Cyndi Lauper is representing for the ladies at the MTV Video Music Awards. The legendary singer delivered an important message while presenting at the awards show on Sunday.
“How are you doing? I won a moon person at the very first VMAs in 1984. Things are a little different now,” Lauper said at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. “Yeah, girls wanna have fun. But we also want to have funds. Equal pay. Control over our bodies! You know, fundamental rights.”
Lauper’s message was powerful but brief, as she then presented Best Pop to Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar and Giveon for “Peaches.” Lauper’s note really stuck with fans, though.
In an interview with ET’s Rachel Smith after hopping off stage, Lauper reflected on being a champion for women, and ensuring the video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” represented “all girls.”
“I worked really hard to get ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ to represent all girls, so that all girls could see themselves,” she shared. “I wanted to capture that, and I’ve got to say, we were the little engine that could. I was up for seven awards that year, didn’t win one.”
“[But] I was there, and I got to make this performance art,” she recalled.
The singer also praised MTV for its lasting legacy on music. “You would never just listen to music again,” she said of the network’s launch 40 years ago. You would see it.”
The 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, hosted by Doja Cat, aired live on Sunday, Sept. 12. For complete VMAs coverage, keep checking in with ETonline.com.
