Shine (Cyndi Lauper album)

Shine
Studio album by Cyndi Lauper
Released	May 2002 (EP) May 3, 2004 (LP in Japan)[1]
Recorded	1999/2000
Genre	Pop rock dance-pop
Length	54:47
Label	Epic Oglio
Producer	Cyndi Lauper William Wittman
Cyndi Lauper chronology
Merry Christmas... Have a Nice Life (1998) Shine (2001) At Last (2003)
Singles from Shine
"Shine" Released: 2002

Shine is the eighth studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released exclusively in Japan in 2004.^[1] The album was ready for release in 2001 but Edel Records, 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 EPs were released instead: One was also called "Shine" and the other was called "Shine Remixes".^[2] The "Shine EP" has sold 41,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[3]

The album expounds on the sound Lauper developed with her 1997 album Sisters of Avalon. Mostly pop songs, it flirts with electronica and new wave while incorporating traditional instruments 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. In 2010, Lauper did allow the independently produced television pilot Hard to Be Me use the track for its theme song.^[4]

Track listing

EP version (2002)

1. "Shine"
2. "It's Hard to Be Me"
3. "Madonna Whore"
4. "Water's Edge"
5. "Shine" (Illicit Mix)

Remixes version (2003)

1. "Shine (Tracy Young Mix)"
2. "Shine (Tracy Young Instrumental)"
3. "Shine (Illicit Mix)"
4. "Shine (Illicit Instrumental)"
5. "Shine (Acapella)"
6. "Higher Plane (Bonus Track)"

LP version (2004)

1. "Shine" (Cyndi Lauper, William Wittman)
2. "It's Hard to Be Me" (Lauper, Rob Hyman, Wittman)
3. "Madonna Whore" (Lauper, Wittman)
4. "Wide Open" (Lauper, Jan Pulsford)
5. "Rather Be with You" (Lauper, Doc Fleming, Marcello Nines)
6. "Who Let in the Rain" (Lauper, Alley Willis)
7. "Comfort You" (Lauper, Pulsford)
8. "Eventually" (Lauper, Ryuichi Sakamoto)
9. "Waiting For Valentino" (Lauper, Pulsford)
10. "This Kind of Love" (Lauper, Nines)
11. "Higher Plane" (Lauper, Pulsford) (Misspelled on CD as "Higher Place")
12. "Water's Edge" (Lauper, Hyman)
13. "I Miss My Baby" (Lauper, Pulsford)

Chart performance

Chart (2004)	Peak position	Total weeks
Japanese Albums	120	?
Billboard Top Independent Albums	42[5]	?

References

1. http://www.amazon.com/Shine-Cyndi-Lauper/dp/B0001N1OI8
2. http://www.amazon.com/Shine-Remix-Ep-Cyndi-Lauper/dp/B002EPXJKW
3. Barth, Keith. "Ask Billboard | Billboard.com". billboard.com. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
4. "Filmmaker with Wausau roots brings TV pilot back to central Wisconsin". Wausau Daily Herald. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
5. "Wonder, Bennett Guest On Lauper Set". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2014. Retrieved 2013-10-07.