'X' Marks the Pop: The glam-tastic return of Kylie Minogue

Source: By Jason Anderson

Posted: 11/26/07 4:39PM

Filed Under: Music

Has the 21st century produced another hit as sleek, seductive and unabashedly synthetic as Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”?

Synthesizing several strains of European electronic music—from Krautrock pioneers Kraftwerk and disco godfather Giorgio Moroder to more modern Berlin techno and Ibiza-ready trance anthems—into four crafty minutes of pop, the diminutive Australian singer’s 2001 single claimed the No. 1 spot in 40 countries.

The track’s other achievements are nothing if not varied. It was named song of the year by both the New Musical Express and Top of the Pops. It was Minogue’s first U.S. Top 10 hit since her 1988 cover of Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion.” In Canada, the album that contained it, 'Fever,' went triple platinum. The Flaming Lips liked the song so much, they covered it. Even weirder, mash-up master Richard X famously wrapped it around the beat to New Order’s “Blue Monday.”

What with the thin and breathy quality of her voice, Minogue was never going to be the next Aretha Franklin. But her vocals were perfect in such a highly processed musical setting—never before did anyone sound quite so much like a fembot.

Seven years on, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” still sounds so good it trumps every track on 'X,' Minogue’s otherwise very fine and often equally seductive new album. It also remains the song that best makes the case for Minogue as the stylistic heir to Madonna, another singer who could take the latest innovations in dance music, emboss them with wide pop appeal and make the results fit within a glamorous and cannily constructed persona.

In Canada and America, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and the other hits from 'Fever' cemented her rep in dance-music circles. (Clever videos like Michel Gondry’s ever-multiplying-Kylie clip for “Come Into My World” raised her cachet with hipsters, too.) But in Europe and Australia, where she was already huge, this success completed a transition that she began in the mid-90s, when she tried to outgrow the squeaky-clean image she developed as a teenage cast member of Aussie soap 'Neighbours' and as the voice of many cheerful hits by the production team of Stock Aitken Waterman.

Her bid for maturity was signaled by her new choice of collaborators, people like Nick Cave and the Manic Street Preachers. By the time of 1997’s 'Impossible Princess, she enjoyed full creative control, albeit control that she was savvy enough to share with the most illustrious hitmakers of her day. On 'Fever,' she got co-writing credits on five of the 12 songs and effectively Kylie-ized the other seven. (“Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and “Come Into My World” were both penned by the team of Rob Davis, former guitarist with ‘70s glam-rock band Mud, and Cathy Dennis, who would go on to write another of the decade’s most epochal dance tracks, Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”)

She seemed every inch the 21st-century pop star. The music on 'Fever' and its 2003 follow-up 'Body Language' drew from a wide variety of pop, hip-hop, dance and more esoteric influences—collaborators on the later album included electro pioneer Kurtis Mantronik. Meanwhile, her malleable image made her a favourite of designers and fashionistas—there was even a traveling exhibition devoted to her costumes, accessories and other items of Kylie iconography (it’s on now in Glasgow).

But in the middle of the decade, she was hit by two setbacks—one musical, the other medical. Despite the presence of the sultry first single “Slow,” 'Body Language' was far less successful than its predecessor, its more vanguard-minded contents having less instant appeal. Then a greatest-hits tour was interrupted in 2005 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy with the UK and Aussie tabloids reporting every inch of the saga. By the end of 2006, she had resumed the tour and begun work on 'X.'

Though “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” still lacks a thoroughly worthy successor, the new album has no shortage of sleek pop pleasures, several of which are rooted in hipster-pleasing reference points. First single “2 Hearts” is a glam-pop wonder built around a crashing piano chord and bits borrowed from Roxy Music (she covered “Love Is the Drug” on a recent BBC compilation). Co-written by Cathy Dennis, “Sensitized” recycles elements of Serge Gainsbourg’s jaunty “Bonnie and Clyde” with similarly captivating effects. Whereas those songs look to the past for inspiration, “In My Arms,” “Speakerphone” and “Stars” boast a rude vigour more commonly associated with French house duo Justice. Best of all is “The One,” which majestically invests a throbbing, Moroder-like disco pulse with a haunting quality seldom heard in synth pop since the Eurythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again.”

What you won’t hear is any direct comment about her illness. Outside of the litany of self-affirmations in the ballad “Cosmic,” Minogue’s lyrics are mostly about love (enjoying a new one, missing an old one, etc.) and other activities that may or may not take place on a dancefloor. All this could be construed as vapid, but I’ll take the lovey-dovey-ness over any of Madonna’s efforts at cultural commentary or the penchant for self-importance that has marred all of her recent output save for “Hung Up.” Likewise, Minogue’s mostly chaste brand of good times is less skanky than the relentless stream of come-ons and come-hithers on Britney Spears’ 'Blackout.'

Spears’ strip-club-ready tracks can also seem distinctly dated compared to the classier yet often more adventurous music by Minogue and other female singers who mix old-school pop professionalism with electro-savvy brio. Two single-monikered singers from Norway and Sweden respectively, Annie and Robyn, mix dance and pop in an equally exuberant fashion. In-between Minogue albums, the music of English singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor was a pleasing stopgap, especially the most upbeat moments of 2007’s 'Trip the Light Fantastic.'

Released last month in the UK, 'Overpowered' is former Moloko singer Roisin Murphy’s second album of sophisticated, danceable tunes designed for—as one critic quipped—“aging clubbers.” Even Hilary Duff looked to Minogue as an exemplar—the former teen queen’s recent hit “With Love” had more in common with the cybernetic Europop of “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” than anything currently on the American charts.

Duff’s pseudo-Minogue-ry will remain the closest thing to 'X' on those charts for the time being—the disc is not out in the U.S. until next year, though it is released this week in Canada. Imminent global domination by this emerging army of pop fembots will likely remain a fantasy of those of us who can’t go long without a Kylie fix.

But at least we know which century we’re living in.