Epic
Pop, 2008

Bring Ya to the Brink is an album of brand new tracks. How long has it been since Cyndi Lauper released anything that isn’t a compilation of her greatest hits or some boring mellow updates of her old hits? This one sees Ms Lauper making up for lost time like nobody’s business.

The tracks here boasts heavier electronica beats and studio fizzy effects since she has collaborated with DJs and dance producers like Basement Jaxx and Dragonette. But while these songs are perfect to get high to while you are dancing away, doped to your gills, in some club, they all have that recognizable distinctive vocals and eccentric but catchy hooks that have characterized Ms Lauper’s music.

In the fabulous Into the Nightlife, Ms Lauper cheerfully offers to “take ya till ya all spun up”. And it’s a fabulous hypnotic song, combining the kitschy dance grooves of disco with the more sophisticated trance beats. In Grab a Hold, it’s vintage Ms Lauper all over again, oozing carefree fun and defiant bravado that tries to mask a hint of vulnerability in her voice, as she launches into a rousing chorus that is begging me to sing along. Rain on Me is another fabulous song, with a magnificent chorus and brooding melancholy backed by a beat that comes together to create a haunting threnody effect.

But it’s not just tumultuous mood. It’s all about becoming unhinged and dance away the night in songs like Same Old Story, Rocking Chair, and Raging Storm. It is as if that Ms Lauper that drove all night time after time had never left, although she has clearly mellowed and discovered electronica in this album.

In other words, Bring Ya to the Brink is to Cyndi Lauper what Ray of Light was to Madonna. It’s simply fabulous.