Shine (Cyndi Lauper album)

Shine
Studio album / Extended play 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 (2002) The Essential Cyndi Lauper (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 expands 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 to use the track for its theme song.^[4] She then subsequently used it as the theme song to her own reality show Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual.

Track listing

Demonstration Cassette (2001) (Contains Demo Versions)^[5]

1. "Higher Plane"
2. "Water's Edge"
3. "Rather Be with You"
4. "Wide Open"
5. "Comfort You"
6. "This Kind of Love"
7. "Higher Plane" (Eddie X Mix)

EP version (2002)

1. "Shine" (Edit) - 3:44
2. "It's Hard to Be Me" - 3:52
3. "Madonna Whore" - 3:38
4. "Water's Edge" - 5:22
5. "Shine" (Illicit Mix) - 4:33

Shine LP version (2004) track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Shine"	Cyndi Lauper William Wittman	4:33
2.	"It's Hard to Be Me"	Lauper Rob Hyman Wittman	3:52
3.	"Madonna Whore"	Lauper Wittman	3:38
4.	"Wide Open"	Lauper Jan Pulsford	3:48
5.	"Rather Be with You"	Lauper Doc Fleming Marcello Nines	3:24
6.	"Who Let in the Rain"	Lauper Alley Willis	4:32
7.	"Comfort You"	Lauper Pulsford	4:11
8.	"Eventually"	Lauper Ryuichi Sakamoto	5:28
9.	"Valentino"	Lauper, Pulsford	5:10
10.	"This Kind of Love"	Lauper Nines	3:53
11.	"Higher Plane" (Misspelled on CD as "Higher Place")	Lauper Pulsford	4:13
12.	"Water's Edge"	Lauper Hyman	5:22
13.	"I Miss My Baby"	Lauper Pulsford	3:22
Total length:			55:36

Chart performance

Chart (2004)	Peak position
Japanese Albums	120
US Top Independent Albums (Billboard)[6]	42

Release history

Country	Date	Format	Label	Catalog
United States	16 July 2002	CD (EP Version)	Oglio Records	OGL 82015-2[7]
Japan	21 April 2004	CD (Album Version)	Epic	EICP 358[8]

References

1. "Shine". Amazon.
2. "Shine Remix Ep". Amazon.
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.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
5. "Cyndi Lauper – Shine (2001, Cassette)". Discogs.
6. "Wonder, Bennett Guest On Lauper Set". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2014. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
7. "Cyndi Lauper – Shine (2002, CD)". Discogs.
8. "Cyndi Lauper – Shine (2004, CD)". Discogs.