Editing She's So Unusual (section)

== Critical reception ==
{{Music ratings
| rev1       = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score  = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="Erlewine">{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/shes-so-unusual-mw0000194590|title=''She's So Unusual'' – Cyndi Lauper|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=September 15, 2011}}</ref>
| rev2       = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
| rev2score  = A<ref name="Christgau">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|chapter=Cyndi Lauper: ''She's So Unusual''|chapter-url=https://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=913|access-date=August 11, 2013|title=Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s|title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s|publisher=[[Pantheon Books]]|year=1990|isbn=0-679-73015-X|page=242}}</ref>
| rev3       = ''[[Classic Pop (magazine)|Classic Pop]]''
| rev3score  = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="Earls">{{cite magazine|last=Earls|first=John|author-link=John Earls|title=Cyndi Lauper: ''She's So Unusual'' / ''True Colors''|magazine=[[Classic Pop (magazine)|Classic Pop]]|location=Bath|issue=66|date=November–December 2020|page=92}}</ref>
| rev4       = ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
| rev4score  = {{Rating|4|4}}<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hilburn|first1=Robert|author1-link=Robert Hilburn|last2=Hunt|first2=Dennis|last3=Cromelin|first3=Richard|last4=Feather|first4=Leonard|author4-link=Leonard Feather|last5=Atkinson|first5=Terry|last6=Johnson|first6=Connie|last7=Pond|first7=Steve|last8=Damsker|first8=Matt|last9=Grein|first9=Paul|last10=Waller|first10=Don|author10-link=Don Waller|last11=Willman|first11=Chris|last12=Gurza|first12=Agustin|last13=Matsumoto|first13=Jon|last14=Baker|first14=Chris|last15=Shapiro|first15=Marc|last16=Reeves|first16=Jim|url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/43037314/|title=Guiding the Uninitiated Through the Top 40|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=December 16, 1984|access-date=November 12, 2024}}</ref>
| rev5       = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev5score  = 8.0/10<ref name="Gordon">{{cite web|last=Gordon|first=Arielle|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/cyndi-lauper-shes-so-unusual/|title=Cyndi Lauper: ''She's So Unusual'' Album Review|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=June 2, 2024|access-date=June 2, 2024}}</ref>
| rev6       = ''[[Record Collector]]''
| rev6score  = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Staunton">{{cite magazine|last=Staunton|first=Terry|url=https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/shes-so-unusual|title=''She's So Unusual'' {{!}} Cyndi Lauper|magazine=[[Record Collector]]|location=London|issue=426|date=April 2014|access-date=November 29, 2021}}</ref>
| rev7       = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev7score  = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="Loder">{{cite magazine|last=Loder|first=Kurt|author-link=Kurt Loder|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/shes-so-unusual-101432/|title=''She's So Unusual''|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|date=January 19, 1984|access-date=November 29, 2021}}</ref>
| rev8       = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev8score  = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Paul|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-link=Christian Hoard|chapter=Cyndi Lauper|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/476 476]}}</ref>
| rev9       = ''[[Slant Magazine]]''
| rev9score  = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="Cinquemani">{{cite web|last=Cinquemani|first=Sal|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/cyndi-lauper-shes-so-unusual/|title=Review: Cyndi Lauper, ''She's So Unusual''|website=[[Slant Magazine]]|date=September 29, 2003|access-date=November 29, 2021}}</ref>
| rev10      = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
| rev10score = 9/10<ref>{{cite book|last=Bernstein|first=Jonathan|editor1-last=Weisbard|editor1-first=Eric|editor1-link=Eric Weisbard|editor2-last=Marks|editor2-first=Craig|chapter=Cyndi Lauper|title=Spin Alternative Record Guide|title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|year=1995|isbn=0-679-75574-8|pages=223–224}}</ref>
}}
In a contemporary review for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', [[Kurt Loder]] highlighted Lauper's "wild and wonderful skyrocket of a voice", which he felt recalled the "long-gone golden age" of "pre-[[The Beatles|Beatles]] [[girl group|girl-group]] pop", and lauded ''She's So Unusual'' as a progression from her work in Blue Angel: "Here, boosted by a powerful, synth-based band, Lauper turns away from nouveau trash and trains her talent on some really first-rate material."<ref name="Loder"/> [[Robert Christgau]] gave qualified praise in ''[[The Village Voice]]'', complimenting Lauper for covering "two of the sharpest pop songs of the past five years" in "Money Changes Everything" and "When You Were Mine", while finding her "[[Betty Boop]] voice" less effective over a full album;<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=https://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv11-83.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|date=November 29, 1983|access-date=November 12, 2024}}</ref> however, he would later pen a glowing reappraisal of the record, conceding that "if a kook who's loved, respected, and taken seriously by her sisters fools boys into believing she can be fooled with, more power to her."<ref name="Christgau"/> ''She's So Unusual'' was voted the eleventh-best album of the year in ''The Village Voice''{{'}}s annual [[Pazz & Jop]] critics' poll for 1984.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres84.php|title=The 1984 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|date=February 18, 1985|access-date=August 11, 2013}}</ref>

Retrospectively, [[AllMusic]] critic [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] deemed ''She's So Unusual'' "one of the great [[new wave music|new wave]]/early [[MTV]] records" and "a giddy mix of self-confidence, effervescent popcraft, unabashed sentimentality, subversiveness, and clever humor", concluding that "if Lauper couldn't maintain this level of consistency, it's because this captured her persona better than anyone could imagine".<ref name="Erlewine"/> ''[[Slant Magazine]]''{{'}}s Sal Cinquemani called it "a pop classic" with a "rare balance of camp and candor that set Lauper apart from her contemporaries and continues to retain her place in the pop pantheon."<ref name="Cinquemani"/> In ''[[Classic Pop (magazine)|Classic Pop]]'', [[John Earls]] praised the album as a testament to Lauper's "will, exuberance and vocal control" and versatility "across [[synth-pop]], [[rock music|rock]] and [[Sentimental ballad#Power ballads|power ballads]]",<ref name="Earls"/> while Terry Staunton wrote in ''[[Record Collector]]'' that Lauper's "cartoon-like kooky personality was underpinned by a formidable songwriting talent."<ref name="Staunton"/> Arielle Gordon of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' said that with ''She's So Unusual'', "Lauper shoehorned rebellion into the familiar, both musically and visually", helping to "usher in an [[electronic music|electronic]] era for popular rock" and envisioning "a world where women danced through New York in [[ruffle (sewing)|ruffle]] skirts and [[combat boot]]s, partied with a sense of purpose, and were just as powerful at their most vulnerable as their most ferocious."<ref name="Gordon"/>

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ Select rankings of ''She's So Unusual''
|-
! scope="col" | Publication
! scope="col" | List (1984)
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col"  class="unsortable"| {{abbr|Ref.|Reference}}
|-
! scope="row" | ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| [[Pazz & Jop|Pazz & Jop 1984: Dean's List]]
| {{center|11}}
| {{center|<ref name="PazzJop">{{cite web|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/deans84.php|title=Pazz & Jop 1984: Dean's List|publisher=Robert Christgau|date=1984|access-date=April 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020826043406/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/deans84.php|archive-date=August 26, 2002}}</ref>}}
|}