STRIPPED CONTENTKYLIEMINOGUEWritten by Ben Carew, Laura Snapes, and Billboard contributors7 Stripped Magazine - June 2020
Thirty years after a noveltyremake of Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion”turned an Australiansoap actress into a pop singerwith an international spotlight,Kylie Minogue is eying therelease of her fourteenth album,Golden, from a vantage pointafforded to few of her ‘80s contemporaries.While most veterans of theera’s dance-pop boom bubbleup in pop culture when theirsignature hit gets new life in amovie trailer, Kylie Minoguehas – for the better part of the21st century – released musicthat her modest-but-dedicatedAmerican fanbase still deeplycares about. Her last visit to theBillboard Hot 100 top 10 was in2002 with the thudding electrobanger “Can’t Get You Out OfMy Head,” but her consistencyas an album artist in a singlesgenre has afforded her a levelof cultish adoration and criticalseriousness bestowed upon fewsingers who seemed destined forone-hit-wondership when theyfirst appeared.On Friday (April 6), 12 yearsafter beating breast cancer and alittle over a year after a difficultbreakup, Minogue unveils Golden.As tipped to with mortality-mindedlead single “Dancing,”Golden is an organic stylisticdetour that finds the Aussie popgoddess smack in the middleof a “Dolly Parton/Disco” Venndiagram. Oh yes, there will besequins. In her 30-plus years ofstardom, we’ve not met manyKylie Minogues.“ We’regoldenBurn likethe stars,stay goldenStraight fromyour heartWith a voice sayin’“I’ll never give in””- Kylie MinogueWhile she’s never attained the imperialreach of her contemporary Madonna,she’s one of very few modern singerswhose skill at reinvention merits mentionin the same immortal breath. Nor is shedone dreaming up new costumes: Minoguerecorded much of her 14th studioalbum, Golden, in Nashville, with collaboratorsincluding phase-one Taylor Swiftalumni Nathan Chapman and Liz Rose.There’s even space for a banjo on one ofthe singles, “Stop Me From Falling.” Readyor not, here comes country Kylie.The idea for this detour apparently camefrom Kylie’s long-standing A&R. “I’ll tryjust about anything, so when he said,‘Think of a country inspiration element,’I said, ‘Sure!’” she recalled in a recent interview.There’s a certain record-companystrategy-meeting logic behind this planin the era of pop/disco/country hybridsfrom Man of the Woods to Golden Hour.In addition, the “Nashvillealbum” offers artists a chance towork with bulletproof songwriters,foreground their craft, orage gracefully. This is the backdropto Kylie Minogue’s 14thalbum, the product of two weekswriting in London (before recordingit over there).Yet Kylie opts not for copper-bottomedsongcraft, but theunholy intersection of countryand EDM: drops beget scratchyfiddle breakdowns, while banjoclucks meet tropical house in amush of mild euphoria.Even the most traditionaltrack, Stop Me From Falling, ismore Lumineers than Loretta.Kylie’s country pivot is odd: she’snever troubled the States, andGolden’s down-home signifierswon’t fool country radio’s notoriousgatekeepers.The only logical explanationseems to be that escapingher comfort zone offers a kindof welcome disassociation tocounterbalance the intenselypersonal lyrics – something thatKylie has spent a career avoiding,the exception being 1997’sImpossible Princess. She experienceda nervous breakdownafter splitting from her cheatingfiance in 2016, and for once, thatemotional devastation penetratesthe music. “If I get hurt again,I’ll need a lifetime to repair,” shesings, showing unusual vocalsensitivity as she conveys desire,desperation and cynicism withina few lines.8 Stripped Magazine - June 2020
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