It’s Time for You to Get into Kylie Minogue
Last November, Australian queen of pop Kylie Minogue flexed her penchant for dance-pop excellence yet again with her latest album Disco and the stunning virtual concert, Infinite Disco, that accompanied it. Though she’s an absolute superstar internationally (to the tune of 70+ million records sold and #1 albums on the UK charts across five different decades—the only artist to ever do so), Minogue never quite lit the spark to engulf the United States with Kylie Fever. She had a brief moment in 2001 with the ubiquitous hit “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”, but at a time when an absurd amount of would-be Britneys (Mandy Moore, Willa Ford, and Jessica Simpson, to name a few) were scrambling to reach pop princessdom, Minogue’s talents were honestly better served elsewhere. It was our loss!
Her 30+ year career is marked by a series of reinventions and an uncanny ability to adapt to the musical landscape. Her songs range from Bond-esque epics (“Confide in Me”) to rock (“Some Kind of Bliss”), but she’s most beloved for her bubblegum pop staples, leaning into the shimmery disco conventions rebuked by many in favor of pop with “grit” and “substance.” She’s a pleasant anomaly in an industry that loves to throw out its pop princesses before they’re old enough for queendom, as she continues to conquer the world with high energy, high concept tours into her fifties. A verifiable fashion icon, master of camp, and quintessential showgirl, a Kylie Minogue show always features immaculate styling and production.
As 2020 saw the surge of nu-disco reaching a mainstream fever pitch, Kylie Minogue descended from her place in pop’s glittery firmament back to show the young girls how to do it. Over her time in pandemic-induced lockdown, she learned Logic Pro and engineered her own vocals for Disco. The Infinite Disco concert featured Minogue unironically wearing a lamé jumpsuit among a torrent of strobe lights, asking viewers for nothing more than to get lost in the glitter and dance along. She topped off the year with a guest appearance at Dua Lipa’s Studio 2054 concert, who in turn appeared on a remix of Minogue’s “Real Groove.”
Here’s a brief primer on Kylie Minogue’s historical pop excellence and the Disco tracks that’ll keep you hooked:
The Classic: In Your Eyes (2001)
To me, nothing says Kylie Minogue like In Your Eyes. It’s got everything: mystique, danceability, a ridiculously infectious melody. The music video is a gorgeous rush of stimuli. Essential viewing.
The Disco Response: Miss A Thing
My personal favorite track from Disco dips into the early 2000s dance pop groove and injects a heaping dose of hypnotic ‘70s ecstasy: breathy vocals, elegant strings, and a calculatedly perfect rhythm follow. If you liked Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, these are the tracks for you.
The Classic: Your Disco Needs You (2000)
General Kylie leads an army for the defense of truth, justice, and the hedonistic way with this mind-blower of a song, campy to the max. A massive orchestral-backed chorus and slinky verses encourage us all to leave behind trivial things like Scrabble (?), vanity, and war in favor of a good time at your neighborhood disco. Very Village People meets Boney M., its a bit off the beaten path for straight laced pop fans but worth a try for the funkier among you.
The Disco Response: Magic
Album opener Magic is a dreamy, optimistic manifesto complete with requisite horns and staccato rhythms for a sparkle-filled firework of a song. It’s quintessential nu-disco, hitting every beat with just the right level of pizzaz.
The Classic: Closer (2010)
A dark, throbbing keyboard evokes cosmic ABBA tunes like Money, Money, Money or Lay All Your Love On Me. Very mysterious, very rich, very classical, and very wonderfully weird with its faux-harpsichord sound. It’s kind of what I think The DaVinci Code would be if it was a song.
The Disco Response: Where Does The DJ Go?
A similar, if more danceable, kind of drama laces this song as Minogue leans back into the ‘80s for some Niles Rodgers-inspired arrangements (the instrumentals backing the verses give off strong “Le Freak” vibes). The chorus directly fixes the song in the legacy of glitter-soaked ‘80s disco with its urgency and gossamer sheen. The intro is a classic Donna Summer-esque fake-out (hello, “No More Tears”), and the chorus quotes disco epic “I Will Survive”. Get it yet?
The Classic: Spinning Around (2000)
One of Minogue’s many career comebacks, this was her first chart-topper since 1994’s “Confide In Me”, and she could not have been more accurate when she exclaimed “I’m not the same!” A funky bass and vocoder-laden chorus kick off her foray into 21st century disco-pop.
The Disco Response: Last Chance
From the elegant strings to the thudding bass line, Last Chance is disco meets trance in a similar marriage of pop’s foundations and pop futurism.
The Classic: In My Arms (2007)
One of Kylie’s most electro pop songs, this song is a very characteristically late ‘00s synth-laced bubblegum romp, with a syrupy sweet chorus that radiates nothing but sunshine (see also: “Love At First Sight”).
The Disco Response: Dance Floor Darling
Half “driving with the top down in LA,” half 2 a.m. club energy, 100% joy. In Kylie World, there’s no problem that can’t be solved by a dance floor.
The Classic: Red Blooded Woman (2003)
Minogue is a chameleonic popstar of the highest caliber, never content to rest on her sonic laurels. After her techno-pop smash hit album, Fever (2001), she veered into a wider breadth of influences. Red Blooded Woman is a showcase of thumping Europop and hip-pop-esque rhythms, topping off the endlessly dramatic production with a sprinkle of Psycho-esque string trills backing the chorus.
The Disco Response: Real Groove
Kylie’s voice blasts off into outer space with a cool, vocoder’ed tune that is just as much a product of post-disco house as Kool & The Gang, a stellar showcase of her timeless ambiguity.
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