Cyndi Lauper's latest album 'Bring Ya To The Brink' has affirmed her position as a doyenne of change and innovation, but chatting to us late one Summer's night in New York she sounds contemplative... and a little sleepy.

Having just wrapped her second annual 'True Colours' tour in support of gay rights, she's still summing up in her head the significance of the event where she shared the stage with a host of talent including the B52s, Rosie O'Donnell, Joan Armatrading, Sarah McLachlan, Regina Spektor, Tegan and Sara, Carson Kressley and more.

"The whole thing was a trip. I'm still figuring out how I want to write about it and talk about the last few days that were so amazing. I had an extraordinary tour. You share experiences with other artists that is almost unfathomable. It was about bringing people together and empowering them and making them feel good about themselves. It was an amazing time. In Vancouver I had to stop the show and say 'Excuse me. Excuse Me. Do you realize what we're doing?' It was like 'Oh my God we are doing this together'.

I hope people feel empowered about it and they got the information they need to achieve what they needed in their life."

Inspired by her guests, she learned a lot too.

"I was inspired by their humour, by their sensitivity, by what they wrote about, by their energy. By Tegan's zest for her work and her life and the way she looked at things. Also just the passion for their own work is inspiring. I must say that it also changes your own perspective on yourself..."

One of these perspectives is what she saw looking back on the footage on YouTube:

"Unfortunately sometimes I'll look on YouTube and think 'oh my god! Why did I think that looked good?! Why did I wear that?!' So I can't really look at myself and live in the moment and let it go. Because you'll never be who you think you are in your mind. In your mind you're much taller (laughs) and your hair is long and flowing. You look completely different!"

One thing that has remained is her passion for her music and the fine-tuning to get her vision onto vinyl.

Hand-selecting her producers and collaborators on her new album 'Bring Ya To The Brink', she hired Basement Jaxx, Rich Morel, Kleerup, Peer Astrom, Scumfrog, acclaimed New Wave revivalists Dragonette, and underground U.K. remix-renegades Digital Dog to create 12 tracks which are set to propel her right back to the heart of the dancefloor.

"I had done two special projects 'At Last' and 'Body Acoustic' which were great to do but I wanted to get back to making my regular work again, and writing. When you produce your own work you have a certain mindset and sound. I wanted to create a sound together and so as I started thinking about the album being like a jukebox.

"I always love working in a community of artists - it's always a petrie dish. It doesn't always come out the way you like, but this one did. When I got back the first mix of 'High And Mighty' I was in tears because it was the kind of music I wanted to make. It was familiar yet modern.

"I tried not to make every vocal the same - I tried to find the character of the story teller. I especially loved in 'Raging Storm' to sing in octaves in one song and the low octave in the next song 'Lay Me Down' - it had intrigued me to bend over backwards to find these different characters.

It was tricky, it was like a big old puzzle but we got it together."

As always her narrative explores the position of women's liberation. Using photographer Stephanie Schneider for her album's artwork, she's shot a series of surrealist images of herself dressed up to do the household chores...

"I was taking pictures like that because at a certain time in history as women we were sold a bill of goods. It was the Stepford Wives time where very glamorous housewives were told to look after the whitegoods. It was a backlash against the women's movement. Now we're being sold the bill of goods again and here I am all dressed up in the laundry in a gown.

"But this woman in the picture is still holding onto her disco ball, her joy, she's still having a party wherever she goes and she's going to keep her joy no matter what. I thought using props like gnomes, and the disco ball and the broom were pretty funny."

It seems the girl just still wants to have fun.


'Bring Ya To The Brink' is now in stores.

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