Australian singer Kylie Minogue celebrated twenty years since winning her first Grammy in style. This year, she continued her success and won her second American statuette for the dance single Padam Padam. “This is an extraordinary moment. And I want to make the most of it, so I will return to the recording studio as soon as possible,” she announced in the spring.
And she did exactly that. As the DPA agency writes, the 56-year-old pop star released a new album called Tension II last Friday.
While the singer used to change her style, this time she didn’t make any changes on purpose. The new release, both in name and in spirit, follows on from last year’s successful recording Tension, which contained the hit Padam Padam. “This period is very important to me. I don’t want it to end,” the star explained when announcing the project. Next year, he will present it live on a world tour, during which he will perform 58 concerts in Australia, Asia, the USA or Europe.
According to the DPA agency, Kylie Minogue’s new album includes 13 songs full of dance rhythms and club sounds referring to the 80s of the last century. Among them are also the singles My Oh My, in which singers a generation younger Tove Lo and Bebe Rexha are guests, as well as Edge of Saturday Night, on which the American producer known as The Blessed Madonna collaborated, and a dance song with an admixture of country called Midnight Ride. This was created by Kylie Minogue with hit dance music producer Diplo and South African musician Orville Peck, who covers his face in public and has already included the track on his album.
Initial reactions are mixed. The British newspaper Guardian appreciates that the singer does not invent touching stories for the album of dance music, nor does she label it as anyone’s art. But the paper compares the new record to a party that someone should have ended before it stopped being fun. “In places the album sparkles and pleases, but for the most part it falls short of its predecessor and just dully repeats elements from the Padam Padam track,” opines the Guardian.
The English newspaper The Times is a bit more favorable, giving the novel four out of five stars. “Obviously, Kylie Minogue is not the greatest singer of all time. She doesn’t have the charisma of Madonna, nor is she as relatable as Taylor Swift. No one would think to compare her lyrics to those of Joni Mitchell or Leonard Cohen. She never goes deep. But except for the occasional forays into indie-rock or country, her music is similarly cheesy, completely irrelevant, and precisely because of that, as irresistibly appealing as crisp potato chips,” compares The Times.
Video: Singl Lights Camera Action od Kylie Minogue
Single Lights Camera Action from Kylie Minogue’s new album. | Video: BMG