On this day in 1984, Cyndi Lauper‘s beloved power ballad “Time After Time” was dominated the Billboard Hot 100 for the second week in a row. The song, released as a single from her debut studio album, was her first No. 1 hit.
Lauper’s debut album, She’s So Unusual, came at a crucial moment in the singer’s life. She’d previously been a member of pop group Blue Angel, but their debut record was so unsuccessful that the band ultimately had to split up and Lauper ended up filing for bankruptcy.
She was given a second chance by Portrait Records to release a solo album, and it was an overnight success. She’s So Unusual shot to No. 4 on the Billboard 200, with four of the six lead singles breaking into the Top 10 on the Hot 100. The most notorious was “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, which peaked at No. 2 and transformed Lauper into an undeniable superstar overnight.
Lauper’s rise to fame was meteoric, and “Time After Time” was a huge reason for this. The song was actually recorded much later than the rest of the tracks on She’s So Unusual, and almost didn’t make it to the album at all.
“Time After Time” was written in collaboration with Rob Hyman, who inspired much of the song’s lyrics and provided backing vocals on the recording. Lauper reportedly took the title for the song from a television guide that mentioned the Malcolm McDowell film Time After Time, and Hyman developed the lyrics through his own personal experiences.
Lauper and Hyman were both instrumental in capturing the raw emotion of “Time After Time” by pouring their life stories into the lyrics. Both songwriters were going through romantic struggles, with Hyman recently leaving his partner and Lauper going through a period of conflict with her boyfriend and manager, David Wolff.
In her memoir, Lauper revealed that Hyman came up with the lyric “suitcase of memories” as one of the song’s earliest lines, which “struck her” and dictated much of the tone that “Time After Time” ended up embodying. Neither songwriter could have completed the song without the other, despite the fact that Lauper generally receives all the credit.
This story was originally published by Men’s Journal on Jun 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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