As part of Rolling Stone‘s Musicians on Musicians series, Gracie Abrams sat down for a chat with newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cyndi Lauper, whose music she grew up with, courtesy of her mom.
During their talk they discussed touring, since Cyndi just completed a farewell tour and Gracie has just wrapped up a four-year run on the road, which marked her first time playing live for fans at that level. When Cyndi noted that touring for the first time is “a little shocking,” Gracie agreed, saying, “The whole thing is constantly shocking.”
Gracie said touring has made her realize that “the best and highest use of my being here on this planet is for the two hours a night that people feel they can come and have some place to, at the very least, be around strangers who are expressing anything loudly. We don’t even really get that these days.”
When Cyndi said that touring is fun, Gracie agreed, adding, “I felt very filled up by the fact that you know other people are having a good time.”
Cyndi, who recently booked a residency in Vegas for 2026, is currently working on a musical based on the 1988 Melanie Griffith movie Working Girl. As for Gracie, she’s figuring it out.
“Now that the album cycle is over, the next album isn’t made, I don’t know what I want to say yet,” she explained. However, she told Cyndi, “Hearing you talk about the whole point of writing and reflecting on the world that we’re living in, I feel called more than ever to [write about that].”
“You got your whole life now. It’s going to be really great,” Cyndi told Gracie. “You’re going to make it. You are going to write the book.”
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