On song’s 35th anniversary, Cyndi Lauper says ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ remains ‘a call to solidarity’
by WITW Staff –
Singer Cyndi Lauper has given an interview to mark the 35th anniversary of her hit song Girls Just Want to Have Fun on Thursday, which has been undergoing a sudden resurgence in popularity after women’s rights activists began carrying signs reading, “Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Rights,” at the Women’s March in 2017 and 2018. Speaking to Yahoo News, Lauper recalled reworking the song, which was originally recorded by a male singer, punk/new wave artist Robert Hazard, in order to transform it into a supremely danceable feminist anthem.
“The first time I heard it, I understood how I could sing from my point of view and make it a call to solidarity for women,” said Lauper. “The parts that were very masculine and didn’t pertain to what I wanted to say, I cut out … I really wanted every woman to hear that song and think about their power. That’s also why it was very important that I had women of all colors in that video, so that every little girl, wherever she was from, could see herself in that video.”
“When the women’s movement really started earlier in the ’60s and ’70s, I felt so empowered and it was thrilling to me,” she continued. “But in 1980s, it seemed that a lot of the hard work by people like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem was being forgotten, and women were once again accepting the status quo. We had gotten far — but not far enough — so I sang “Girls” for all the women around the world to remember our power.”
Decades later, Lauper said, she “never [gets] tired of singing that song live,” and that being able to see “three generations of women” start dancing together was a feeling that just couldn’t be beat. Speaking with Yahoo News, the singer also addressed questions of whether singers feel pressured to be “too sexy” in their music, explaining that in her opinion musicians should be free to express themselves freely, sexually or otherwise.
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