Album Review: Kylie Minogue – Kiss Me Once
4 min read
With a career that has spanned over quarter of a century, produced 12 studio albums and seen sales in excess of 70 million, expectations are always high for a new release by Australian songstress Kylie Minogue, and thankfully the pint-sized starlet is yet to disappoint. The singer, known for her camp pop hits like Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Confide In Me, Locamotion and Spinning Around, has been able to consistently move with the relentless and ever-changing tides of public music taste and she has been extremely successful in delivering cohesive records with every attempt so far. Her strength also lies with the followers that have stood at her side over the many years that she has been creating music and those fans will no doubt be salivating over this new record that the star has offered us this week.
Kiss Me Once marks Kylie Minogues 27th year as a chart dominating pop icon and serves as a follow up to her last record, 2010’s Aphrodite.
Admittedly, the album does take a couple of solid listens to get into the swing of which was quite surprising given my liking of previous releases being fairly instantaneous. This isn’t to say that the songs aren’t catchy on Kiss Me Once, because they are. It just took slightly longer than usual to form a solid opinion of this latest batch.
The obvious standout on Kiss Me Once comes with the records lead single, Into The Blue. We were fairly impressed with this beauty of a track and had no doubt in our minds that what was to come with the whole record was something pretty special. It’s the most memorable of the new additions found here and is a powerful, synth heavy and bold return for Kylie that oozes camp goodness from every note.
Million Miles has a rich radio-friendly quality that I’m sure will be encouraging to the singers new Roc Nation family as a potential future hit for Minogue. The beat heavy rhythm of the track partners idyllically with the singers well pronounced vocal delivery here, particularly during the tracks infectious, staccato laced chorus. Unfortunately this is followed by the highly forgettable and disappointing Pharrell Williams written and produced, I Was Gonna Cancel which is the records sole dipping point. The repetitive “I was gonna cancel’ lyrics are tedious as they sit within an unflattering melody that sounds more like a cheap knock off of a Madonna MDNA filler than a Kylie Minogue masterpiece. It’s got all the ingredients of a pop track, don’t get me wrong, but it fails to put any of them to use. Unfortunately less is more and the song would have better served as a single B-side and not an album filler.
Thankfully the album picks back up with Sexy Love and helps sew a sexualised theme through the new record. Slightly reminiscent of some of the singers upbeat Aphrodite material, the track is a snappy, bass-driven injection of pop and well worthy of a repeated play while the following Sexercize certainly doesn’t try to beat around any bushes with its title demanding attention. While the track, which received its recent video debut this week, may not be the most inspirational or thought provoking outings of her career, it certainly is a memorable inclusion on Kiss Me Once and will no doubt be a great club-floor contender over the coming months providing the right remixers are given the opportunity to give it a spin.
Kylie has surrounded herself with good company with Kiss Me Once, particularly with the recruitment of Sia as executive producer and song-writing partner on a couple of the numbers within the record. She has also invited acclaimed and awarded songwriter and producer Greg Kurstin into the fold who has worked with the likes of P!nk, Lily Allen, Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry as well as utilizing the song-writing and production talents of man of the moment, Pharrell Williams.
While the majority of Kiss Me Once is reserved for power-pop induced hits, there is still room for some rather exquisite mid-tempo nuggets from the songbird.
Feels So Good is a stunning addition to the album, slowing the pulse down as a relatively mellow centrepiece while the records title track, along with Into The Blue, is one of the more notable pieces here. The track sits modestly within the closing section of the record and is a perfectly crafted ballad, putting the singers impeccable vocals into the spotlight.
Unfortunately the Enrique Iglesias collaboration, Beautiful, doesn’t quite rise to the occasion as both singers’ vocals sounds far too processed, thanks to Enrique’s best friend, Mr Auto Tune, dominating the track. This creates a very over-produced and unappealing static quality to what should be a fine duet for the two.
While Kiss Me Once may not be Kylie Minogues greatest or most cohesive studio effort to date, it does deliver some encouraging and enjoyable new numbers, and fans – old and new – will not be disappointed with what the pop icon has dished up here.
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
