Date: Oct 25, 1986
Weeks: 2
I'm torn on this song. I love Cyndi Lauper's voice here, but there are some bad choices in the backing music that undermine the emotional impact of her voice.
Cyndi Lauper's voice has a particular quality to it that is just appealing. It's when she hits the top of her energy and really lets loose, as she does in the chorus here, that I enjoy her the most. And she builds it up as the song goes along, so that the last chorus is way bigger than the first chorus was. More songs needs that kind of buildup and release. I think any song would be improved by making sure the last chorus is bigger than the first chorus. Or possibly doing the opposite if there's a particular artistic reason for it. At any rate, I think this is probably the finest vocal performance of a singer with a uniquely appealing style.
The music has a lot of problems, though. The 80s are doing their best to undermine a good song here. Almost all the music is done on weak, sad synthesizers. The artificiality sucks a lot of the genuine emotion out of it. The bongo drums probably seemed like a good choice for light percussion, but they actually wind up sort of overwhelming the weak synthesizers during the verse. The bongos work better in the chorus when Lauper's voice can outpower them. I don't understand the choice to end the song by repeating the bongo beat from the beginning. Are they trying to suggest the song is going to start over again? It's a weak choice for an ending. At best, I can infer from the video that the artificial surreality of the song is intentional, but I'm just not sure it works to make the song as low-key and subtle as was intended.
The lyrics are excellent. There are lots of songs that send a message to be comfortable with who you are, no matter how much you feel like you don't fit in, but this one is a bit unique. The singer of this song is declaring that they love you for who you are, not who you pretend to be. Even if you still feel the need to pretend, it's okay, the singer just wants you to know that they love you either way. It's a really good message for anyone who has ever felt like a misfit, and it's a great song to dedicate to a friend who is having a hard time.
My verdict: Like it. The music still isn't very good, but the song is more about the vocal performance and the lyrics. It's possible to find some good live performances that replace the 80s synthesizers with more acoustic instruments, and you can see the true strength of the song.
"It's possible to find some good live performances that replace the 80s synthesizers with more acoustic instruments, and you can see the true strength of the song."
ReplyDeleteThe true colors of the song, even? ;)
I actually remember this song better from the Kodak ad back around the time the song came out. I do like it a lot.