyndi being a parallel universe Madonna is for another time and thesis).

The setlist, naturally, was formed in bulk by the tracklist of the album, which was fine. The music is jovial and rousing, and the crowd were lapping it up. The atmosphere was fantastic. But of course everyone was waiting it out for the final Holy Trinity of Cyndi songs - "Girls", "True Colors" and "Time After Time". She must hate these songs so much but then what should she expect? Three of the most iconic songs of the decade from whence they hailed, they're bound to be the most desired. "Girls" had everyone on their seats and suddenly the room was a giant hen party - a lump grew in our throat at the line "Some boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world / I wanna be the one to walk in the sun" - not because we can personally relate to it but just because there's something about it... it soars. But "Time After Time" had to be the highlight of all, the bittersweet lyrics being amplified to perfection by the auto harp Cyndi strummed alone on stage after her entire band had left. As mentioned earlier, the lyrics of "True Colors" seemed to take on an enormous new relevance in light of recent events. To say we left on a high wouldn't do justice.

And isn't that how anyone wants to feel leaving a concert? It's a testament to Cyndi's skills as a performer and an entertainer that despite the bulk of her material not being our cup of tea, we left with more than a skip in our step. A woman of her legacy and stature yet comfortable enough around her fans to jump into the audience, kick one of them out of their seat and use it as a satellite stage? Marvellous woman.

The Memphis Blues Tour at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

1. "Just Your Fool"

2. "Shattered Dreams"

3. "She Bop"

4. "How Blue Can You Get?"

5. "Early in the Mornin'"

6. "All Through the Night"

7. "Lead Me On"

8. "Crossroads"

9. "Down Don't Bother Me"

10. "Don't Cry No More"

11. "What's Going On"

12. "Lyfe"

13. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

14. "Heading West"

15. "I'm Gonna Be Strong"

15. "Time After Time"

16. "True Colors"

Stuck In Our Head: "Rocking Chair" - Cyndi Lauper

The other day we booked tickets to see Cyndi Lauper in June. This is very exciting news, as we have always been fond of La Laupz. We're Madonna stans thru 'n' thru but we've never used this as an excuse to not like Cynds. Maybe it's because their rivalry is very much stuck in the Eighties, and for a whole host of reasons it pretty much ended post-True Blue when one lady's star shone a whole lot stronger than the others (sad face) and there was no point in gleefully keeping up the pretence that they were equals. Babes, if you're reading, this is in no way a backhanded insult to you! We love you! We just bought tickets to see you, and are writing this post about you! But yeah...

Cyndi Lauper is cracking. Every single music fan on the planet knows her holy trinity of adult contemporary classics; "Time After Time", "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "True Colors". We would use the word timeless, but in actual fact they are very much rooted in and synonymous with the Eighties - not that in any imaginable way this is an insult. Unfortunately, while she has industriously been producing new music ever since, nothing has really come anywhere near as a close as those three to entering the public consciousness. Possibly her strongest effort yet, however, was 2008's Bring Ya to the Brink. Nearly every track on the album is produced by a different dance outfit, and more importantly only the very coolest people were chosen. It would be an honour to be approached by Cyndi, but on the other hand, it is still a testament to her reputation that these very trendy, up-and-coming producers enthusiastically gave her some excellent songs.

"Into the Nightlife" is a soaring, lung-expanding, breath of fresh air which we've had on repeat since we locked onto the album, however it's follow-up "Rocking Chair" is the one that's been stuck in our head. Possibly more so a Basement Jaxx song than a Cyndi one, it reeks of its producers, their signature marks being splashed all over the track like one splashing a substance all over someone else. The samba-like rap/chant in the bridge, the fast-paced Euro dance with more than a hint of island flavour, it's Basement Jaxx at their best with Cyndi's scratchy, tested vocals carrying it all. It's amazing, and we know you'll agree.

Stuck In Our Head: "I Drove All Night" - Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper released her third album, A Night To Remember, in 1989, the same year that Madonna sealed her success and made her legacy a sure thing with her 4th record, Like a Prayer. Despite being Cyndi's highest charting album in the UK, it peaked at 37 in America and spelt the beginning of the end for her as a mainstream pop superstar. Listening to the album now, it sounds like an album of lost 80s hits, a cohesive and tirelessly melodic work that should've been more successful than it was. But when you take into account the fact that it was released right at the end of the 80s when the bouncy, upbeat cheesepop that had previously sold like scorching gateaux was rapidly going out of style and a new, darker, more rock-influenced sound was becoming popular, you can understand how it might have sounded unfresh.

"I Drove All Night" was the first single from it, and stands as her last big smash hit, going top ten in America and the UK. Unfortunately it's now better known as a Celine Dion or Roy Orbison song, but Cyndi's is by far our favourite. Over a restless synthesized cello riff Lauper purrs "I had to escape: the city was sticky and cruel". The song is essentially about a booty call, and the long, dull journey that precedes it, but Cyndi makes it sound as sensual and yearning as anything. It's a great song to wail along to, even if it, rather depressingly, represents the end of an era of success for an icon.

'Tbh', Cynders, we'd rather you did another discopop album than a blues cover one, but we'll take what we can get cuz beggars can't be choosers...

There's not enough gay in this picture. It needs more gay...

All joking aside: it's for a very good cause.

Shiny & New Gives Back

A-
MAY-
ZING!
These hot muthas up above are what's officially known in the industry as amazing (well Katy Perry's got some work to do, but she's on her way) and they have all designed tshirts for H&M's Fashion Against AIDS campaign. We fully encourage you to get involved etc. There's also a video here for you to clap eyes upon, although as Me Me Me points out, Robyn's a bit hazy on one salient HIV point, just 'knowing' someone doesn't mean you can go condom free (unless both you and your partner have been tested and turned up negative and you 100% trust them...) but anyway... it's a worthy cause and we encourage you to get a tshirt.

As an afterthought: this is one of the few charity/sleb/fashion campaigns featuring people we almost unanimously like and respect (like we said... Katy Perry has to work for our full affection).

This Is Your Career (In Artwork): Pop Divas

We thought we'd try a new thing where we look at artists' careers through their album artwork. That's about it. It's a simple concept and we're going to dive right in. First we're going to look at Female Pop Divas (male ones are a whole different story) and we've chosen 5 of the biggest in terms of worldwide success and/or Icon Factor (a made-up factor that we made up).

To start with we're going to look at Mariah. Notice the muted pallet, the abundance of sepia and noire. The close ups. The soft focus. The pink. The sparkles. THE HAIR. Mariah has never been our cup of tea, and none of the writers for Shiny & New particularly like her, despite soft spots for certain songs of hers. We havent got much more to say about this other than that it reflects her melodramatic, yet essentially boring music. None of these album covers are particulary iconic... I mean, they're memorable or recognisable but not ICONIC. On top of that, most of them aren't actually that aesthetically pleasing, either.

Next we move on to the underdog of global female pop icons. Despite having had briefly HUGE success in the 80s, her continued success has been sputtering and sporadic. In terms of how iconic these covers are, well... they're NOT that iconic. If you asked most people of the street, or even most music fans, they'd struggle to remember what Cyndi's album covers look like. Nevertheless there's some beautiful photography, and the offbeat, colourful designs reflect her music and style as Madonna's twisted little sister brilliantly.

Which brings us to Koylie Minoigue (the Austroilian pronunciation). Kylie is the poor man's Madonna, and despite being massively famous worldwide, still isn't all that big in America. Despite finding Kylie weak, boring, emotionless, flaccid and puppet-like we have a MASSIVE penchant for her music, much of which is really brillo pads pop and electro. The typography on the album covers is ANYTHING but unique (has she ever stuck to ONE logo?) and some of the earlier coverart is EXECRABLE at best, but the bland but stylish images sort of capture the essence of Kylie, don't they?

Our next study is Janet Jackson, a deeply mysterious woman, who throughout her career has managed to flit her way between deeply brilliant and meaningful pop and soul, and completely forgettable tripe. Her album artwork sort of reflects this. There's not much consistency, but strangely they sit quite nicely next to eachother. It's quite odd to connect the artist who is sexily and broadly smiling like a catalogue model in some shots, with the more troubled looking lady inhabiting the more iconic shots (from Rhythm Nation, Control and The Velvet Rope). In terms of how Iconic these cover squares are... these are probably the most iconic yet. But that's because we haven't covered....

Madonna. The Queen of Queens. She needs no introduction. Her album artwork speaks for itself. Every single one of these album covers is Iconic, and not just because she's the most famous person on the planet. They are all brilliant album covers. The only consistency is that they're consistently brilliant and each one perfectly represents what the music on the album sounds like. One of our writers might complain that she doesn't stick with one logo, but when the rest of the design is this good, you really CANNOT complain.

Long Live The Queen!!!

AWWWWWWWWW BLESS

This, a new video from Cyndi Lauper, Queen of all Faglovers (she actually genuinely likes them and organises gay pride/rights events and EVERYTHING) is not going to change your life or the landscape of pop. But it might put a smile on your face and that's all anyone can really ask for in these times of economic collapse, isn't it?