WW L L INTERVIEW
AN INTERVIEW WITH KYLIE MINOGUE
Frequently referred to as the " Princess of Pop ", Kylie has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fashion world as a major style icon. Her accolades include two Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards and eighteen ARIA Music Awards. Here she talks to Wirral Life in an exclusive interview ahead of her performance in Liverpool in May.
BY MARIE FITZSIMMONS
The Tension Tour started in February. You’ re headed to the UK in May, we cannot wait to see you. I have 37 years of songs to play for you all, and heaps of new stuff. I can’ t wait to celebrate the Tension era with you all! I will be calling Lights, Camera, Action with a whole lot of Padaming!
Tension II is your 17th album, have you been able to enjoy this album? Yeah, I am. I am enjoying all of it since Padam. I was stunned at how big this became; it opened up a new generation of listeners for me. There is a moment in time where the planets align and it just works, and I have not stopped smiling.
This is a huge tour for you with many dates all over the world. How do you cope with travelling, how do you stay grounded. At the end of the day when I get some solo time, that’ s really important to me. I love having the team around me but it’ s just as important to be alone, slow down. Thankfully I know my family is always at the end of the phone so I can check in with them.
There are many female artists making it at the moment, who do you enjoy listening to? The likes of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. I love all the pop girls who are crushing it right now. I am so proud of them and excited for what is to come for them all. You can sense that they have so much more to give and if I am anything to go by, 10 or 20 years in the future, big things are possible.
Going back to that very first single you released, Locomotion. You were acting in neighbours at the time as Charlene, who the nation loved. What made you decide to release a song? We were asked to perform at a concert for one of the local football clubs. We had done a couple of songs and one of them was Locomotion which I just happened to know. This guy came up to me who worked at the same station and said,‘ that was really good, you should release a record’. I had stars in my eyes, I just remember going, really? The rest of the cast were really pleased for me. It got tricky when I had to travel to London to record my album, so I had to be written out of the show for a couple of weeks. I did that back and forth for a couple of years but eventually I had to make a choice. I do still sometimes think, what would have happened If I hadn’ t pursued a music career, where would my acting have taken me, but music turned out pretty good, I think!
Especially for you, your 1989 hit song with Jason Donovan was a huge hit. Do you still catch up with Jason? Yeah, I last saw him in Spain, I also saw Guy Pearce. I recently came across some promo pics of the three of us on set. I thought what a time we were having, straight out of school, it blows my mind. We had so much responsibility and we were thrown into the PR machine, and I am so glad we had each other at that time. We were all just figuring it out as we went along.
Your 1994 hit song Confide in Me, do you think this is when your music changed. Yeah, I changed from PWL Hit Factory to a club Indie label, I was like what are you doing? This marked a new era. I had a rollicking time in the 90’ s, I was out clubbing, especially early nighties. It was a wild time; the music and fashion were amazing. There was no social media, you just went out and enjoyed the moment.
We must mention the iconic gold hot pants. You bought them for 50p in a flea market and wore them in the video Spinning Around. Well, one of my girlfriends bought them, I grew up trawling flea markets back home, but she bought them somewhere in London, who wore them before me I will never know. I like to think they had couple of fun outings, but they were in good condition. I sadly no longer own them as I donated just about everything I have to the Performing Arts Museum in Melbourne. You can’ t go anywhere where near these clothes without wearing white gloves which I think is hilarious!
Your catalogue of music has always been and remains to this day as fun, it makes you want to party! Who wants the party to end! I have songs that are emotional and can pull at the heart strings, but I think my songs have always had a hopeful sheen to them, I just want everyone to feel happy and hopeful. The ultimate challenge for me is to create three and half minutes of transformative magic, I want to keep getting that high of affecting someone positively. I’ ve dipped my toe in and out of different genres, but I am very much enjoying where we are at right now. The party isn’ t ending anytime soon! wirrallife. com 27