To this day, I had never seen a image of Cyndi Lauper. Now I don't think I will be able to forget what she looks like. Her half shaven, red head doesn't seem to match those pale, pillow cheeks that scream innocence. 1984 must of been a pretty crazy time.

 

     Cyndi Lauper represents every teenager trying to find themselves in her song, Time after Time. The song is a timeless classic because no matter what generation, people are constantly trying to discover who they are. Even when trying to achieve self-discovery, Lauper points out that there is usually one person that you can always go back to.

 

      The video starts out with Lauper in a secluded trailer with her boyfriend. Sounds scandalous, right? However, she still captures the face of innocence, as she mouths the words to a romance movie while holding her stuffed dog. Every teenager can relate to the fact of trying to rebel by dying their hair or getting a tattoo but they still obtain childhood characteristics. Whether this be sleeping with a favorite stuffed animal or eating your mom's homemade soup. Then Lauper flashes back to the moments where rebelling against her parents seemed to be so exciting. It is the typical scenario of dating the bad boy that you know your parents would hate.

 

     As time goes on, it is only natural for people to want to change. Lauper decides to do this by dying her beautiful blonde hair to a stingy red and shaving half her head. Her new beau doesn't approve as he starts yelling at her for the change of appearance. Running out of the diner, she imagines her mother and wishes she could be with her. No matter what a child does, their parents will usually welcome them back with open arms. As the desire for something new becomes stronger as well as the need for someone familiar, Lauper decides to leave the trailer for a new life. Her boyfriend agrees to go with her on this journey but before they leave she wants to visit her mother one last time. A quick hug goodbye still creates butterflies in the stomach of anyone who has had to leave home for a long period of time.

 

       Sometimes change has to be done alone though. One person may be ready for the next chapter while another is still enjoying the previous one. Lauper's boyfriend can't go with her on this new journey because it's not right for him. She understand this as she tells him, "if you're lost, you can look and you will find me, time after time." Stepping on the train, Lauper is saying goodbye to the past yet not forgetting those she left behind. When a person goes off to college for the first time, they are excited for a new beginning but sad to see the people that got left behind.

 

     Lauper's title, Time After Time is perfect because change happens over and over again yet, we as humans adapt to the struggles and successes of these changes. Almost 30 years later, there is probably some teenager out there dying their hair a awful tone of red but life goes on.