While Madonna and the late David Bowie deservedly enjoyed plaudits for their chameleonic reinventions, spare a thought for Kylie Minogue.
Australia’s own “princess of pop” has changed her sound and skin countless times over the decades, and, along the way, became a household name in her homeland and the United Kingdom.
From an auspicious start in showbiz as the loveable Charlene in “Neighbours,” to the Stock Aitken Waterman-produced ‘80s pop numbers, she’s nailed it with indie, dance, made murder ballads with Nick Cave, survived cancer, had us spinning around, we couldn’t get her out of her head, she played heroes and villains on the big screen, tasted country, and had hit after hit.
Need more proof?
When Disco topped the Official U.K. Albums Chart in November 2020, for her eighth leader, Kylie became the first female artist – and second artist overall – to claim a U.K. No. 1 album in five consecutive decades.
Also, thanks to the recent success of the catchier-than-a-cold hit “Padam Padam,” she’s one of only four female artists to score U.K. top 10 hit singles in five consecutive decades, joining Cher, Diana Ross and Lulu.
“Padam Padam” is, of course, the first single and lead track from Minogue’s 16th and latest album Tension, which dropped at the stroke of midnight.
On Tension, Kylie strides ahead on a full-blown electro pop mission, its title track bouncing to an old-school Italian house piano refrain. There’s pop to eat your breakfast to, pop for heaving house parties in the wee hours.
Across her career, Kylie has clocked sales of over 80 million records, 5 billion streams, landed seven U.K. No 1 singles, won 17 ARIA Awards, three Brit Awards, two MTV Awards and a Grammy. Her “national treasure” status never quite traveled to the United States, where Kylie has cracked the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 on just two occasions. She’ll hope to change all that when she cranks up the tension for her first residency at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas’ Voltaire, slated to kick off on Nov. 3.
Stream Tension in full below.
