Chappell Roan said she was “honored” to play a part in inducting Cyndi Lauper into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, calling the pop legend “really fucking awesome and so bold and badass and absolutely walks the walk.”
In an Instagram post featuring several photos from this weekend’s induction ceremony, Roan said of Lauper, “She has played an instrumental role in my artistry, fashion, glam, voice, movement, all of it. I shed several tears… I look up to her so very much.”
Roan then recalled singing Lauper’s 1986 hit, “True Colors,” at a talent show when she was 14. “I ended up winning first place for the first time,” she wrote. “It was the first moment I thought maybe singing could be a thing for me. Thank you @cyndilauper for laying the groundwork for artists like me to thrive. P.s. I agree with you rock & roll will save the world.”
Roan made her love of “True Colors” part of her presence at the Rock Hall ceremony. She combined replicas of two outfits Lauper wore in the video for the song, showing up in a skirt made of torn-up newspaper and an elaborate chandelier-like headpiece.
In her speech, Roan celebrated Lauper’s “courage” as an artist, which “not only creates incredible art that gives everyone who experiences it the permission to be themselves — it opens their hearts, it changes their mind, and that is its power.”
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While Roan is certainly one of Lauper’s pop progeny, Lauper has also raved about Roan. In an interview with Playbill last year, Lauper said of Roan’s music, “Such dusky, yearning keyboard pop… This is just incredible.”
Following Roan’s introduction, Lauper sang “True Colors” and “Time After Time,” accompanied by Raye on the latter. Avril Lavigne and fellow inductees, Salt-N-Pepa, also joined for Lauper’s final song, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
