Kylie Minogue
Tension
Darenote/BMG
Listen Below
Since 2018, Kylie Minogue has been on a hot streak. Given the record-breaking, viral sensation that “Padam Padam” became this summer, the lead single for Minogue’s sixteenth studio album Tension points to her extending her commercial-critical dominance even further.
Like any pop genre artist worth their salt, Minogue’s strength has always rested in her ability to transform; not every artist within that space can boast as keen an aptitude.
The singer-songwriter’s skillset is made all the more riveting when one considers how she began her recording career: as the once-cherubic muse for the ubiquitous Stock-Aitken-Waterman production clique in 1988. But just when critics and fans thought they had Minogue pegged back then, she swerved. So it is with Tension now.
At face value, this current collection may be taken as another tasteful, if shrewd batch of dance-pop confections—but Minogue isn’t just a “dance-pop” siren, she’s always used a far broader sonic palette in her output. To confine her solely to that space would be foolish and, frankly, ahistorical of her wider catalog to date.
Consider the plethora of uptempo ballads lining Tension, particularly in its deluxe configuration. Pieces like “Hold on to Now,” “Things We Do for Love,” and “Story” have Minogue putting forward lush, adult pop where she modernizes mid-1980s electronic and drivetime rock textures; said textures emphasize the finer expressive qualities of her voice. Minogue’s continued vocal co-production approach, which began with DISCO (2020), is carried over to Tension with solid results.
Still, she has quite a way with mirrorball jams on this effort too. From the aforementioned digitized Eastern-pop twist of “Padam Padam,” around to her patented brand of nu-disco displayed on “Green Light” and “Love Train,” her soundscapes remain as colorful as ever. (That third cut pinches a sample “Step Back in Time”-style from The O’Jays’ 1972 charter of the same name.)
Listen to the Album & Watch the Official Videos:
Longtime fans will thrill at other easter egg nods to Minogue’s rich past: Kiss Me Once (2014) kitsch in the title track, sticky synth-funk à la Body Language (2003) with “Hands,” and the repurposed Curnow-Harding house-pop of “What Do I Have to Do” via “One More Time.” Minogue is playfully subversive in revisiting her previous incarnations on these selections.
Bringing these varied sounds to bear is an effective roster of writer-producer talent rounded up for Tension with notables—both familiar and fresh—including Richard “Biffco” Stannard, Duck Blackwell, Camille Purcell, Peter “Lostboy” Rycroft, Ina Wroldsen, Daniel Davidsen, Jon Green, Sky Adams, Karen Poole, Carl Ryden and Oliver Heldens. Heldens is the lone guest appearance on Tension with “10 Out of 10,” the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it buzz single that preceded “Padam Padam.”
Lyrically, everything on wax comes down to love, in either plaintively romantic (“You Still Get Me High”) or politely erotic (“Vegas High”) terms. However, nothing feels canned, just fresh. Minogue’s pen graces ten out of the fourteen tracks featured on Tension, yet she demonstrates how to curate stock that fits her creative voice with the other four. She flits gracefully from a revelatory tone to her glossy Princess of Pop demeanor, and back again. People will read into these what they will, but there is something to be discovered on emotional entries like “Just Imagine” and “Somebody to Love,” if one cares to do so.
If you, like me, enjoy Minogue in that ruminative headspace, visit Impossible Princess (1997) and Golden (2018)—each excellent offerings—in case you missed them the first time out. These prove Minogue possesses depth and dimension. As such, it’s time to let that well-meaning, but somewhat flawed Rufus Wainwright quote from 2006 rest once and for all.
As early as her self-titled fifth record from 1994, Minogue has been expected to constantly “return to form” any time she branches out from her supposed dance-pop box. Curiously then, she is equally chastised when she has (on occasion) done what was asked of her. Pundits and certain hard-nosed fans be damned, Minogue represents the best of what the pop genre can be: artistic evolution in motion. In her own inimitable fashion, Tension finds Minogue assessing where we are in the musical present and delivering something well-timed and consistent. We cannot ask for more.
Notable Tracks: “Just Imagine” | “One More Time” | “Padam Padam” | “Things We Do for Love”
Read more about Kylie Minogue in Quentin Harrison’s recently issued second edition of Record Redux: Kylie Minogue, which is available to order here; he uses the ambitious project to trace the rise of the Australian singer-songwriter by examining every studio album and single in her repertoire. This book follows the second edition of his book Record Redux: Spice Girls released in 2021. Additional entries in the Record Redux Series include Carly Simon, Donna Summer and Madonna.
LISTEN: