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Tag: Kylie Minogue

  • Cinderella’s Got to Go: With A Matter of Time, The Clock Strikes Midnight as Laufey Steps Even Further Into Her Own Musical Skin

    Nothing about Laufey’s musical journey has been conventional. Perhaps the biggest example of that was becoming an “overnight” sensation during the pandemic while posting videos of herself singing her own original music intermixed with some beloved covers. The reaction got Laufey’s attention, and she decided to release an EP without going through the conventional channels of a record label. Titled Typical of Me, the seven-track offering quickly rose up the charts of her “niche” genre, including in the US (climbing all the way to number two on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz Albums and Jazz Albums charts). An impressive feat for a relative unknown who self-published the record. Something that one of Laufey’s obvious influences, Taylor Swift, might have wished she had done instead of signing with Big Machine Records, thus owning all of her masters from the start.

    But then, Swift has always been about the conventional channels for success, complete with sacrificing a college education in favor of putting all her efforts into becoming a teenage country singer. Laufey wasn’t willing to play that game. In fact, despite her own early prosperity on singing competition shows like Ísland Got Talent and The Voice Iceland, she opted to attend Berklee College of Music. And yes, she chose to finish her degree even after realizing the career potential of her virality. So it was that she graduated in 2021, a year after her brush with internet fame. 

    Throughout everything, Laufey can still maintain, as she did to CBS Sunday Morning’s Tracy Smith, “There’s not a single part of myself that has changed my artistic interests to follow some sort of trend.” Which is exactly how Laufey has arrived at an album that is as comfortable in her musical skin as ever. As her third record, A Matter of Time perfects what Everything I Know About Love (2022) and Bewitched (2023) established. Only this time, it’s true that Laufey really is 1) telling you everything she knows about love, having ostensibly experienced it for the first time while in the process of recording the album and 2) she really is bewitched by another: “mere mortal” Charlie Christie. At least, that’s the speculation with the most heat at present, with Laufey neither confirming nor denying the rumors. Such is her belief in separating her personal and professional life. 

    And yet, the personal so clearly bleeds into the professional as a result of her music. And A Matter of Time is perhaps the pinnacle of that reality thus far. Opening with, as an album with this title should, “Clockwork,” Laufey instantly sets the tone for her lovestruck aura on this album. Except, on this particular track, she discusses the unique stress of falling in love when it’s with a friend, singing, “Swore I’d never do this again/Think that I’m so clever I could date a friend.” For, as Vickie Miner (Janeane Garofalo) in Reality Bites, once said, “Sex is the quickest way to ruin a friendship.” Whether or not Laufey’s new love started out as a friend, she certainly seems to know a lot about “the transition” as she continues, “He just called me, said he’s runnin’ late/Like me, he probably had to regurgitate [one of the sickest—pun intended—rhymes in recent memory]/I know it’s irrational, at least I’m self-aware/I’m shivering, maybe I’ll stay home/‘Oh shit, he’s here!’” 

    Once Laufey surrenders to the date, awkwardness or not, she realizes, “I think I might be loving this romantic night/Damn, he’s smiling, staring back at me/We’re at the arcade, think it’s going perfectly/I know I’m dramatic, but I caved in at his touch/I want him forever, oh my God, I’ve said too much.” Appropriately, Laufey originally teased the song on TikTok—an entity her fans are far more familiar with than an analogue clock that makes the “tick tock” sound, like clockwork. As for Laufey’s concluding admission, “But good God, I think he fell in love/Tick tock, and I fell in love too/Like clockwork, I fell in love with you,” it leads quite seamlessly into the sentiments of “Lover Girl,” the third single from A Matter of Time. 

    As a song that explores what happens “after the fall(ing in love),” Laufey is a combination of self-deprecation (“Lovestruck girl, I’d tease her/Thought I’d never be her”) and a puddle of mush (“I can’t wait another day to see you”). Ruing the day she ever “allowed” herself to become a “lover girl.” Of course, it’s not something one can stop once they’ve been hit with Cupid’s arrow (though, if you’re MARINA, you prefer to turn the tables on Cupid). Something Laufey apparently didn’t learn until now, in her mid-twenties. This “late bloomer” energy speaking to the old soul she ostensibly embodies. Along with the clear influence of Old Hollywood movies on the whimsy and romance of the worlds she creates in her songs. Indeed, Laufey is a self-proclaimed lover of Golden Age Hollywood musicals (e.g., Carousel, Oklahoma!, An American in Paris and The Sound of Music), something that shines through in a track like “Lover Girl.” 

    However, if “Lover Girl” is all exuberance and butterflies, Laufey’s aim appears to be to gut-punch her listeners with the tonal shift on “Snow White” (because Cinderella isn’t the only fairy tale heroine reference here) an instant classic in the annals of songs about beauty (or, more specifically, the pressures and impossible expectations on women to “look hot”). Speaking on this topic (still much more pertinent to women than men) also serves as an apropos segue into a song like “Castle in Hollywood,” which explores and dissects the end of a friendship between two women. Undeniably, it’s rare to come across a song like this in pop music, with most female musicians focusing only on their breakups with men. But here, Laufey acknowledges, as she told Rolling Stone, “Most women I know of had a friend breakup that’s just as bad, if not worse than, a romantic breakup. Women have such a strong, deep empathy that it makes friend breakups, especially female friendships, really hard sometimes. It’s a whole lot harder to be like ‘fuck you’ to another woman who’s changed your life in some way. I wish them the best, but I’m also messed up for life because of it.”

    This comes across in the heart-wrenching chorus, “I think about you always/Tied together with a string [more Folklore-era Taylorisms, which tracks since this song is produced by Aaron Dessner, who alternated on song production with Laufey’s usual go-to, Spencer Stewart]/I thought that lilies died by winter, then they bloomed again in spring/It’s a heartbreak/Marked the end of our girlhood/We’ll never go back to our castle in Hollywood.” The implication in that last line being that all the shine has worn off their “fairy tale/happily ever after” friendship. For any girl who’s ever lost a friend they held dear (whether in their formative years or otherwise), this song is sure to resonate. However, despite this being an elegy for a friendship lost, Laufey still finds a way to bring up her new love when she says, “I’m dating the boy that we dreamеd of/I wish I could tell him about us/I wish I could tell you how I finally fell in lovе.”

    Alas, falling in love is hardly the cure for all of Laufey’s ills, as she makes clear on “Carousel” (named, no doubt, in honor of that Hollywood musical she loves so much). The song being, for all intents and purposes, Laufey’s take on Lorde’s “Liability.” That much becomes immediately apparent when she opens the song with the line, “My life is a circus/Hold on for all I bring with me.” This belief that she’s caught in a circus (said in a way that isn’t as triumphant as Britney Spears on “Circus” singing, “All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus”) was further cemented on CBS Sunday Morning when she admitted, “I was always a little bit, like, felt a little bit like a circus act.” In other words, like some kind of “freak.” In meeting this new love of hers, Laufey is accordingly terrified to lose him, confessing, “You make me nervous/Take my sincere apology/For all of my oddities/My recurring comedies/I know I’m on a/Carousel spinning around/Floating up and down.” She then adds, “Such a spectacle/You signed up for one hell of a/One-man show/Tangled in ribbons/A lifelong role/Aren’t you sorry that you fell/Onto this carousel?”

    If he’s a “stand-up guy” (like Lana Del Rey thinks Jeremy Dufrene is), then surely he won’t mind. Even so, Laufey can’t help but think, “I’m waiting for you to see/The things that are wrong with me/Before you’re on my/Carousel spinning around/Floating up and down/Nowhere to go.” Fortunately, the “Silver Lining” is that, whoever this guy is, he does get on the carousel, going round and round with Laufey to the point where she declares on her lead single, “When I go to hell, I’ll go there with you too.” That’s it. That’s the silver lining. Because a girl has to take what she can get when it comes to “ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate-ing the positive,” as Bing and the Andrews Sisters would remind.  

    However, it’s difficult to do that on “Too Little, Too Late,” which is uniquely told from a male perspective (ha! something Taylor hasn’t done in a song yet). And, evidently, Laufey seems to think that men are just as emotional and romantic as women when it comes to “the one that got away.” Accordingly, there’s a palpable tension throughout the song, like this man (as created by Laufey) might burst at the seams with his sense of regret. As Laufey told Rolling Stone, “I wanted [the sound] to be tense the whole time. No distinct chorus, no distinct verse, just a constant uphill and then for it to bang out into a wedding scene. It’s so dramatic.” That it is, concluding with the emotionally eviscerating verse, “I’ll toast outside your wedding day/Whisper vows I’ll never say to you/‘Cause it’s too little, all too late.” Indubitably, it has the ring of Swift tune. But Laufey’s got her own unique stamp, and, after such intense drama, the whimsy of “Cuckoo Ballet (Interlude)” is not only another mark of her uniqueness, but also a much-needed reprieve from the intensity of “Too Little, Too Late.” What’s more, it’s not just some “throwaway” interlude, clocking in at three minutes and forty seconds. At times, sounding like a mashup of instrumentation out of The Nutcracker-meets-one of Laufey’s favorite Old Hollywood musicals, there’s nods to several Laufey songs, including an instrumental of “Lover Girl” (think: “Lover Girl Reprise” or “Lover Girl, Bridgerton Edition”). 

    The dazzling and, at times, bittersweet interlude leads into the even more dazzling and bittersweet “Forget-Me-Not,” an ode to Laufey’s home country of Iceland (now, thanks to her, no longer only associated with Björk). Hence, her decision to record the track in Iceland with the Iceland Symphony. The latter’s contribution lending an even greater emotional depth to the chorus, during which Laufey laments, “Love you forever, don’t let go of me/I left my own homeland to chase reverie/Gleymdu mér aldrei þó ég héðan flýg/Gleymdu mér aldrei, elskan mín.” Those final two lines translating from Icelandic to: “Never forget me even if I fly away from here/Never forget me, my love.”

    Elsewhere, she describes the type of landscape that not everyone would necessarily be “enticed” by…unless they grew up with it: “I miss the wind, stone cold kiss on my cheeks/Bends in your body, the hope of your spring/Millions now hear my soliloquy/I’m still that child on a black sand beach” (and now, so is Addison Rae in the “Headphones On” video). To be sure, Laufey sings of her homeland as though she’s singing to a lover she had to leave behind, admitting as much to Rolling Stone when she said, “This song sounds like a love letter to a guy.”

    But what doesn’t sound like that at all is the track that follows, “Tough Luck” (which served as the second single from the album). Combining the songwriting styles and tones of Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, Laufey lays into this ex about all of his own shortcomings despite him being the one to try making her feel inadequate the entire time. But no, Laufey isn’t having it, confidently giving it right back when she declares, “You think you’re so misunderstood/The black cat of your neighborhood/Tough luck, my boy, your time is up/I’ll break it first, I’ve had enough/Of waiting ‘til you lie and cheat/Just like you did to the actress before me/Oops, she doesn’t even know/You won’t be missed, I’m glad to see you go.” 

    Alas, despite all her cool, “I’m so over you” posturing, “A Cautionary Tale” is yet another track that indicates she’s just a heart-on-her-sleeve-wearing fool who can’t let go. “Born to be a giver [much like Chappell Roan]/Destined to pay the toll,” Laufey tries to use her own sad story as a cautionary tale to whoever is listening and might find themselves falling prey to l’amour. Even if, by Laufey’s own account, A Matter of Time is “about opening yourself up to a lover, or a person, or the entire world, giving them every single part of yourself.” Even if you know the extreme risk involved in making yourself so vulnerable. Only to regret it when another person (inevitably) disappoints you, as Laufey analyzes in the chorus, “I gave it too much, I gave myself up/I lost sight of all my dignity/I’ve always been smart, my chameleon heart/Took your draining personality and gave it to me/I wanted to please you, this performance of a lifetime/My heart to you handed, you took it for granted/And made me the villain.” Or, as Taylor would say, “I don’t like your little games/Don’t like your tilted stage/The role you made me play/Of the fool, no, I don’t like you.” 

    However, Laufey switches back to Rodrigo-style lyrics when she mourns, “And I can’t fix you, God, I tried, the hourglass I shattered just in time.” Yet another evocative image that brings to mind a now antiquated timepiece. After all, A Matter of Time is all about the clock running out. Which is why it makes plenty of sense that Laufey would describe the tone of the record as “that moment when Cinderella finds out it’s struck midnight and she’s running.” As for the whole “midnights” and clock thing being “already done” by Taylor with, what else, Midnights (complete with a Cinderella-themed video for “Bejeweled”), it’s really Kylie Minogue that Laufey appears to be borrowing from the most via her album cover, which looks ever so much like the cover of Minogue’s greatest hits album, Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection (including the way Minogue, too, is posed like her legs are the hands of the clock). 

    But, with the next song, “Mr. Eclectic” (not to be confused with Taylor’s “Mr. Perfectly Fine”) Laufey is not only “borrowing” from Sabrina Carpenter, but also herself, with an opening that mirrors the tempo and bossa nova stylings of “Lover Girl,” and a theme that echoes the shade-throwing of “Tough Luck.” As for the Carpenter comparison, it’s all in lyrics that smack of Short n’ Sweet’s “Dumb & Poetic,” particularly when SC sings, “Try to come off like you’re soft and well-spoken/Jack off to lyrics by Leonard Cohen.” Laufey feels the same about “Mr. Eclectic,” of whom she accuses, “Bet you think you’re so poetic/Quoting epics and ancient prose/Truth be told, you’re quite pathetic/Mister Eclectic Allan Poe.” In another Short n’ Sweet kind of moment (specifically, on “Slim Pickins,” when Carpenter bemoans, “This boy doesn’t even know/The difference between ‘there,’ ‘their’ and ‘they are’/Yet he’s naked in my room”), Laufey berates, “Did you еver stop and give a wonder to/Who just who you wеre talking to?/The very expert on the foolish things/That men have said to woo and win me over/What a poser, you think you’re so interesting.” 

    Having purged herself of such “toxic types,” Laufey can finally breathe some proverbial “Clean Air.” This being the metaphor she wields on the penultimate track of the digital version of the album (with the vinyl version also including a bonus track of Laufey’s cover of “Seems Like Old Times”). With its sparse guitar strings that gradually transition into a country-like rhythm, Laufey happily—even chirpily—announces, “My soul has suffered, get the fuck out of my atmosphere/I’m breathing clean, clean air.” It’s a lot like Britney Spears’ own purging of a toxic boyfriend-turned-ex (in her case, it retroactively sounds directed at Justin Timberlake), telling him on her 2001 track, “Cinderella,” “I’m sorry, just trying to live my life/Don’t worry, you’re gonna be alright/But Cinderella’s got to go.” This doesn’t refer to the scene of “Cindy” running away from the prince when the clock strikes midnight, but rather, telling her now ex that she can no longer be the subservient, docile woman he counted on and took for granted for so long. She’s freeing herself of that burden, as Laufey is on many occasions throughout A Matter of Time. 

    But it’s with “Sabotage,” the poignant slow jam of a denouement, that Laufey cuts to the core of her relationship issues. And, more often than not, they have to do with how, as she self-criticizes, “I get in my head so easily I don’t understand, I’m my worst enemy/You assure me you love me and seal it with a kiss/I can’t be convinced.” In this sense, the song obviously should have been called “Self-Sabotage.” Echoing the lyrical motifs and fears expressed on “Carousel,” Laufey takes her phobia of ruining a perfectly good relationship to the next level by warning her lover, “It’s just a matter of time ‘til you see the dagger/It’s a special of mine to cause disaster/So prepare for the impact, and brace your heart/For cold, bloody, bitter sabotage” (in Taylor speak, that translates to, “Combat, I’m ready for combat/I say I don’t want that, but what if I do?…/ I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey/Who could ever leave me, darling?/But who could stay?). The sweeping, trippy musical outro then mimics something out of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, complete with the abrupt stopping point in the instrumentation. A jarring cut, as though the clock has run out. 

    And, to that end, the title of the album has a two-pronged meaning. On the one (clock) hand, it’s just a matter of time before you fall in love. On the other, it’s just a matter of time before the clock starts running out on the romance (or, to quote Lana Del Rey, “You and I/We were born to die”). The overall positive side of it (because “you’ve got to ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the positive/E-lim-i-nate the negative”), though, is that at least Laufey is teaching younger generations how a clock actually works. 

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Kylie, Bebe and Tove Offer Up A Stately Experience for the “My Oh My” Video

    Kylie, Bebe and Tove Offer Up A Stately Experience for the “My Oh My” Video

    For those who thought Kylie Minogue, Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo might leave the imagery for the “My Oh My” single solely at their performance together for BST Hyde Park earlier this summer, the trio hasn’t disappointed, bringing fans a right proper video directed by Charlie Di Placido. Despite the director’s Italian last name, the trio has kept it strictly British by opting to film the stately visual accompaniment to the song at Syon House in Brentford.

    The West London residence, inhabited by the Duke of Northumberland, appeared to have no qualms about the “Saltburn effect” on the estate. Not, as some naysayers might suggest, because they don’t have faith in the song’s ability to “catch on” (even though it should be way more revered than it currently is), but because the mansion has already been a long-standing haven for filming anyway (most recently, Bridgerton counted itself among other British-oriented pop culture staples, such as Gosford Park and Belgravia, taken with the charm of the mansion). Besides, if Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman taught people anything, it’s that dukes and other “lowlier-than-a-prince” title holders are always strapped for liquid cash, burdened by the inconvenience of their only valuable assets being in the form of property. So why not make a fast pound off said property (in a way that doesn’t involve the manufacture of cannabis)? Especially for a video like this.   

    Opening with Minogue positioned on a marble “bed” (like some sort of Greek goddess) in front of the famous Apollo Belvedere sculpture, an entourage of dancers surrounds her, all momentarily in “frozen” pose” before they start moving their arms and then their torsos to indicate they’re hardly just more statues who also happen to be at Minogue’s side. As a matter of fact, the dancers stand out not only for their signature movements, but because they’re all dressed in different costumes, which is usually something unheard of in most music videos.

    As the song bursts out into the chorus, Di Placido cuts to Minogue and the dancers in another part of the mansion dancing and serving catwalk energy before Rexha’s moment to shine arrives. She, too, is given her own regal “entrance” opportunity, framed by Di Placido with her arm resting against an elaborate column in yet another decadent room. Outfitted in a black evening gown with a plunging neckline and a slit at the thigh (in contrast to Minogue’s more Grecian gold number), Rexha preens for the camera—almost as though to mimic her version of what one of these statues in the palatial residence might do if they actually came to life—while delivering her verse. The one that goes, “Rush of hands, lingering looks/My name in your mouth, that was all it took/Now, yesterday’s light years away/You came in here, now, there’s no goin’ back.” She then adds, “When you asked, ‘What’s your name? Let me know’/I’m Bebe, I’m a Virgo/‘What’s your drink? Let me buy’/You had me when you said, ‘Hi’/Hi.”

    The zodiac-centric content of the song might have led some listeners to believe there would be more Gemini/Virgo/Scorpio tropes and/or symbols at play, but, instead, Di Placido places each singer within one of the artful and poetic settings of Syon House. While Minogue gets the most time situated within the various iconic rooms of the space (namely, the conservatory), her presence is actually the most memorable because of the way in which the dancers that encircle her synchronize their choreography while simultaneously managing to look entirely unique and separate from one another.

    Though perhaps not as unique as Tove Lo, whose entrance into the fray of this musical narrative is more special than Rexha’s or even Minogue’s. To introduce her part of the song, one of the dancers walks from a hallway and into a room next to a staircase where Tove is perched nearby on a pedestal, her hairstyle courtesy of a brown (and crimped!) Lady Godiva-length wig that complements her own riff on Greek goddess-chic.

    “Striking a pose” (yes, Madonna-style) like the women who came before her in this video, Tove “unfreezes” soon enough to relish her own spotlight—working the staircase as she flexes with her Scorpio-touting verse. The trio then converges upon one another in the same room where Minogue initially started out, the Apollo Belvedere sculpture now standing over all three of them.

    The dancers, meanwhile, continue to strut around them before this scene becomes intercut with one of Minogue (sans her two “backup singers”) standing/dancing in a massive hallway where a long line of dancers flanks her on either side. This is the image that concludes the video, with Minogue “breaking character” after a few “frozen pose” seconds to bop around wildly, laughing at herself as she does so.

    All in all, it signals that Duchess Minogue and her “ladies in waiting” would be perfectly at home on a regular basis in this imperial abode. The Duke of Northumberland, therefore, might want to change his locks. My oh my, indeed.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Zodiac Adherents Rejoice: A Gemini, A Virgo and A Scorpio Come Together for “My Oh My”

    Zodiac Adherents Rejoice: A Gemini, A Virgo and A Scorpio Come Together for “My Oh My”

    Opening with the sort of “La-la, la-la, la-la, la-la-la-la/La-la, la-la-la” that Kylie Minogue is known for (obviously on 2001’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”), “My Oh My,” her first single of 2024 in honor of her headlining performance at BST Hyde Park, also mimics another 00s-era track: ATC’s “Around the World (La La La La La).” Which makes sense considering how Y2K-inspired “My Oh My” is with its particular kind of pulsing dance rhythm. Of course, apart from that, the song bears a sound that is unmistakably Tove Lo’s, who features on the track along with Bebe Rexha.

    Tove, who co-wrote the single with Ina Wroldsen and Steve Mac (also the producer) centers the theme of “My Oh My” on the zodiac, which is unsurprising considering her Scorpio pride. This most recently made apparent on the cover of 2022’s Dirt Femme, on which she sports a custom-made scorpion tail by Chris Habana in honor of her sign’s emblem. So if anyone knows a little something about asking, “What’s your name? What’s your sign?” (questions that appear on the song), it’s her…not to mention Notorious B.I.G. on “Big Poppa.”

    But Tove is generous enough to let Minogue sing those lines in the first rendition of the pre-chorus, cooing, “When you asked, ‘What’s your name? What’s your sign?’/I’m Kylie, it’s Gemini/‘What’s your drink?/Let me buy’/You had me when you said, ‘Hi’/Hi.” As is to be expected, both Tove and Bebe get to perform their take on that pre-chorus by subbing in their own names and signs: Scorpio and Virgo, respectively. Naturally, Tove makes her version of the verse extra Scorpio-y by saying, “Always love a dark room with somebody to talk to/But never ever met someone like you/Hey, hello, I am To-Tove Lo/I’m a, I’m a Scorpio/Yeah, the sexy jealous kind/You had me when you said, ‘Hi’/Hi.” And yes, that last part is very much a “riff” (read: an almost word-for-word repurposing) on the signature line from Jerry Maguire, delivered by Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger) when she tells Jerry (Tom Cruise), “You had me at hello.”

    For hopelessly romantic women like the ones in this trio, that statement even holds true for someone they just encountered. After all, like Lana said, “When you know you know.” And sometimes, having another (free) drink helps to really know for sure—in vino (or whatever other alcoholic preference) veritas, and all that.

    As for the seamless coalescing of these three elements in the zodiac, this Air/Water/Earth combo is undoubtedly what lends the track its dreamy, ethereal quality (if a Fire sign had been involved, it would have just been a hot mess). One that is emphasized by the single’s starry, Y2K meets psychedelia-inspired aesthetic. A look that certainly doesn’t bend to Fire’s overall vibe.

    As for the lush, “love at first sight” (also a Minogue song title) motif of the single, in certain respects, the lyrical content also reminds one of Minogue’s 2023 hit, “Padam Padam.” For, in the same way that Minogue feels a shift in the very beat of her heart (and his) upon encountering this person (i.e., “Padam, padam, I hear it and I know/Padam, padam, I know you wanna take me home/Padam, and take off all my clothes/Padam, padam, when your hеart goes ‘padam’”), so, too, does she feel a shift here, marveling, “Yesterday was just a day/I didn’t know my life was gonna change/Yesterday, light-years away/You came in here, now, nothin’ is the same.” Needless to say, Minogue’s use of the word “light-year” seems deliberate in that she has a 2000 album called Light Years. And while some have failed to see that Minogue, Tove and Rexha have long been light-years ahead of the pop curve, others have known it all along—and can therefore understand the poetic, synergistic nature of this group of women “aligning” to sing such a track. One that is all about a sense of “destiny,” how something can be “kismet.”

    So it is that, for Rexha’s part, she adds, “Rush of hands, lingering looks/My name in your mouth, that was all it took/Now, yesterday’s light-years away/You came in here, now, there’s no goin’ back.” To play up the feeling of dizzying, twitterpated lovestruckness, the chorus replicates such sentiments with Minogue’s “la-la” signature being incorporated into the lyrics, “La-la, la-la, I’m like, ‘Oh my, oh my’/La-la, la-la, you keep me up at night/La-la, la-la, I’m feelin’ fireflies/La-la, la-la-la, oh my, oh my.”

    While the song title itself might be slightly played, with both Camila Cabello and Ava Max also recently having a single called this (though, of course, Aqua has the true monopoly on it with their 1997 song of the same name from Aquarium), Minogue, Rexha and Tove’s seamless, wool-gathering harmony is what makes this one stand apart. That, and its acknowledgement of just how important zodiac signs are to romantic chemistry.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • How to Have a BRAT Summer

    How to Have a BRAT Summer

    From the moment Megan Thee Stallion crowned summer 2019 “Hot Girl Summer,” each subsequent summer has fought to earn its own moniker. And just before the solstice, Charli XCX came to claim the crown with her album BRAT. The very instant the neon green album cover made its way to our Spotify feeds, it was clear it would be an instant classic.

    And now, after sitting with the album for a few weeks — and blasting it through my headphones like armor against the heatwave — it’s undeniable that these timeless tracks will define summer 2024. So everyone, like your pilot after a flight, I’d like to be the first to welcome you to BRAT summer.

    Let’s be clear: BRAT summer is an extension of the summer of
    gay pop. Look at the charts, and you’ll discover that many of this summer’s favorite earworms are made by and for the gays. Happy Pride from the queer community! Songs like “Good Luck Babe!” by our favorite performer Chappell Roan [who we interviewed here!] and “LUNCH” by alt-pop queen Billie Eilish are proudly queer anthems that aren’t going anywhere all summer and beyond. And while Charli isn’t queer herself, she’s a cornerstone of the queer music community. Her impact on the gay music scene cannot be ignored — she did the soundtrack to the lesbian cult film Bottoms, for goodness sake. And that’s to say nothing of her years making gay pop bangers before Jojo Siwa crowned this the summer of the genre.

    Think of it like the parents who get citizenship in a country because their children were born there. For many queer folks, Charli is mother, and her music is directly influenced by and produced for LGBTQIA+ audiences. She follows a tradition of other hyperpop divas who have become icons in the queer community. Madonna. Kylie Minogue. Lady Gaga. Charli XCX.

    Though for too long she was relegated to “gay famous” — aka only a household name to queer people and mostly unknown to mainstream pop charts — everyone has finally caught on. So if you’re new to Charli standom, welcome to a party so fun you’ll never want to leave.

    BRAT is Charli’s seminal work — no wonder this is the record drawing the most public intrigue and influence of her career. She teased the album for months. With interviews, campaigns, DJ shows, and even announcing a joint tour with Troye Sivan, Charli was telling us to get ready for BRAT summer for months. For a while, some even wondered if it would live up to the hype. Luckily, it has exceeded it.

    In her cover story interview for THE FACE magazine, she described
    BRAT as “irresistible club pop made by a dyed-in-the-wool party girl.” And she delivered on her promise. BRAT is infectious and instantly timeless. It’s party fodder that’s surprisingly poignant. It’s not just an album, it’s a lifestyle. And everybody’s going to be living it all summer long.

    Already,
    BRAT has brought back partying. Even The New York Times has caught on — they recently published an article on partying in the new age. It included items like social media etiquette and not taking off your shoes in someone’s apartment. Overall, it feels like a treatise on BRATty behavior.

    Consider this our take. From how to dress to how to act, here’s the Popdust guide to having a BRAT summer.

    Bring back indie sleaze

    Every year since the pandemic, fashion blogs have been predicting the return of indie sleaze. This Tumblr-era aesthetic reigned during the height of the early 2010s party girl era. It was characterized by cigarettes, ripped tights, and smudged eyeliner. It was embodied by Tumblr icons like Alexa Chung and the rest of the “rockstar girlfriend” set. And, in recent years, many of its markers have returned.
    Arctic Monkeys put out a new album. Everyone is preoccupied with It-Girls again. But Indie Sleaze as an aesthetic has failed to regain its grip on the youth culture.

    However, BRAT might be singlehandedly bringing back that vibe. It makes me want to put on a crop top and buy a choker. It makes me yearn for American Apparel days and wearing Doc Martens to the club. The #CleanLook aesthetic is out. Dressing for the most feral night of your life? In. Call it inner child healing and go full tilt into Tumblrcore.

    Add one more accessory to your outfit before leaving the house

    Allegedly, Coco Chanel once said: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” Clearly she was not a BRAT. Instead, add an accessory to your look each time you leave the house. Being a BRAT is about being over the top. It’s about buying the rhinestone and bedazzled tourist caps when you’re on vacation. It’s about giant sunglasses at night. It’s not just about accessorizing, it’s about
    over-accessorizing.

    My rule of thumb is to pick a go-to accessory and exaggerate it as much as possible. For example, if you love a funky earring, commit to the biggest, most outrageous earrings you can find. Personally, I adore rings, so this summer, I’m literally stacking every ring I own every day. If my hands weigh as much as my head, I’m doing it right.

    Don’t sleep in your makeup — but make it look like you did

    The cardinal sin in beauty is sleeping in your makeup. You run the risk of clogging your pores, activating or worsening acne, causing premature aging, drying out your skin barrier, and irritating your dermis. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You’re also missing out on all the potential benefits of your nighttime skincare routine when your skin needs the TLC the most.

    Being a BRAT might be about being booked and busy, but it’s also about keeping yourself at your best to do it all over again tomorrow. So, no, don’t use BRAT summer as an excuse to sleep in your makeup, but use it as inspiration to
    look like you slept in your eyeliner.

    I’m talking thick brows, smudged eyeliner, smoky shadow, and finger blush. Apply with no caution whatsoever, and you have the look.

    Say yes — to everything.

    Consider that one Jim Carrey movie
    Yes Man. When he’s bound to say yes to everything, hilarity ensues. In real life, the same is true. Doing it for the plot, as the kids say, can open doors you never expected. In the winter, I’m protective of my boundaries and selective about what I do. In the summer, I’ll take any opportunity to be outside.

    An extension of this rule is keeping the conversation open. Don’t just ask people what they’re doing, ask them if you can tag along. You’ll be surprised how often they tell you that the more, the merrier.

    Don’t flake

    Saying yes to plans is a commitment. But it’s not very BRATty to cancel at the last minute. Once you affirm plans, respond to a Partiful invite, or slide up on someone’s story about a house party, you’re bound to it. Even if you only go for a moment, show your face, and leave, it’s better than flaking completely.

    Dance!

    In the song “girl, so confusing” (not the version with Lorde, but we’ll get there), Charli says: “Think you should come to my party and put your hands up!” The queen has spoken — y’all better put your hands up.

    It might seem like a given since we’re talking about parties, but people don’t want to clock in and dance anymore. It’s time to break the cycle. This summer, let’s make a pact to actually dance at parties. No more standing on the walls, trying to look cool and nonchalant. Being a BRAT is about being chalant.

    Think Troye Sivan in his icon run of music videos last year. I want to channel “Get Me Started” energy to every song on
    BRAT. You don’t have to have full choreo, but let the music move you, for goodness sake! That’s what it’s for.

    Especially if they’re playing throwback 2000s and 2010s recession-pop

    This one is for the DJs: If you’re playing
    BRAT at the club (you should be), it’s best paired with recession pop. Play Charli mixed with the greats and their own pop bangers. BRAT is influenced by the music of the past decade. And considering Cahrli has been making music that whole time, BRAT is an homage to this era. The best way to pay it respect is by

    Pregame with sad girl music

    A BRAT is complicated. They contain multitudes. They’re complex and layered. Behind the party girl exterior is a deep yearning that can only be soothed by sad girl music. If you’re watching
    Lana Del Rey’s Coachella 2024 performance on YouTube before going out, congratulations, you’re a BRAT.

    I personally find that starting the pregame with Phoebe Bridgers, moving on to Billie Eilish, and ending with Charli sets the perfect mood. You have to work your way up to Charli. You have to emotionally earn it.

    Wired headphones forever

    The above is true when you’re alone, too. Listening to music in your headphones, it better be either La Del Rey or Charli this summer. But the headphones themselves matter. Until they make neon green skins for your bulky wireless Airpods, wired earphones are the official choice for a BRAT summer. Whether you choose the classic Apple earphones or trendy ones like the Koss vintage-inspired earphones,
    as long as they have a wire, you’re good.

    Ponder the meaning of life

    “I think about it all the time, that I might run out of time,” ponders Charli on BRAT. “My career feels so small in the existential scheme of it all,” she ends the song, “i think about it all the time,” before leading into a song of the summer, “365.” Clearly, her career means something — both to her and the culture. And it’s a sign to us all. It’s normal to ponder the meaning of life, to spiral at the club, to have an existential crisis in the car on the way home. As long as you show up and dance.

    Take digitals. Post the good, bad, and the ugly

    Every other year comes a photo trend. During Tumblr, it was the Polaroid camera. For the past few years, it’s been the disposable. Now, it’s the digital cameras. While we don’t have to bring back Facebook albums compiling every photo from every night, I shudder to recall that dark time, digital cameras offer both whimsy and functionality. Just don’t dilly-dally before sharing with your friends.

    It’s also about being real online and offline. There’s no room for shame or regret when you’re a BRAT. So post every pic, even if your eye is half closed — in fact, that makes you seem cooler. Like, wow, you’re too busy living your super cool and awesome life to stress about your photos. And I’ll be in the likes of all your photo dumps and stories because BRATs support BRATs.

    No beef. Work it out on the remix

    Undoubtedly, the most viral storyline from the BRAT rollout came a few weeks later with a remix. Many had already speculated that the song was about Cahrli and Lorde’s purported beef. After years in the industry, the two kept being compared to each other and Charli has spoken out about these comparisons before. While they weren’t fighting it out on Instagram Live, the fans hyped up this so-called rivalry. It finally seemed like Charli was addressing it in “girl, so confusing,” a song straight out of the
    Barbie soundtrack (which she also worked on).

    So, imagine all of our surprises when Lorde and Charli worked it out on the remix. Released days after the initial album, “The girl, so confusing version with Lorde” was a surprisingly vulnerable and completely powerful move to end this alt-girl beef. Lorde hopped on the track to talk about her insecurities and the defense mechanisms we make to protect ourselves and hurt other people. I almost cried to that heavy pop beat. And Charli wouldn’t have it any other way.

    In a world filled with nonsensical (though entertaining) feuds like Kendrick and Drake, this summer is about working it out on the remix. It’s about supporting other BRATs. And inviting that girl you think hates you to your party. Truly iconic.

    Langa Chinyoka

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  • Barcelona Baby: Dua Lipa Channels Numerous Pop Girls in Video for “Illusion”

    Barcelona Baby: Dua Lipa Channels Numerous Pop Girls in Video for “Illusion”

    As Dua Lipa continues to build the anticipation for her long-awaited third album, Radical Optimism, she’s already brought us a third single in the wake of “Houdini” and “Training Season.” The theme of “Illusion,” as it’s called (and in keeping with a title like “Houdini”), is more closely aligned to the one in “Training Season,” with Lipa telling off any man trying to spin some false yarn. In order to help convey that message in visual form is the always impressive Tanu Muino, who has increasingly branched out into collaborating with American musicians in lieu of the Ukrainian ones she started out working for. In fact, it was, of all things, a Katy Perry video (2019’s “Small Talk”) that signaled her transition to working with some of the biggest names in American pop and hip hop/R&B music (including Cardi B [“Up”], Normani [“Wild Side”], Lil Nas X [“Montero”] and Doja Cat [“Attention”]). 

    Dua Lipa only adds to that growing list and, together, her and Muino bring one of their most elaborate music video concepts yet—one that relies on the sumptuous, intoxicating backdrop of Barcelona. Indeed, it’s as though Lipa is beckoning us to join her in “summer mode” despite many locations still being hopelessly trapped in winter mode (spring season or not). And yes, it’s apparent that Radical Optimism is vying for “album of the summer” status, not just with its release date (May 3rd), but its water-filled album cover (featuring Lipa casually swimming near/toward a shark, presented in the Jaws manner of protruding fin only). “Illusion,” too, is water-filled, thanks to being filmed at the Piscina Municipal de Montjuïc. Known for hosting major sporting events, including the 1992 Olympics, the pool’s location on the Montjuïc hill is what affords it such a glorious panoramic view of the city, complete with Gaudí’s Sagrada Família in the background. A feature that Kylie Minogue opted to exclude from her 2003 “Slow” video, during which she also relished the cinematic potential of the location, albeit solely with overhead shots of her writhing seductively around in an orgiastic heap with all the other poolside loungers on towels. Lipa, in this way, makes her first homage to a pop girl—except that she chooses to maximize the location much more than Minogue did. 

    This commences with Muino’s establishing shot of Lipa perched on the network of uniquely structured diving boards amid a sea of muscular men in matching attire (short blue shorts and white tank tops). As the men do various exercise-y poses, Lipa ascends one of the ladders while informing us, “I’ve been known to miss a red flag/I’ve been known to put my lover on a pedestal/In the end, those things just don’t last/And it’s time I take my rose-colored glasses off.” And yet, even if she’s taken them off with regard to her perception of her lover, the city of Barcelona can still be seen through rose-colored glasses even without any on. Drenched in that indelible Spanish sunlight, the cityscape steals the show almost as much as Lipa’s seemingly “Express Yourself”-inspired backup dancers. That’s right, it appears Lipa gives a stylistic nod to Madonna yet again (as she did in the “Houdini” video) with a setup that very much reminds of what M did in her David Fincher-directed masterpiece from 1989. Not to mention the scaffolding-style backdrop of Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted,” itself a recent inspiration for Ariana Grande’s “yes, and?” video. The aesthetic relationship between “Express Yourself” (which came out a month before Abdul’s single) isn’t a coincidence, what with Fincher having directed both. 

    Accordingly, each of those videos has plenty of mounting of/gyrating on industrial-looking “rigs” to help highlight the choreo. Of a nature that channels the exuberance Lipa is going for with the record as a whole, stating that she wanted to “capture the essence of youth and freedom and having fun.” The video does achieve that, even if the lyrics are indicative of someone who has been jaded by enough experience with relationships past. In fact, there is even an aura of the “Express Yourself” mantra in Lipa’s coming-of-age tone as she sings the defiant chorus, “Ooh, what you doin’?/Don’t know who you think that you’re confusin’/I be like, ooh, it’s amusin’/You think I’m gonna fall for an illusion.” This leads into her talking about how, at this juncture, she knows exactly what she wants, declaring, “Was a time when that shit might’ve worked/Was a time when I just threw a match and let it burn/Now I’m grown, I know what I deserve/I still like dancin’ with the lessons I already learned.” In other words, “Don’t go for second best, baby/Put your love to the test/You know, you know you’ve got to…” 

    But M isn’t the only pop girl Lipa conjures in “Illusion.” There’s also a clear-cut Britney Spears moment when Muino gives us an overhead shot of Lipa in the pool while lying on a floating circular object as she moves her arms up and down—in clear “Oops!…I Did It Again” fashion. For never was there a more iconic overhead shot of a pop princess lying on a circular ditty and moving her arms around than that. Spears might not have had a slew of synchronized swimmers around her while doing it, but the connection is still there. Plus, Muino is no stranger to orbiting Spears’ world, for she directed 2022’s “Hold Me Closer” (which shares many qualities with “Illusion” in that it wields a city’s—Mexico City’s—backdrop as a key character). Maybe that’s why there’s also echoes of the pool scenes from “Work Bitch,” wherein Britney stands on a circular platform in the center of the water as hammerhead sharks swim around her (this, too, perhaps some unwitting inspo for the Radical Optimism cover). 

    Talking of connections, there’s even one to Miley Cyrus when Lipa is lifted out of the water by the very “O” ring that previously encircled her, giving an immediate flash to the cover of Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation album. As the video starts to wrap up, a choreography breakdown in the 00s spirit of what someone like Lindsay Lohan did on the rooftop in the “Rumors” video occurs, with Lipa repeating, “I’d rather dance with the illusion”—than actually invest time in a full-blown, off-the-dancefloor relationship with the real, unvarnished version. Which always turns out to be so disappointing. 

    For one of her big finishes, Lipa mounts a “tower of men” (with some women peppered in between), making her way to the top for another overhead shot where she’s “chillin’ on a circle.” Obviously, it’s a metaphor for how she’s overcome all the necessary emotional obstacles to become secure and confident in knowing exactly what she wants—and what she doesn’t. As for the former, it definitely includes taking dips in Barcelona and repeating the mantra, “Dance all night, dance all night” (not so different from what she said in “Dance the Night”).

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Madonna and Kylie Minogue Cause the Gays to Short Circuit

    Madonna and Kylie Minogue Cause the Gays to Short Circuit

    Talk about “being in your head all weekend.” For the image that Madonna and Kylie Minogue have left behind in the wake of performing “I Will Survive” (the gayest of the gay anthems by none other than Gloria Gaynor) and “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” is something that has caused many an older gay gentleman’s synapses to short circuit. The performance in question occurred when Minogue joined Madonna onstage at her March 7th date of The Celebration Tour at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum. (Unsurprisingly, Madonna timed her rash of L.A. dates to coincide with when the Academy Awards would be taking place [March 10th], for it’s no secret that M and her manager, Guy Oseary, are beloved for the Oscar party they’ve been throwing since 2008.) Fittingly, their long overdue public union onstage (and in life) would serve as something of a nod to March 8th’s International Women’s Day (or at least that’s how the duo is billing it). And what could be more inspiring than two such women supporting one another?

    The genesis of that support really began on November 16, 2000, when Madonna performed “Music” at the MTV European Music Awards whilst wearing a black tank top with Kylie Minogue’s name shinily emblazoned on it (along with a pair of then-fashionable very low-rise pants). Incidentally, Minogue was also at the same awards show, and performed “Kids” with Robbie Williams. While on the red carpet afterward, Madonna was asked about her recent predilection for wearing tees of Britney and Kylie, to which she replied, “Well, it’s really my celebration of other girls in pop music, basically. I had to give a big-up to Britney and then I had to give a big-up to Kylie… I think they’re the cutest.” And yes, Spears, too, has famously joined Madonna onstage during one of her tours before—once again, at an L.A. date (so don’t try to say the NY shows have superior celebrity cameos ‘cause they don’t). Specifically, the November 6, 2008 one at Dodger Stadium, where Spears cameo’d for “Human Nature” (appropriate, considering its “Piece of Me” vibe and the fact that Madonna used backdrops of Spears pacing around in an elevator for it). 

    This cameo by Minogue, however, appears to be more deeply felt. Not just by the audience of swooning gays, but by Madonna and Minogue themselves. Accordingly, Minogue posted a video of herself dancing on the floor of the arena as Madonna performed “Ray of Light” in the background, captioning it, “MADONNA It’s been a long time coming. LOVED being with you!!!! Celebration Tour AND it is now International Women’s Day …. THANK YOU and LOVE LOVE LOVE.” Madonna was slightly less gushing (she’s still a tough-talking, brass balls-packing Midwestern girl, after all) with her own caption beneath a high-quality video of their performance together: “Couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate International Woman’s Day…………………Then to Sing with @kylieminogue.”

    In fact, wearing that instantly iconic ensemble back in 2000 was part of Madonna celebrating women outside of “just one day out of life.” At the time, while being interviewed on a 2000 episode of Celebrity!, Minogue said she was “chuffed” about seeing M wear the shirt. Right after her assessment, the host passed Minogue a gift containing a riff on that top bearing the name “MADONNA” instead (an uncanny foreshadowing of twenty-four years later, evidently). Although Minogue has been asked countless times since the beginning of her career about 1) what she thinks of Madonna and 2) how she feels regarding being so often compared to Madonna (with Minogue’s responses being gracious…most of the time), the two never seemed to align—meeting or collaboration-wise. 

    In 2011, she told an interviewer for The Sydney Morning Herald, “I’ve only met her briefly [backstage at the 2000 EMAs, as it were]. We have some friends in common and, you know, a message will go back and forth and she says, ‘Hi’ or I say, ‘Hi.’” And now they’ve said so much more—hopefully feeling comfortable enough at this point to message directly back and forth. A newly-established dynamic that many are likely hoping could lead to the frequently teased potential song they might make together. 

    Minogue’s own talk of wanting to do a collaboration with the woman she, too, calls “the Queen” has been repeated more than once over the years, including during an interview for HuffPost UK when asked if she would be interested in doing a song with M, to which Kylie noted, “Maybe the world would stop mid-orbit or something.” For about five minutes in Inglewood on March 7th, it kind of did. 

    But, as Minogue herself said, it’s been a long time coming. Indeed, over the past year, Madonna and Kylie have been dancing around each other (no pun intended) more than usual. That dance started around the time Minogue released “Padam Padam” in the spring of 2023. Mainly because said lead single from Tension was an instant chart-topping success despite the then fifty-three-year-old (she was eight days shy of fifty-four when the song was released) reciting lyrics that many (chiefly Republicans) would still deem age inappropriate, regardless of the numerous strides that have supposedly been made when it comes to not judging women through an ageist lens.

    In contrast, Madonna, in later years, has rarely received so much attention or praise for a song (save for, oddly enough, her collaboration with The Weeknd and Playboi Carti on “Popular”) featuring her own similar use of “youthisms” in lyrics (hear: “Candy Shop,” “Girl Gone Wild,” “Some Girls and “S.E.X.,” among others). 

    Granted, she’s never really gone so far as to say something (at least not in what her critics would call her “geriatric phase”) like, “I know you wanna take me home/And get to know me close…/I know you wanna take me home/And take off all my clothes” or “This place is crowdin’ up/I think it’s time for you to take me out this club/And we don’t need to use our words/Wanna see what’s underneath that t-shirt.” And, in spite of being a notoriously ageist community themselves, the gays probably did wanna see what was underneath Minogue’s Madonna t-shirt last night, so obsessed can they be with aesthetic appraisal. But that might have been the thing that truly caused a short circuit from which none of them could ever return. Besides, maybe Madonna casually dry humping Minogue was enough.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • 2024 Grammy Awards Recap

    2024 Grammy Awards Recap

    The 66th annual Grammy Awards were last night at the Crypto.com Arena in the not-so-sunny Los Angeles, California. As storms raged outside the arena, I tuned in for close to five hours of red carpet coverage and the sparkling ceremony to watch music’s biggest night and make my own judgments.

    At some points agonizing, the Grammys truly take their time. Packing performance after performance, people going well over their speech time, and leaving the main awards for the very end can feel never-ending. However, this year’s Grammy Awards had everything: Taylor Swift announcing a brand new album, Tortured Poet’s Department, Miley Cyrus getting her first two Grammy’s and delivering iconic speeches and performances, nods to Barbie, a visit from Celine Dion and a few controversial decisions.

    I mean, even Jay-Z took a shot at the Recording Academy for not giving Beyonce any Album of the Year awards despite having the most nominations. Taylor Swift brought Lana Del Rey on stage while accepting Album of the Year for Midnights to recognize how many artists’ sounds Del Rey’s influenced despite never having won a nomination. The Academy gets it wrong, and often.

    Who Won At The 2024 Grammys?

    Here are some winners from a few of the main categories, including the top four awards…And may I add that some of my predictions were spot on?

    Record of the Year: “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus

    Album of the Year: Midnights by Taylor Swift

    Song of the Year: “What Was I Made For” by Billie Eilish and FINNEAS

    Best New Artist: Victoria Monet

    Producer of the Year: Jack Antonoff

    Best Pop Solo Performance: “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus

    Best Pop Duo Performance: “Ghost in the Machine” by SZA and Phoebe Bridgers

    Best Pop Vocal Album: Midnights by Taylor Swift

    Best Pop Dance Recording: “Padam Padam” by Kylie Minogue

    Best Rock Performance: “Not Strong Enough” by boygenius

    Best Country Album: Bell Bottom Country by Lainey Wilson

    Best R&B Song: “Snooze” by SZA

    Who Should’ve Won At The 2024 Grammys?

    The Grammy Awards are decided by the Academy- a group of voters within the music industry who I sometimes think forget to listen to the music of the nominees. It’s why Jay-Z spoke up while receiving the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, it is quite shocking that Beyonce has never won Album of the Year.

    While everyone at the Grammy’s deserves their awards, multiple artists got onstage to say this is not what they make music for. Artists like Miley Cyrus said she felt this happy yesterday because she’s doing it for herself. Taylor Swift thanks her fans, and says she’s happiest when making songs and doing what she loves…but sometimes, the awards gods are fickle.

    Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” went home empty-handed, which was another surprise. While GUTS may not be my favorite work of Rodrigo’s, “Vampire” was a chart-topping, viral song that I truly thought would win something. SZA’s SOS album was on top of the Billboard Hot 100 every week but failed to receive a mention in the top categories like Album of the Year.

    Lana Del Rey, who’s been nominated upwards of 10 times and wrote one of the best albums in the culmination of her already iconic discography with Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard? Received zero awards throughout the night. In a controversial move, Taylor Swift brought her up on stage so the world can recognize all Lana’s done.

    In the Best New Artist category, Ice Spice and Noah Kahan were betting favorites to win…but ultimately, it went to Victoria Monét.

    The Best Performances From The Grammys

    Miley Cyrus

    @mileycyrus♬ original sound – Miley Cyrus

    It’s been years since Cyrus has graced any sort of stage, and she didn’t disappoint. Every bit as honest, exciting, and a true rockstar as she’s ever been, Miley Cyrus is one-of-a-kind. From chiding the audience for not singing along to celebrating her first Grammy win during her performance of “Flowers”, you could tell that Miley just wanted to have fun.

    She even shared she was doing this performance so she could watch clips of it later…and also admitted to foregoing underwear. It was fun, carefree, and exactly how these award shows should be.

    Joni Mitchell

    You may wonder how someone with as illustrious a career as Joni Mitchell has never performed at the Grammy’s. Singing a song she wrote at 21 years old, over half a century later, “Both Sides Now” was both moving and refreshing. She’s won nine Grammy’s herself, nominated 18 times, and has inspired the sounds of our favorite artists.

    She took folk music and made it her own, and after having to re-learn how to talk (and sing) from a brain aneurysm, no one is more well-respected in the industry than Mitchell.

    Luke Combs + Tracy Chapman

    Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” dominated the charts this year. One of the most highly covered songs in the world, and Luke Combs put his country spin on it to create a beautiful, acoustic version. It feels almost entirely his own, but his performance with OG Tracy Chapman shows that music is, indeed, art.

    The song itself is a timeless classic, with Luke Combs being one of the most talented country vocalists in the game right now and Tracy Chapman reminding us the deep roots of the song.

    Other Notable Grammy Moments



    Jai Phillips

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  • Kylie Minogue split took Jason Donovan 'years' to recover from: 'She ran off with the guy I wanted to be'

    Kylie Minogue split took Jason Donovan 'years' to recover from: 'She ran off with the guy I wanted to be'

    Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan played Neighbours’ greatest-ever couple in soap’s greatest-ever wedding – with Ramsay Street’s Charlene Mitchell and Scott Robinson’s telly nuptials watched by 20 millions fans in 1987. But when and how did Kylie and Jason break up in real life?

    An Audience with Kylie is on the box tonight (December 10), meaning viewers will take to their phones for answers to questions about the Aussie pop legend.

    Read on to find out more about what happened to 1980s pop power couple who topped the charts with Especially For You nearly 35 years ago in January 1989.

    An Audience with Kylie is Sunday night’s essential viewing (Credit: BBC)

    Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan relationship explained

    Kylie and Jason are believed to have met on the set of Neighbours. Her Charlene character debuted in Erinsborough, Madge Ramsay’s daughter, in April 1986.

    It is thought Kylie and Jason became more than co-stars when their soap characters got hitched in the summer of 1987. But pop stardom beckoned for both, with Kylie moving on from Neighbours in 1988, and Jason leaving the next year.

    Their relationship lasted around three years. The end came as Kylie was promoting her music in Japan, and Jason was doing the same in New York.

    Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan gaze at one another
    Especially For You: ‘If dreams were wings, you know I would have flown to you’ (Credit: YouTube)

    ‘An extremely painful parting of the ways’

    Jason recalled their split in 2016 in an interview with the Mirror. He told the tabloid: “It was an extremely painful parting of the ways. And, without a doubt, I took a long time to recover from it. Years, definitely.”

    I took a long time to recover from it. Years, definitely.

    Additionally, Kylie’s new relationship with INXS frontman Michael Hutchence appeared in headlines around the world.

    Kylie Minogue sings with Jason Donovan in 2018
    Kylie Minogue reunites with Jason Donovan for an rendition of Especially For You in 2018 (Credit: YouTube)

    Jason went on during his 2016 chat: “It was bad enough that she’d run off with anybody. But she happened to run into the arms of the greatest rock god of the period, the very guy who I secretly wanted to be.

    “That was a pretty big punch to take.”

    Kylie Minogue smiles
    Kylie and Jason dated for around three years (Credit: BBC)

    ‘I could see her slipping away’

    Dad-of-three Jason, who married wife Angela Malloch in 2008, also previously indicated he believes professional “jealousy” may have contributed to problems in their personal life together.

    YouTube video player

    He said during an appearance on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2012: “I knew I was in love with her when she became successful on her own.”

    Jason added: “It was a jealousy thing. I could see her slipping away. I am sure it happened before that. But it was not until I could see her going off in one direction, I thought I was going to lose her.”

    Read more: Kylie Minogue’s appearance on The Graham Norton Show causes a stir as fans flock to her defence

    An Audience with Kylie airs on ITV, Sunday December 10, at 7.45pm. 

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    Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think of this story.

    Robert Leigh

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  • This Week on POPSUGAR Rush: Troye Sivan vs. Kylie Minogue – POPSUGAR Australia

    This Week on POPSUGAR Rush: Troye Sivan vs. Kylie Minogue – POPSUGAR Australia

    I never expect great Aussie representation at major overseas award shows. Sometimes it feels like the (great!) art that is produced within our borders never really extends beyond them. There are a few exceptions, obviously: The Kid LAROI, Muriel’s Wedding, and that man who barked like a rabid dog on the news just to name a few. But, in the year 2023, it’s all about two Aussie pop superstars: Kylie Minogue and Troye Sivan. And, like everyone else in Australia, we at POPSUGAR Rush love them both.

    Despite the almost 30 years between them, both are making waves in pop in 2023. On one corner, we have Kylie, a bonafide music legend who has become deified not only in Australia but worldwide and has been making hits since before Troye was even alive, including her 2023 viral smash “Padam Padam”. Then, we have Troye, who is proving himself to have a uniquely refreshing take on pop music and hit his stride this year thanks to his hit “Rush”.

    Imagine our delight when we learn that both Troye and Kylie are up for Grammys this year, and are in fact competing against each other in the same category — best pop dance recording.

    Will Troye Sivan or Kylie Minogue Win a Grammy?

    I took to my Twitter account — I don’t recognise any other name for that website — and polled on which song people thought should win the award.

    Neck. and. neck.

    In fact, even Starr and I couldn’t agree. She’s team “Rush”, and I’m team “Padam.” We love healthy disagreements!

    But what are the actual odds of either of them winning? Well, even if Kylie loses this one, she still has a shiny Grammy award on her mantlepiece thanks to winning an award for the iconic “Come Into My World” way back in 2004 — Troye was six years old at the time. This year, Kylie also only has one nomination this year, which means she’s statistically got less chance of taking an award home.

    Troye Sivan, however, is up for two Grammys in the aforementioned category and, also, for best music video. And his odds of taking both home are actually pretty high. His only real competition is Miss Minogue in the best pop dance recording category, and Billie Eilish in the best music video category. Keep in mind, the Grammys really, really love Billie Eilish — she’s won seven out of 19 nominations since 2020, and that’s not including the six more nominations she has this year. But who is she to destroy our Australian pride in our own artists? Try it, Billie!

    I’m still rooting for Kylie, but I won’t be mad if Troye takes it home over her. Maybe now he won’t swerve us next time we’re on the red carpet with him!

    Besides Aussie pop icons, this week on POPSUGAR Rush also saw discussions around:

    • Timothée Chalamet and boygenius inexplicably impersonating Troye on SNL
    • The life and times of your mum’s fave, Robbie Williams
    • David Fincher’s new movie, The Killer, and what it could’ve been
    • The Fab Five now becoming a Fab Four, thanks to Bobby Berk
    • Travis Barker’s audacity to be drumming while Kourtney was in labour
    • and Kevin Bacon

    Listen to the latest episode above, or via any major podcast provider.

    READ MORE: POPSUGAR Rush

    Jackson Langford

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  • $500 million entertainment centre touted for Sydney’s CBD – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    $500 million entertainment centre touted for Sydney’s CBD – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    The Sydney CBD desperately needs a new indoor entertainment arena and the NSW Government has been urged to conduct a feasibility study to identify public land where it can be built.

    Developers believe up to $500 million of private capital could be invested at no cost to the taxpayer if public land were released with the covered stadium returning to public control once a long lease had expired.

    Plans are already being drawn up for a 10,000 seat indoor stadium at the Entertainment Quarter but are reliant on the current 23-year lease being extended to make the investment worthwhile.

    Tony Shepherd, chairman of the Entertainment Quarter, said discussions with the NSW government were ongoing to extend the lease and clear the way for $2 billion of investment in the old Easter Show site.

    “Part of that development includes a new multipurpose, fully enclosed arena which we think is something Sydney really needs close to the city centre,” he said.

    The $500 million arena would be able to accommodate professional basketball matches, boxing contests and mid-sized concert performances.

    Sydney only has Qudos Bank Arena at Homebush and nothing to rival Melbourne Arena and Rod Laver Arena in the centre of Melbourne. Potential sites for a new arena include the Bays Precinct and land seized from the Moore Park golf course.

    Tom Forrest, chief executive of the Urban Taskforce, said private investors could be encouraged to build an arena on government land and called for the NSW Government to…

    MMP News Author

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  • Kylie Minogue Eases the Tension in Fraught Times—Or Proves What Britney Said: “Keep On Dancin’ Till The World Ends”

    Kylie Minogue Eases the Tension in Fraught Times—Or Proves What Britney Said: “Keep On Dancin’ Till The World Ends”

    Bathed in the glow of a green light on the cover of her sixteenth album, Tension, as she holds a diamond (“Chasing my diamond on the horizon,” she sings on “Vegas High”) over her right eye, it’s only expected that Kylie Minogue should have a song on the record called “Green Light.” Yes, she dares to title a song as such after what Lorde did with 2017’s “Green Light.” But Minogue can carry it off, earnest with her audience as she opens with the chorus, “Just give me the green light/And I can make you feel better/Spinnin’ ’round in circles I could do it forever.” Functioning as the first verse and a portion of the full chorus, Minogue later adds to the latter, “Let me be your highlight/Dancin’ all night together/Just give mе the green light/And I could be yours forevеr.”

    That exact setup has been what’s happening between Minogue and her fans for decades as she serves dance bop consistency no matter what’s going on in the world. With Tension, Minogue proves that being on the dance floor provides the ultimate tunnel vision to tune out whatever “bad time” is occurring outside of it. To open her audience up to that sentiment, Minogue begins Tension with her global smash hit, “Padam Padam” (what she’s referred to as being her second “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”). More than just a track that solidifies how Madonna paved the way for female pop stars to sing about “frivolous twenties shit” at any age, it is an invitation into the escapist world of Tension. Granted, all of Minogue’s albums provide that kind of escapism, it’s just that it seems as though it’s never been more needed as a numbing agent than now. Indeed, as Minogue reminds her listeners, “now” is all we have. So why waste it intensifying anxieties about the latest environment-related catastrophe or dictatorial derangement? At least, that’s what it sounds like on the second track, “Hold On To Now.”

    With its 00s-era dance floor sound, Minogue transports us back to a time and place when things felt more carefree (even when people didn’t think it could possibly get worse than George W. Bush). But just because the sound is carefree doesn’t mean Minogue avoids getting “way existential” as she sings, “Baby, what are we holdin’ on to?/Baby, where do we wanna run to?/Oh, we’ll figure it out somehow-ow-ow/Keep holdin’ on to now, now/Dreamin’ we’ll be dancin’ forever/Floatin’ on this feeling together.” As though addressing the time prior to when the pandemic forced everyone to stop in their tracks and “reassess” (before getting right back to capitalism and the “tenets” of it that will inevitably furnish yet another pandemic in the near future), she says, “We’re all just goin’, goin’ ’round/So where we goin’, goin’ now? (hold on to now)/The world could all be fallin’ down (hold on to now)/But we’ll be holdin’ on to now.” Spoken like the Britney Spears of 2012 when she urged, “Keep on dancin’ ’til the world ends/If you feel it, let it happen/Keep on dancin’ ’til the world ends.” Because, really, what else can you do? Certainly not make a concerted effort to change the behavior that will lead to the world’s end (or rather, the end of humans). Which is why, when Minogue assures, “We’ll figure it out somehow,” what she really means is: people will be forced to learn to live with the discomfort that they assisted in creating. 

    Like “Hold On To Now,” “Things We Do For Love” also has an accompanying visualizer video. One in which she returns to the 70s aesthetic of her Disco album (far more tired and less listenable than Tension) by way of a sequined jumpsuit. And yet, the sound of the song is pure 80s (as Minogue put it, “It’s got a bit of a Footloose feel”), filled with the kind of hopeful synths and blithe notes that betrayed how dark the decade actually was. Which just goes to show that, in the darkest times, people still want to believe in the possibility of a light at the end of the tunnel. With its Springsteen-y intonation (sonically speaking), Minogue chants, “Should I stay?/Should I go?/Maybe you could be my unconditional/Oh, there’s nothin’ that I wouldn’t do/For love, for love, the things we do for love/Tell me, how far would you go?/When you hear our song come on the radio.” The latter line reminding us that Minogue’s music still exists in a realm where people listen to the radio (and not some kind of streaming platform). And one where toxic relationships are still romanticized. For she alludes to such toxicity in the first verse with, “Every time (every time)/That you come close, I can’t shake it/Oh, the feelings that I have/Oh, we’re never done.” How Katy Perry in “Never Really Over.”

    But one thing she’s truly never done with is bringing the masses dance-pop perfection. To that end, “Tension” (arguably more of an earworm than “Padam Padam”) is among the most standout songs of the album…and not just because Minogue wields sorbet and chili as similes in her verses. Opening with “piano stabs” that reek of 90s club culture, the hyper-sexualized lyrics of the single also serve to transport us through time. Specifically, to an era when people were actually more sexual and less repressed (apparently, only on the dance floors of 90s nightclubs). This being why Minogue seems determined for the musical tone to mimic the lyrical reference to orgasming, describing how “with the piano stabs, it takes you up and up, closer and closer to the climax, it gets so edgy…then it drops.” The effect is one that will definitely have listeners playing the song on repeat. 

    What follows is another upbeat, uptempo track that does, not so coincidentally, bear similarities to something out of the Daft Punk canon. For Minogue takes another risk on naming a song the same way as an iconic track that already came before: “One More Time.” Although she can’t one-up what Daft Punk did with that title, the track is a solid enough dance ditty. And, like most of the songs on Tension, it’s co-produced by Biff Stannard, Duck Blackwell and Jon Green, lending a dance floor cohesion to the record that wasn’t present on Disco. She even gives a nod to her album title and cover in the lyrics of this song, urging, “Release the pressure, ah, you know it’s special when we/Slow down, shake it all out.” For, as she remarked of featuring a diamond on the cover, “The diamond is a subliminal image: that of the creation of beautiful things under pressure. I think people could feel it through the cover, especially if they know how diamonds are made, that is to say, under the constraint.”

    And humanity, it would seem, loves to operate under the constraint of pressure-filled capitalism. A system that hardly leaves much time for romance, though it does sell the concept oh so well (simply look at the Jay-Z and Beyoncé campaign for Tiffany & Co.)—just as Minogue does when she insists, “You know there’s somethin’ ‘bout you and me/One more time, one more time, one more time/Rewind it back, we got history/One more time, one more time, one more time.” Her frequent mentions of returning to the same person are present here, too (as it was on “Things We Do For Love”). As is the insistence on slowing down…a running theme in Minogue’s career (hear also: “Skip a beat and move with my body/Yeah/Slow”), despite the fact that her songs are created with a fast tempo. Even when they might start out, let’s say, “gently” enough. This is the case for “You Still Get Me High,” during which the mood of the record slows down briefly at the beginning of the track (while continuing to drip in the 80s musical tones that Minogue knows like the back of her hand). With an Arcade Fire-y/stadium performance vibe, it then picks up the tempo at the forty-eight second mark as Minogue belts the chorus, “Baby, baby, goodbye/Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh/Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh/Maybe it’s the moonlight/You still get me high (high)/Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh/Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh/Shine on me all night/You still get me high.” This, to be sure, is how her devoted listeners still feel about Minogue after all these years. Until she shows her penchant for releasing an occasional clunker onto the record. That assignation certainly applies to “Hands.”

    That’s right, here she goes again, naming a song after something another singer already made famous: Jewel with her own “Hands.” To boot, this is definitely the most cringeworthy song on the record. The reason why really boils down to one fatal flaw in the track: its pre-chorus. Resembling something that wants to emulate “white girl rap” but can’t quite achieve the delicate balance required to successfully execute it, Minogue faux raps, “Right, yeah/Everything I do is so right [not in this case, though], yeah/Barbie, I’m that cherry on top of the cake/All up in your face/I’m about to give you a taste.” Apart from the mention of Barbie, everything about these lyrics are completely irrelevant. Not to mention utterly cliche in the worst possible manner. At least Madonna went all-out in her daringness on the rap of “American Life.” Here, Minogue plays it safe while still flopping. Which is the worst possible way to flop. 

    But at least there is the consolation of the song that follows, the aforementioned “Green Light.” Having been given the green light for decades now, Minogue feels particularly in her element on this track, branding it as “a cousin to ‘Spinning Around’ [from 2000’s Light Years]—it’s not as overt, it’s quite breezy and chill.” That much is corroborated by the dazzling saxophone solo throughout. Because, again, Minogue is an unapologetic 80s girl. 

    Nonetheless, “Vegas High” finds Minogue going more “90s dance” again as she offers a pulsing beat to describe, “Losin’ track of time/We’re rollin’ on the night/And fallin’ to the sky/Make my eyes roll back when I feel that Vegas high.” Incidentally, Minogue had initially planned to call the album Vegas High to align with her More Than Just A Residency show at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Minogue eventually settled on Tension instead, choosing to ignore her fear that, with the world already being such a tense place as it is, people might not respond well to the title. Obviously, however, the masses are far more open to Kylie’s kind of tension than the tension wrought by political clashes.

    Swapping out a Vegas high for a regular one on “10 Out of 10” featuring Oliver Heldens, Minogue not only reminds us that she does constantly give us ten out of ten (save for the intermittent “mehs” here and there), but also returns to the sexually-charged lyrical tone of “Tension.” This much shines through when she teases, “Wanna kiss me where the sun don’t shine/Wow, wanna devour/Me boy, I might get wеt, bring a towel/After we’rе done, let’s hop in the shower.” And yet, since we already know how well Kylie can “do sex,” she seems to want to remind listeners of her more vulnerable side on “Story,” the song that closes the standard edition of the album. Coming across like an unwitting love letter to her fandom, Minogue announces, “You’re part of my story,” in addition to, “You said/Turn another page/Baby, take the stage/You know the stars are comin’ out for ya/Ebb and then they flow/Baby, feel the glow.” Which Minogue so clearly does throughout this levity-filled record.

    What’s more, as though wanting to reiterate that, no matter how 80s she is, her heart will always belong to the 70s, Minogue kicks off the deluxe edition with “Love Train” (yes, The O’Jays have a more well-known 70s single titled that). Another “catchy little ditty,” Minogue nearly ruins it by vaguely pronouncing Mario like “Mare-ee-oh” as she commences, “Ninety-nine lives, Super Mario/Wanna be with you and spend ’em all/I got a ticket to ride.” As we all do for this thing called the slow apocalypse. So it is that her post-chorus mimics the sound of a “choo-choo” as she croons, “Ooh, ooh, la-la-la-la-la” and later makes things innuendo-laden once more with the declaration, “All aboard my love train/I can take you to the moon in the fast lane/I need a passenger, baby, don’t wait/Yeah, you better buckle up, it’s a beautiful view.”

    As it is on “Just Imagine,” a song that was given to Minogue all the way back in 2006 for consideration on X. And, like The Weeknd saying, “I feel it coming,” so, too, does Kylie pronounce, “I can feel it comin’/Oh, my heartbeat’s out of my hands/Don’t what it is, but, oh/Just imagine/All these words I’m thinkin’/And I know that you understand/What if we could say ’em all?/Just imagine.” Being a song about “imagining,” the sonic landscape is accordingly suffused with a dreamy, lush tone that, to repeat, smacks of something straight out of the 80s. Just as the final track on the deluxe edition does. And, though Jefferson Airplane claimed it before, using already iconic song titles doesn’t faze Minogue if you couldn’t tell by now. Hence, concluding the album with “Somebody To Love.” On it, Minogue cautions of that bastard, Cupid, “One day, the arrow’s gonna get through/Nothing you can do, it’s automatic/You won’t know what you’re gettin’ into/But when it happens, it’s cinematic.” Until it just becomes full-stop dramatic amid the inevitable unraveling of the relationship. Nonetheless, Minogue warns that, like Dawson and Joey, you can’t control it when you end up going from “strangers to friends and to lovers/Open your heart [#MadonnaSaid] and let solo go/We could be good for each other/Don’t have to do it alone.” The irony of that statement being that it embodies both capitalist and anti-capitalist philosophies. For, on the one hand, Minogue reinforces the narrow-mindedness of monogamous yearnings and, on the other, alludes to how no man is an island a.k.a. Rand-ian objectivist.

    And yet, when the end comes (whether individually or collectively through a cataclysm), perhaps we’ll all find that it’s true what’s been said: you’re born alone and you die alone. So why not keep on dancin’ till the (or your) world ends to try to forget, as much as possible, that that’s the reality? Minogue being the great creator of an alternate one through her dance-ready distractions on Tension.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Kylie Minogue’s “Tension,” Er, Comes Across Like a Vibrator-Related Self-Love Anthem

    Kylie Minogue’s “Tension,” Er, Comes Across Like a Vibrator-Related Self-Love Anthem

    Likely wanting to ramp up the special effects and overall “high-concept” nature of her latest video so as to at least visually one-up “Padam Padam” (since it’s all but impossible to do that sonically), Kylie Minogue brings us her second single from Tension…called none other than “Tension.” Although Minogue could just as easily be talking to/about a man in the song, it sounds, more often than not, as though she’s directing her own hand. As it wields a vibrator.

    Almost as if to confirm that theory, Sophie Muller (who also directed “Padam Padam,” in addition to many other of Minogue’s videos) features a lot of different Minogues pointing at and nearly touching each other (delayed gratification makes for a more intense “release,” after all). These suggestive maneuvers transpire after an “original” Minogue enters something like a “pleasure dome” (except it’s square-shaped) bedecked with a blue neon line of light outlining its rooftop. An element of Little Red Riding Hood then quickly takes hold as we fully perceive the ensemble Minogue is wearing while she walks toward the light of the door beckoning to her from her place in the darkness of night. And that look is decidedly, let’s say, “Madeline-chic” (it’s the chapeau, really)—with more than a dash of Red Riding Hood at play. 

    As she enters deeper into the “abyss,” a platinum blonde Control Room Kylie watches her on the screen before Muller quickly cuts to a TV Transmission Kylie, flickering in and out like so many static-y airwaves with her flaming red hair and shimmering silver dress. Confidently assuring, “I’m a star, babe-babe-babe/Do this all day-day-day/Cool like sorbet-bet-bet/​​Bet you can’t wait-wait-wait/Hands up on me-me-me/Hot like chilay-lay-lay.” Clearly titillated by all the food analogies, Madeline Kylie gets hot (like chili) enough under the collar to remove her scarf from her neck as Control Room Kylie keeps fiddling with her knobs (no innuendo intended). We then see Madeline Kylie sitting in front of a mirror removing her hat and tousling her hair as she coos, “Every day and every night/It’s the way I make you feel/Baby, there ain’t nothing better/And I could do this forever with you.” The fact that she’s gazing at herself in the mirror when she says this only adds to the notion that this is a self-love anthem…and one with more than occasional “vibratory” undertones.

    Pointing at herself as Muller flashes to the three different versions of Kylie we’ve seen thus far, she then chirps the pre-chorus, “All night, touch me right there (doo-doo-doo-doo)/Touch me right there (doo-doo-doo-doo)/Touch me right there/Baby, break the tension.” By now, TV Transmission Kylie has busted out of the screen she was confined by and proceeds to dance salaciously as Control Room Kylie presses and adjusts her joystick with especial sexual flair. The 70s-esque motel room (sort of in the spirit of the Pink Motel from the “Padam Padam” video) that Madeline Kylie has been feelin’ herself in suddenly erupts into dance floor status, complete with the type of disco lights that Minogue so loves as the chorus urges, “Oh, my God, touch me right there/Almost there, touch me right there/Don’t be shy, boy, I don’t bite/You know where, touch me right, ta-ta.”

    Taking us back to the hallway where Madeline Kylie first went down the rabbit hole, so to speak, now Control Room Kylie appears there too, demanding, “Call me Kylie-lie-lie/Don’t imita-ta-tate/Cool like sorbet-bet-bet (cool like sorbet-bet-bet)/I’m your esca-a-ape/I’m your vacay-ay-ay/Hot like chilay-lay-lay.” And, by the way, all this talk of sorbets and chili feels like nothing more than a recipe for having a terrible time in the bathroom. Surely something less diarrheaic could have been used to rhyme with sorbet. Even if she had said, “Hot like gravay-vay-vay” (a.k.a. “gravy”). Oh well. 

    It appears none of the Kylies have concerns about bowel movements on their mind as they dispense with mirror-based narcissism altogether and decide to sit at a table across from each other and repeat the mantra, “Every day and every night/It’s the way I make you feel/Baby, there ain’t nothing better/And I could do this forever with you.” Then, as if to prove how much they love themselves (and, probably more to the point, touching themselves…you know, to release tension), the two seem to use the power of that self-love to conjure an entirely new Kylie. This one billable as Showgirl Kylie (a nod, no doubt, to her 2005 Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour). Appearing in miniature with her bright yellow feather boa, feather headdress and coordinating sequined leotard, she then gets swapped out in favor of TV Transmission Kylie before Muller briefly goes back to mini Showgirl Kylie kicking her legs up in delight on the table. A flash to the control room then shows more switch flipping, complete with a red button that reads: “Touch Here.”

    It’s at this point that Minogue harkens us back to a lyric she used in 2007’s “The One,” during which she uses the simile, “Close to touch/Like Michelangelo”—this being an obvious allusion to The Creation of Adam. And in the video for “Tension,” she mimics that same pose of God reaching out to touch his finger to Adam’s, with TV Transmission Kylie in the God role and Madeline Kylie in the Adam role. All the while, Control Room Kylie keeps furiously pressing, pushing and switching her buttons before an array of more Kylie facsimiles appear to dance in silhouette next to TV Transmission Kylie. Then the facsimiles of mini Showgirl Kylie appear, too…just before everything gets buckwild and all the different Kylies seem to coexist in the same room within this “house of fantasies.” One in which Kylie can love on herself literally all she wants and apparently make no subtle allusion about touching herself “right there” to get her…satisfaction. It all smacks of The Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself,” as a matter of fact. And yes, it seems as though when Kylie thinks about “you” (read: herself), she does touch herself. Exclusively in this remote square-shaped building that leads somewhere much deeper. 

    Walking out of the structure at the end of the video, Madeline Kylie no longer has her hat on (hat snatched instead of wig, one supposes), and her body flickers in and out with shimmery static flair that emulates TV Transmission Kylie. Clearly, she absorbed some of the orgasmic good energy from her other selves in there. After all, who knows how to please a woman better than, well, herself?

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Kylie Minogue Feels Solidarity With Gay Fans: ‘They Protected Me’

    Kylie Minogue Feels Solidarity With Gay Fans: ‘They Protected Me’

    By Anita Tai.
    Published:

    Kylie Minogue is proud of her LGBTQ+ fanbase.

    The singer, who has been in the music industry for over 40 years, has cultivated a large demographic of queer fans over the years.

    When asked why she thought that was the case, she told ET Canada’s Dallas Dixon that part of it came down to a sense of camaraderie.

    “I would say around that time in the ’90s … There were plenty of moments where I was just being absolutely kind of [shakes head] it was…. it was not pleasant,” she recalled. “And I feel like my gay audience felt some kind of solidarity with me. They protected me. I’ve been trying to give out nothing but goodness and when you when you cop it a little unfairly, I think they’re ready to bite.”


    READ MORE:
    Kylie Minogue Reacts To Those ‘Padam Padam’ Memes: ‘I Love Seeing Them!’

    Where the LGBT+ community has been supportive of the singer, she’s also tried her best to return the favour.

    In February, she performed at the Sydney World Pride event with her sister Dannii, which was a moment she’ll never forget.

    “It was pretty electric. I’m not going to lie. I mean, I was really stressed before the show,” she admitted. “My sister’s there and we really want it to be amazing. And we hadn’t done that before. And, you know, just like technical stuff; is the lift going to work and is that going to happen? We’re going to do the normal show stuff. But after that, it was a really special night for so many people and we were able to perform together. It was amazing.”

    Looking back on her history with the queer community, she recalled one of her first introductions was through a Kylie Minogue drag show.


    READ MORE:
    2023 Monaco Grand Prix: Kylie Minogue, Orlando Bloom, Tom Holland & More Spend A Day At The Races

    “I was kind of adopted when I heard there was a Kylie drag show in Sydney in 1990 or whatever it was. And that’s kind of the first I heard of that, that kind of thing,” shared Minogue. “I’ve since been to a few drag shows and trust me, I’m the least Kylie in the room.”

    Tune into “One-on-One with Kylie Minogue” airing Friday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Global, and streaming live and on demand on STACKTV and the Global TV App.

    Anita Tai

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  • Kylie Minogue Reacts To Those ‘Padam Padam’ Memes: ‘I Love Seeing Them!’

    Kylie Minogue Reacts To Those ‘Padam Padam’ Memes: ‘I Love Seeing Them!’

    By Becca Longmire.
    Published:

    Kylie Minogue has seen those “Padam Padam” memes… and she loves them.

    The singer chatted to ET Canada Pride’s Dallas Dixon, with the host commenting on how much love the single had been getting online.

    As Dixon pointed out the memes, Minogue replied, “Stop it! No, don’t stop it!”

    Dixon insisted: “I cannot with the memes for this. Are you on Twitter just laughing your butt off at these like I am?” as Minogue responded, “I am! I don’t know if this has ever happened to me!

    “People are SO funny and so clever and I think it’s only just begun, so yeah, I love seeing them!!”


    READ MORE:
    Kylie Minogue Drops Irresistible New Track ‘Padam, Padam’

    Dixon also mentioned that Minogue was set to release her 16th studio album Tension later this year, following the release of 2020’s Disco.

    Minogue said of whether she felt pressure to match Disco’s success, “Ummmm, it should, but did it?

    “I was about to say no, but then I just dialed back to the sleepless nights.

    “That was just my pressure, I didn’t feel outside pressure,” she went on, adding: “I wanted to be back in the world, and I wanted to be able to deliver…’Tension’…that doesn’t sound great!”


    READ MORE:
    Kylie Minogue Unveils New Album ‘Tension’, Confirmed For Release In September

    Dixon then commented on Minogue’s latest single screaming “freedom” and “liberation” to him, to which Minogue insisted she was feeling those things.

    She shared, “It’s a different state of mind for me.”

    Tune into “One-on-One with Kylie Minogue” airing Friday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Global, and streaming live and on demand on STACKTV and the Global TV App.

    Becca Longmire

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  • Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam” Proves That Madonna Absorbed the Critical Vitriol for Other 50+ Pop Stars So They Could Keep Talking Like Teens and Twenty-Somethings in Their Songs at Any Age

    Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam” Proves That Madonna Absorbed the Critical Vitriol for Other 50+ Pop Stars So They Could Keep Talking Like Teens and Twenty-Somethings in Their Songs at Any Age

    As the discussion continues about whether or not “middle age” really exists anymore, among the many pop stars to benefit from the decision that it doesn’t is Kylie Minogue. That is to say, she isn’t being reamed for not “acting her age” the way Madonna (who has influenced Minogue and so many other pop star prototypes) constantly is. For whatever reason, Madonna appears to be the sole absorber of all ageist criticisms pertaining to aesthetics and lyrical content deemed too “young” for someone “her age.” She is, in effect, the pop star embodiment of Lottie (Courtney Eaton) on Yellowjackets taking all the punches from Shauna (Sophie Nélisse), representing the public in this case, so that none of the other girls have to. And while Minogue is ten years younger than Madonna, it’s still a bit of stretch to hear some of the things she’s singing about on her first single from Tension, “Padam Padam” (luckily, not a dance remake of the Édith Piaf song).  

    This isn’t to say a woman shouldn’t be able to sing about whatever the fuck she wants, no matter what age she is, it’s just interesting that only certain women seem to eke by with a “pass” for talking about such things as, “Padam, padam/I know you wanna take me home/Padam, and take off all my clothes.” Certainly, Minogue’s well-maintained face and body are nothing to balk at and it’s easy to believe someone (man or woman) would want to take her home, but it has to be acknowledged that this sort of talk from a fifty-plus pop star has only ever been done by Madonna (that’s right, not even Cher has “dared” to do what Madonna does in terms of redefining pop stardom for an “unthinkable” age bracket). And when she did (and still does), it never quite manages to get by “the censors” without some very harsh assessments.

    Take, for example, a 2012 review of MDNA, in which the reviewer felt it essential to comment, “Let us banish from our minds the thought that there are perhaps more dignified approaches for a 53-year-old woman than singing, ‘Girls, they just wanna have some fun’ in a song named after a series of porn videos in which women are encouraged to strip off in exchange for free baseball caps…” Minogue, of course, would never get such flak for singing about similarly “undignified” things “for her age” on “Padam Padam,” elsewhere including, “I can hear your heart beatin’/Padam, padam, I hear it and I know/Padam, padam, I know you wanna take me home/Padam, and get to know me close.” Less “age appropriate” still is, “This place is crowdin’ up/I think it’s time for you to takе me out this club/And we don’t need to use our words/Wanna see what’s underneath that t-shirt/Shivers and cold champagne.”

    As for the music video to go with “Padam Padam,” Minogue reteams with Sophie Muller (who also directed, among other Minogue singles, “Magic” and “Dancing”) to create a vibrant, red-filled palette that suggests the passion and heartbeat alluded to throughout the song. That red palette includes Minogue’s très rouge Mugler catsuit (alas, a red catsuit can never be more iconic than it was in Britney’s “Oops!…I Did It Again”). The video opens with aesthetics that are right out of the Twin Peaks and Chris Isaak music video playbook—from shots of Minogue in a diner holding out her bright red cup to be refilled to Minogue lying on a motel bed with two “fuzzed-out” TVs next to her (the whole 90s-esque motel vibe smacks of Chris Isaak’s “Baby Did A Bad Thing”). The lush visuals of both locations can be attributed to the Pink Motel and its adjacent Cadillac Jack’s Café (formerly Pink Café). And yet, for all the visual precision, there’s not really a cohesive “theme,” other than: red (ironic, considering the motel’s name). At other moments, Minogue appears outdoors with a slew of backup dancers as she “oversees” more than participates in the choreography (another maneuver Madonna has taken to in recent years, especially on tour). And, despite talking about being in a club, Minogue makes mention of that line while back in the diner as her dancers move around on the stools and in the booths for a simultaneously eerie and “playful” effect.

    In another scene, Minogue sits in a “futuristic” (because of its hyper-curved shape) red armchair as the dancers gyrate behind her. This, again, indicates a kind of disconnect between what Minogue wants to “exude” within these lyrics versus what she’s capable of exuding through her physicality. When Madonna turned fifty-four—Minogue’s current age (going on fifty-five as of May 28th)—in 2012, she was still determined to match her own physical manifestation of “Girl Gone Wild” in the Mert and Marcus-directed video, gyrating in unison with Ukrainian boy band Kazaky and their male model imitators that rounded out the cast of backup dancers.

    Three years prior, Madonna had another Benny Benassi-flavored track in 2009’s “Celebration,” with the Jonas Åkerlund-directed video featuring her writhing and grinding in thigh-high stiletto boots and a barely crotch-covering Balmain studded dress. The song doesn’t just bear bringing up because of Madonna’s continued dance commitment in it, but because even when Minogue says in “Padam Padam,” “You look like fun to me/You look a little like somebody I know,” it echoes Madonna saying something similar on “Celebration” with, “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?/You look familiar/You wanna dance?” Minogue has that same desire to grind up against someone (preferably of a “boy toy” demographic) on the dance floor for a while before going back to one of their places to disrobe. After all, she hasn’t put such work into her body for it to go unnoticed by another, n’est-ce pas?

    As for “Padam Padam” itself, there’s no denying it’s an absolute bop (which is a relief after the tired stylings of her Disco era). Produced by Lostboy, the song has the kind of earworm hook that made “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” so, well, impossible to get out of one’s head. Within this single, Minogue alludes to that 2001 hit with the line, “I’ll be in your head all weekend.” In addition to probably giving/getting head all weekend from the sound of it. But again, Minogue’s ability—as well as any other female pop star going forward—to refer to such things without the judgment to “act her age” is a direct result of the floggings Madonna has taken. And, as stated before, continues to take.

    Perhaps because Minogue comes across as a “nicer” person, or maybe just the fact that she’s Australian and not American (therefore not subject to the same puritanical American views as Madonna), it’s helped her avoid such similar tongue lashings. But for all of Madonna’s supposed “bitchiness,” no one, least of all Minogue, can deny the path she’s cleared for post-middle-age existence (particularly for women), whether as a pop star or a civilian. Which is to say, it no longer really exists at all as a direct result of Madonna’s refusal to pander to being, as she once phrased it in an interview with Jonathan Ross, “put out to pasture” at the age of forty.

    Genna Rivieccio

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