Shine (Cyndi Lauper album) - Definition and Overview

Shine was a 2004 album released exclusively in Japan by singer Cyndi Lauper. The album was ready for release in 2001 but Edel Records America, the label it was recorded with, folded. The leaked tracks from a demonstration disc quickly circulated on the Internet and by 2002 Lauper realized there was no point in trying to release it in a widespread fashion. Two E.P.s were released instead: One was also called "Shine" and the other was called "Shine Remixes".

The album expounds on the sound Lauper developed with her 1996 album Sisters of Avalon. Mostly pop songs, it flirts with electronica while incorporating old-fashioned intruments like sitars and fiddles. The songs are not lyrically linked, and explore themes ranging from the Madonna/Whore Complex to celebrity life. The track "It's Hard to be Me" was penned about Anna Nicole Smith; Smith attempted to buy it as the theme song to her reality show, but Lauper declined.

Track listing

1. "Shine"
2. "It's Hard to be Me"
3. "Madonna Whore"
4. "Wide Open"
5. "Rather be With You"
6. "Who Let in the Rain"
7. "Comfort You"
8. "Eventually"
9. "Valentino" (aka "Waiting For Valentino")
10. "This Kind of Love"
11. "Higher Plane"
12. "Water's Edge"
13. "I Miss My Baby"