Kylie Minogue survived the transformation from girl next door to medal-wearing philanthropist, riding storms both romantic and commercial, and still sold some 80 million records along the way, making her glittery home in the Great British public’s hearts. So, when her 14th album’s first Electro Pop single, “Dancing”, appeared, it couldn’t help but provoke a question: why has she decided to become Dolly Parton?
The truth is this unexpected shift has as much to do with Minogue’s innate love for country music. It came, in actual fact, at the suggestion of her A&R man, and she’s admitted she was initially wary. It’s not, after all, an obvious leap, and a cynic might wonder if its inspiration had anything to do with her difficulty cracking the American market, where she’s not dented the Top 40 since 2002.
But Kylie being Kylie, she’s somehow pulled this trick off with oodles of charm, bundles of energy, and no shortage of killer hooks. It isn’t, after all, the first time she’s switched styles. To succeed, of course, she headed to Nashville, bunked up with enough songwriters for a private line dance, then co-wrote every track on the album, making the music her own. So much so, in truth, that any Country influences are buried pretty deep within what is largely a standard, US-centric pop album.
To be honest, there are too many acoustic guitar songs for my taste. Don’t get me wrong but I would prefer an electronic dance music direction as the way it used to be. However, the pumping beat is still there on tracks like “Dancing”, the disco-friendly “Raining Glitter” and “Rollin”. ‘Golden’ is something completely different from Kylie, despite this, I still love her! Stream in full below.
CONNECT WITH KYLIE MINOGUE NOW!
Hi, I’m Erick Ycaza — a music blogger with a BA in Advertising & Graphic Design. I created this blog to keep you updated with daily music news. Surprisingly, I’ve been writing about music since 2007. If you’re an artist and would like to be featured, feel free to reach out: info@electrowow.net
