Cyndi Lauper, who took home the 1985 Grammy for Best New Artist, is still proving unusual after all these years. Though her last Top 40 hit was 1989’s “I Drove All Night,” Lauper hasn’t really slowed down since. Besides plugging away in her music career, she’s enjoyed acting gigs on TV (The Simpsons, Queer As Folk, and an Emmy-award winning role on Mad About You) and made her Broadway debut in the 2006 staging of The Threepenny Opera. She even directed a commercial for the “Totally ’80s” edition of Trivial Pursuit.

But back to the music. Lauper’s last two discs were 2003’s At Last, a collection of standards, and 2005’s The Body Acoustic, acoustic re-dos of her biggest hits (with some special guest-star assistance). On Tuesday though, Lauper issued her first album of all-new material in over a decade, the uptempo Bring Ya To The Brink. This time, she’s set her sights squarely on the dancefloor, co-writing and co-producing beat-centric songs with cutting-edge collaborators like Dragonette, Basement Jaxx, Axwell, and Kleerup (Robyn’s “With Every Heartbeat”). But Lauper’s aiming for something bigger than mirrorball magic:

“This is an album that can be experienced in two completely different ways,” Lauper says. “[It’s] a dance album that you can move to and enjoy on a surface level. But if you want more than that, there’s a lot to discover inside the lyrics… these songs get pretty deep.”

Though “Into The Nightlife” is far from a lyrically deep moment (“Shake your body Mister / Gonna make ya body blister”), it’s still a Bring Ya To The Brink standout (Peer Aström of Murlyn helped out on the track). Hear here:

Nearly 25 years after the release of She’s So Unusual, the 54-year old Lauper remains a girl who just wants to have fun. Catch her headlining this summer’s True Colors tour or see Lauper doing her thing for free on A&E Private Sessions this Sunday at 8:00 am Central.

Better yet, just set your TiVo. Lauper may want to bring ya to the brink, she surely can’t fault ya for not waking by the break of dawn.

Purchase Cyndi Lauper – Bring Ya To The Brink via Amazon, iTunes (featuring four bonus tracks).