True Colors

Billy Steinberg first wrote the song about his own mother, and Tom Kelly changed the first verse. They offered it to Anne Murray, who passed, and then to Lauper. Their demo was a piano-based gospel ballad. Steinberg said Lauper "completely dismantled that sort of traditional arrangement and came up with something that was breathtaking and stark." Lauper and Lennie Petze produced it, with Peter Wood on keyboards, John McCurry on guitar, Neil Jason on bass and Jimmy Bralower on programming and percussion. In various interviews, Lauper has said that the song resonated with her because of the recent death of her friend Gregory Natal, from HIV/AIDS.

Released in August 1986 as the first single from True Colors, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 25 October 1986 and stayed for two weeks. It reached number 12 in Britain and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Patricia Birch directed the video. Lauper performed it at the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act on 13 December 2022 and opened her Rock Hall performance with it in 2025. Chappell Roan said she auditioned with it at 13 for America's Got Talent. Phil Collins covered it in 1998, Kasey Chambers' version was the 2003 Rugby World Cup theme in Australia, and Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick sang it for Trolls in 2016.