Cyndi Lauper has no regrets about working with Nicki Minaj, even as the artists’ differing political positions have brought their 2024 collaboration back into the conversation. The pop icon said she doesn’t subscribe to “cancel culture” when The Guardian asked whether she regretted signing off on Minaj’s use of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
“No,” Lauper said. “First of all, I don’t believe in cancellation.” The singer added that Minaj’s reworking of the song carried its own message: “Girls just want to have fun. They’re entitled to a joyful experience in this world.”
For Lauper, that idea remained central to the track’s meaning, regardless of the political divide around it.
Lauper, a longtime Democratic supporter, approved the sample for Minaj’s “Pink Friday Girls,” which appeared on Minaj’s 2023 album Pink Friday 2. The song reworks Lauper’s 1983 classic, a pop anthem long associated with independence, celebration, and women claiming space on their own terms.
Minaj’s support for Donald Trump has drawn attention to the pairing, but Lauper said political disagreement does not require cutting off conversation.
The collaboration moved from the studio to the stage on May 1, 2024, when Lauper made a surprise appearance during Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 World Tour stop at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The two performed “Pink Friday Girls” together for the first time, then shared an a cappella moment on Lauper’s “True Colors.”
Lauper acknowledged she isn’t closely following Minaj’s current moves, but said exclusion isn’t the answer. “I don’t know what she’s doing now,” she told The Guardian. “But I still don’t think you cancel people, because otherwise there’s no room for discussion.”
The singer has also recently criticized the corporate pressure placed on artists and creative work. Speaking with Billboard, Lauper said music executives can damage the very work they are trying to monetize by chasing repeatable blockbuster results.
“You’re not making a car,” she said, referencing the expectations that followed Michael Jackson’s Thriller. “It happened; it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen every year.”
