Album review: Kylie Minogue – ‘Kiss Me Once’

“I’m not ashamed of all of my mistakes, cause through the cold I kept the fire burning,” Kylie Minogue sings on latest single Into The Blue. Could this be a reference to her almost forgotten indie years? Since her return the dancefloor in 2000, Ms Minogue has released album after album of electronic anthems (pausing briefly for 2012s Abbey Road Sessions), leaving her experimental work firmly in the 90’s. Her collaborations with Nick Cave and Manic Street Preachers provided impressive alternate sounds for the pop princess, but if she had stuck with it, it’s obvious that we wouldn’t have Kylie: the soap-star-turned-pop-star success story, with a music career that all other ex-actors with half a voice can only dream of.

Despite this being her first release since signing with Jay Z’s Roc Nation label, fans need not worry about a sudden, sexed up R’n’B version of 45 year old Kylie, although the titles suggest otherwise. While Kiss Me Once offers a shy, almost innocent preconception, the three sex-referencing titles soon dispel the myth. Sexy Love, Sexercise and Les Sex are all well-produced numbers, but the lyrics of Sexy Love (“You’re sexy, what you need’s a sexy love”) and the Kylie Sutra-style suggestions of Sexercise (a grinding groove penned by Sia, who acted as executive producer alongside Minogue) verge on cringe-inducing. Les Sex is perhaps the most successful track of the sex-trilogy, with a title that might be attempting to cause controversy too obviously, but a chrome-plated robotic rhythm gives hope for those hopes of a duet with Lady Gaga.

Whilst there are underlying hints of urban influences, the mirrorball moments outshine them. I Was Gonna Cancel, written and produced by Pharrell, is where the disco hits its peak. All shimmering synths and Anita Ward-esque bells, it highlights his ability to make simplicity sound so damn good. A slowed-down version of the 70’s-inspired sound can also be heard on the title track, while Moroder’s influence (who, like Pharrell, is currently enjoying a huge boost in interest thanks to Daft Punk) can be heard on Feels So Good and the synth/string stomping lead-single Into The Blue. As with Million Miles and many of the other tracks, it could quite easily have slotted into previous albums Fever or X. And therein lies the main concern with Kylie’s material. Despite the new management and the fact that we’re aware of how versatile her sound can be (Confide In Me, Some Kind Of Bliss), all studio albums since 2000’s Light Years could have been one huge ‘tour de dance’.

Beautiful, a duet with Enrique Iglesias, offers the most unique moment. As with Coldplay’s new material, it’s a dreamy, vocoded ballad, sounding nothing like anything else on the album. It’s not the most exciting moment, but it’s refreshing to hear something unexpected. Closer Fine – Kylie’s only co-write, with regular contributor Karen Poole – builds things back up to a euphoric crescendo, full of optimism (“You’re going to be fine”) hinting that listeners shouldn’t get used to anything other than the dancefloor fillers we see before us. Which is fine itself; with writers and producers this impressive it’s immaculate, first class work. And there are always the albums of the 90s to go back to and imagine a world where Kylie Minogue really did feel like an Impossible Princess of pop for a while, when in fact no matter who she’s managed by or is collaborating with, she’s The Voice of the discotheque.

Kiss Me Once is set for release on 17th March; hit the iTunes link below to buy now:

Words by:
Dan Bull
Follow @DanBull7609