Cyndi Lauper remains a paradox of ’80s pop music: She’s as bright and shiny on the outside as her most whimsical hits, and as complicated and conflicted on the inside as the decade itself. Her knack for reflecting light in dark places gives the multifaceted star a disco-ball quality well-suited for dance tracks that double as sly social commentary. Warming up even the coldest European beats from Basement Jaxx and other DJ acts, the former WWF songstress rediscovers her fighting spirit via Washington, D.C., producer Richard Morel, whose three-song contribution nurtures the pathos in her flexible pipes by bringing unlikely themes to dance-floor drama: “Set Your Heart” cures depression with steadfast friendship, and “Raging Storm” links presidential deceit and Britney Spears’s downslide. Lauper hasn’t sounded this relevant since her 1983 debut, when she celebrated female masturbation.

Download: “Raging Storm,” “Same Old Fuckin’ Story”