the KYLIE
TIMES
Summer 2020
SAY SOMETHING
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT KYLIE’S BRAND NEW SINGLE AND THE DISCO ERA !
Focus
kylie minogue wines : the latest additions
People always love to pigeonhole you, no matter what you do. They place a box over you and you can’t get out of it. Kylie Minogue - 1998
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Hiiyyyyyaa lovers !
SUM UP 4. Throwback Calendar 8. SAY SOMETHING 26. Kylie Minogue Wines 34. News 44. Kylie In The Press 54. Interviews 70. Fashion 74. MEANWHILE ON SOCIAL MEDIA 76. Kylie Reactions
We hope you’re all doing well ! Phewwwwwww ! What a crazy couple of months this summer has been... We don’t know about you but since May we haven’t touched the ground... this year is definitely unlike any other. Anyway, apologies because we’re a little late for this new edition of our magazine but we did our best. We hope you missed us as much as we missed you! We weren’t really expecting that there would be so many things to say after the summer as it’s always more or less quiet during that period, but this edition is an exception to that. This month, you’ll find out everything you need to know about Kylie’s new single « Say Something » and of course, everything we know about her upcoming 15th studio album « Disco », which we’re all super excited about. The countdown has begun, and it will be out in 50 days (yes... we’re counting!). Also, you’ll be able to read all the latest news and all the different interviews that Kylie has given since the release of the new song, and believe us, there are maaaaaaaaaaany of them ! Also, as usual you’ll have the Kylie reactions and fun posts that we found related to Kylie on social networks which we hope will make you smile because we know that we all need a bit of fun during these hard times. If all goes well, we should be back with a new edition by the end of October. In the meantime, don’t forget to keep your distances with others, to wear your masks, to respect the barrier gestures and to take care of yourselves and the ones you love.
Lots of love x Isa and Laeti With the help of Junior and Deyse
Throwback CalendAR Let’s have a look back at the most important events in Kylie’s career through the years and that took place on summer. 1986
JULY 6TH, 1988
After having sung « The Loco-Motion » (a song from Little Eva from 1963) at the Giant Fightback Variety Night charity gala, Kylie recorded a demo in Melbourne, in the Sing-Sing studios, with a local producer called Kaj Dahlstrom.
JULY 17TH, 1987 Kylie is invited to present the Countdown Music and Video Awards at the Sydney Entertainment Centre alongside Jason Donovan and for mer Neighbours star Peter O’Brien.
JULY 1990
The album « Enjoy Yourself » is released in the United States, several months after its release in other countries. On this occasion, there is a new photo for the cover. It is a pic which was taken by Isabel Snyder, a photographer who took several pictures of Kylie in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and who worked for many other artists afterwards.
Kylie is interviewed on the Wogan TV show. Her idol, Olivia Newton-John is also on the set that day. The singer performed « The Loco-Motion », the new version recorded with SAW.
JULY 1989
Wouldn’t Change A Thing
Kylie traveled to London to record the music video for her new single « Wouldn’t Change A Thing ». This is her first music video filmed outside her home country, Australia.
JUNE 1991
JUNE 1ST, 1993
Kylie entered the Guinness Book of Records and became the first artist who managed to get her first thirteen singles in the Top 10 in England. She surpassed the Beatles, Elvis and Madonna, just that!
AUGUST 8TH, 1992 The singer performed at the Radio One Roadshow on Barry Island in Wales, she sang her new single « What Kind Of Fool » (which was released two days later), as well as « Shocked ». 4 www.kylie-world.com
A compilation entitled « Kylie’s Non-Stop History 50+1 » was released in Japan. It’s a megamix of extracts of almost all of Kylie’s PWL tracks, as well as the Techno Rave remix of « Celebration». All the extracts except the remix version of « Celebration » - run into each other, hence creating a megamix. Laeti, Summer 2K20
AUGUST 29TH, 1994 A few days after the live performance of her new single « Confide In Me » at Top Of The Pops, the track is officially released as the first single of her new album. This is the first production released with her new label, deConstruction. The track was written by Brothers In Rhythm, it debuted at No. 2 in the UK charts and at No. 1 in Australia, where it stayed for five weeks.
AUGUST 15TH, 1996
Kylie joined Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds on stage to perform « Where The Wild Roses Grow » at the Brixton Academy.
JULY 2ND, 1998
JULY 13TH, 1995
Kylie gave an acoustic performance of two songs, « Put Yourself In My Place » and « If You Don’t Love Me » on the show MTV’s Most Wanted.
AUGUST 1997 Kylie traveled to Almeria (south of Spain) to shoot the video for her new single « Some Kind Of Bliss ». The clip was directed by Dave Mould and features actor Dexter Fletcher. Kylie and Dexter are like Bonnie and Clyde, well that’s the inspiration of the video. If you want to know everything about this track and its music video, have a look at our last edition of the Kylie Times !
A reception in honour of Kylie was held in Melbourne, Australia. Jeff Kennet, then Prime Minister of the State of Victoria, said the singer was a: « Wonderful ambassador for Australia wherever she travels ».
and stated that : « She had done a wonderful job and that she had developed, in a sense, through adversity. She is now a much more proficient and professional entertainer than she was ».
JUNE 26TH, 1999
The singer went to the Life Ball in Vienna, the charity organised by the Imperial Palace, wearing a Versace outfit. 5 www.kylie-world.com
JULY 2000 While in Ibiza, where she originally went to sing in a club, Kylie took the opportunity to pose for Vincent Peters. One of the pics would later be used for the cover of her new album, « Light Years ».
Throwback Calendar • Summer 2020
AUGUST 18TH, 2001 Kylie made an appearance at the V2001 festival in the UK, where she had a massive success ! The singer presented a 75-minute set with three costume changes. Among the hits performed: « Light Years », « Shocked », « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head », « Kids » (yes, it was already in the setlists at this time), « Better The Devil You Know » and « Spinning Around ».
JUNE 25TH, 2004
AUGUST 2ND, 2002 The KylieFever2002 tour started in Australia! From the very first date, the singer told the audience that she was very happy to perform « at home ».
AUGUST 2003 The singer traveled to the French Riviera where the very famous photos for the « Body Language » era (inspired by the style of Brigitte Bardot) were taken.
JULY 8th, 2005
Kylie performed « Chocolate » on Top Of The Pops.
She made her first public appearance since she had been diagnosed with cancer. The singer visited children who had cancer at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
JUNE 29TH, 2006 She attended the gala of Elton John’s gala, the White Tie and Tiara Ball. She arrived wearing a superb Chanel dress with diamonds worth 3 million !
AUGUST 30TH, 2009 Kylie traveled to Dubai to take part in the X Factor show and helped sister Dannii to choose the participants who would go to the finals during the competition.
AUGUST 4TH, 2007
JULY 3RD, 2008 Kylie officially received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from Prince Charles. Accompanied by her parents at Buckingham Palace, she said:
Release of the singer’s second fragrance, « Sweet Darling ».
JULY 5th, 2010
« I do feel very proud. I think my job, aside from making music, is about communication and this symbolises my communication with my audience around the world ».
Release of the singer’s 11th album: « Aphrodite ». On this occasion, Kylie organised a press conference in Ibiza at the sunset, where she answered questions from various journalists. 6 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
JULY 14TH, 2011 End of Kylie’s magnificent tour, «Aphrodite Les Folies» in Cape To w n , South Africa.
AUGUST 15TH, 2012
JULY 30TH, 2013 Kylie took part in the sketch of comedian Charlie Hides on his YouTube channel. Our Australian plays her own role, while Charlie plays Cher and Madonna. The video is still available on YouTube if you haven’t seen it!
Kylie performed « Wow », « Better The Devil You Know », « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head » and « The Loco-Motion » at a party organised by Samsung for the launch of their Galaxy Note 10.1 at One Mayfair in London.
AUGUST 22ND, 2014
She performed on stage at the Ushuaia in Ibiza for a special set before her « Kiss Me Once » tour.
JULY 2015
JULY 12TH, 2018
The singer shot the music video for the track « Absolutely Anything And Anything At All », the soundtrack for the movie Absolutely Anything.
Absolutely Anything And Anything At All
AUGUST 3RD, 2019 End of the singer’s summer tour with a date at the Brighton Pride in England. Kylie won over the au-
Kylie went to Spain to take part in the 20th anniversary of the Vogue magazine. She performed a few songs during this private party, in the presence of her ex-boyfriend, Andres Velencoso. 7 www.kylie-world.com
dience and a special merch was created especially for this date. The singer changed her outfit five times, and the outfits were only for this show. Laeti, Summer 2K20
It was the event we were all waiting for. After two months (if not more) of lockdown and numerous rumours since the end of last year, this summer we finally discovered Kylie’s new single, « Say Something ». It’s the first single from her 15th studio album, and we were able to hear it a few days after Kylie’s official announcement in which she revealed the title of her new album, « Disco », which will be released on November 6th. Between the rumours, the first appearance of the new logo on the internet, the discovery of the album cover and the release of « Say Something », in this special focus, we are going to give you a complete overview of these last few weeks that delighted us fans with the return of our « disco queen ».
Focus • Say Something
THE FIRST RUMOURS... If we all knew that Kylie was working on a new album, no one was really aware of when the first single was going to be released or even if her fifteenth album would be finished by the end of the year, due to the lockdown which delayed many projects. For her birthday, Kylie gave an interview to the English magazine GQ and in it we « officially » found out that her new album would indeed be released this year, that she was still working on it thanks to the studio she had set-up at home, and that she was learning to use a production software, with the help of Sky Adams (among other people), with whom she had already worked on her previous album. Although it was rumoured to be due for Q3 2020, we weren’t quite sure if the album was finished yet. It was early July that rumours regarding a brand new single started to appear here and there. Indeed, fans noticed that a new track « Don’t Ever Forget Me » had been recorded on the Ascap site, an American site listing many songs which were deposited with their credits. On the site, we can see that this song was written by Kylie and Karen Pool. Another track, « What Do You Know » written by Kylie, Steven McEwan and Peter Mark Hammerton was listed on there too. Many thought that « Don’t Ever Forget Me » would be the new single, because Kylie had posted a lot of stories on her socials in which she used the word « forget ». The next day, Richard Biff, the singer’s long-time producer spoke to BBC Radio 2 saying that indeed there was going to be a new album, but that he couldn’t say more for the time being. This continued to arouse our suspicions, especially since we had heard other rumours, this time about a photoshoot that allegedly took place in June and was expected to be used for the new single’s cover. The photos were described as « Night Fever / Diva Disco » style. Among the other rumours (yes, that’s a lot of rumours!) we read somewhere at the time that the album would be released in October, which did make sense since we had heard it would come out in Q3 2020. We found out that the album title was made of just one word and was described as « simple and obvious », and that it referred to the flamenco emoji. Of course, we typed the word « disco » on our phones and what do you think showed up in the emoji suggestions? 10 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
I must admit that at the time, I really doubted that the album would be released so « soon » and that we were going to have a new single in a few weeks, especially in the middle of summer (I’m not sure it was the best promotional strategy, but, whatever…) However, a few days after that, all of a sudden everything went really quickly, when some fans briefly saw a new logo on the singer’s online store before it vanished. I don’t know what your reaction was when you first saw it, but I found it really hard to believe that this would be the real new logo. For me, not much work was put into it, and I didn’t think it really matched the theme of the upcoming era, except for the fact that it was blue. Since it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and since I didn’t see it online with my own eyes, I didn’t think too much about it after that. And yet, at the same time, on a French site, a guy was telling people that on the platform he uses at work, he had seen a track called « Say Something » listed with the name Kylie in front of it. The song was announced for release on July 23rd, less than 10 days later! His site looked pretty trustworthy since he said that it was really rare that the information on his platform turned out to be wrong, that it had happened a couple of times in the past, but that it was otherwise really reliable. So, at that point, it seemed pretty clear that everything was get-
ting confirmed, and let’s admit it, we were all getting super excited at the idea of finding out what the singer had in store for us! A few days later, in an article originally dedicated to Nick Cave, Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan stated : « I was doing a Kylie Minogue video just the other day and we all had to wear masks, it’s part of the new normal. I don’t feel great after wearing a mask all day but if masks give us a bit more freedom, so be it ». And THIS, Lovers, was the confirmation that we needed: a new era was going to start very soon. Among the rumours, we also came across « so-called » lyrics of the next song here and there: « A wise man once said nothing. The know know the don’t know don’t. Know know know diiiis-co! ». So now, of course we know that these lyrics are not in « Say Something », but could they be lyrics from another track? The teasing continued when on July 16th, an Australian radio host 2Day FM in Sydney revealed that the singer’s new single was due to come out in « a few days » and when many media began writing about the release of a new song as well.
11 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
Focus • Say Something
DISCO, LET’S GO! On July 21st, a fan unveiled the cover art of the singer’s new album on social media. Indeed, he had managed to find the pre-order link for the album, where, of course, the artwork could be seen. Again, many fans didn’t quite believe it because nothing had been posted by Kylie herself and because in the link to access the pre-order, it was not Kylie’s name that appeared, but the name of « Mayflower-Marilyn ». Nevertheless, this picture was totally new, the name of the album was also confirmed (it was « Disco ») and the release was scheduled for November 6th. After this was revealed, fans searched everywhere for new information, some even pre-ordered the album directly. There were (and there still are) a lot of discussions around the picture used for the album cover, some find it awesome, while others are not enthusiastic at all. We asked you in a survey if you liked the album cover, and 80.6% of you said « Yes ». Personally, we weren’t really big fans of this cover - nor of the typography, the logo and the name of the album - but at the time, we hadn’t seen the other photos from the photoshoot yet, so we weren’t sure what to expect next. Among the information we had on the record’s tracklist (basically none), only one track had an actual title and it was « Say Something ». After leaving us all afternoon in doubt, Kylie finally expressed herself on social media in the evening: « Are you waiting for me to SAY SOMETHING??? My new album DISCO is released November 6th and will be available to pre-order from Thursday morning at 00:01 BST » #KylieDisco A small musical sample, which turned out to be musical introduction to Kylie’s new single, came with the teaser announcing the album’s release. Some even Shazamed the track, and that’s how we discovered what the cover of the single would look like: Kylie’s lips and stars. At that point, Kylie then changed her profile picture on all her networks. The photo was obviously taken during the same photoshoot as the album cover pic, but we personally find it much prettier… Yes, we know, each to their own… Thanks to our survey, we were able to find out that 56.3% of you would have preferred another photo for the album cover and that 68.9% of you liked the name chosen for the album.
the KYLIE
TIMES SURVEY
1 Do you like the cover ?
YES
80,6%
2 Would you have preferred another cover ?
YES
56,3%
3 Do you like the name of the album ?
YES
68,9%
Speaking of the cover, here are the names of the people who collaborated on this new project: The campaign was led by Kate Moross, artistic director and Simon Emmett took the photos. The styling was done by Harry Lambert, the hairstyle by Christian Vermaak and the makeup by Andrew Gallimore. Lastly, the logo was created following a collective work between Kate Moross, Anna Czuz and Nick Greenbank. 12 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
THE START OF PRE-ORDERS AND THE DIFFERENT ger’s site to be the first to pre-order all the different bundles in all possible formats, and of course, buy FORMATS If we were able to pre-order the album on different platforms as of July 21st in the afternoon, Kylie publicly announced that the pre-order would be possible on her official website (physical formats with probably several versions, as usual) from July 23rd, at precisely 12:01… And in the end, it turned out those pre-orders actually began at 10pm, some fans apparently spent their time constantly updating the sin-
collectibles if there were any. And they were right; a limited edition autographed Disco test pressing vinyl was sold out in less than two minutes! The standard edition will contain 12 tracks, whereas the Deluxe version will have 4 more tracks (i.e. 16 songs) Here are the different bundles and formats exclusively available :
Disco Album 10£
Disco Deluxe Album 15£
Disco Vinyl 20£
Disco Cassette 7£
Disco Deluxe Album Disco Cassette 20£
Disco Deluxe Album Disco Vinyl 30£
Disco Bundle Album 30£
Disco Deluxe Album Disco Clear Vinyl + Photo 35£
Disco Deluxe Album + Clear Vinyl + Cassette + Photo 40£
Disco Vinyle + Photo Disco Clear Vinyle 40£
Disco Deluxe Bundle Album 60£
Disco Super Deluxe Bundle Album 65£
13 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
Focus • Say Something
Disco Clear Vinyl + Photo 25£
Test Pressing Vinyl Sold out
It doesn’t look like there was any plan to physically release « Say Somethin » to start with, but fans started a campaign on social media to have a physical version of the single and they were always mentioning BMG in their posts/tweets… and their prayers were answered! Yep, very recently, BMG released a vinyl version of the single in a 7” version, and the vinyl is red and transparent. It is a limited edition with two tracks: the « classic » version of the song and its acoustic version.
SAY SOMETHING - THE SONG So, at this stage we knew that « Say Something » was going to be the album’s debut single thanks to someone who had seen it listed on his work’s platform. Kylie also announced it on her networks and revealed that the release date would be July 23rd when she gave an exclusive phone interview (thanks Covid!) to BBC Radio 2 during Zoe Ball’s morning show. While rumours were saying she would present her new song on Capital FM’s morning show, the singer remained loyal to the BBC, which has been supporting her for years. Zoe Ball had also teased a few days before that she had a big surprise in store that she would reveal that week, but that she couldn’t say anything yet. All we had was that little audio teaser again. According to a source from The Sun, the track was described as: « a huge disco floor-filler ». This is what we could read:
Limited Transparent Turquoise Vinyl 20£
Limited Transparent Blue Vinyl 20£
Digital Album + Transparent Vinyl 15£
Vinyl Say Something 10£
While we were waiting for the release of the single, Kylie unveiled a beautiful picture of herself dressed entirely in red the day before, photo which has been used by many fans to create fan-made artworks and album covers, and some are incredible! Well done to Michael (@vinyldeep on Twitter) for this cover!
« From what I’ve heard of it so far, the new record is set to be a disco classic. It’s everything you want from a Kylie album. Fans are going to love it. She has been working on her new music for a while now but everything has really come together in the last few months. « Say Something » is upbeat and summery. It’s been a grim few months for everyone so Kylie feels like now is the perfect time to put it out and spread some joy ». 14 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
The Smoothradio.com site also unveiled the first lyrics of the song just before its release « We’re a million miles apart in a thousand ways… Love is love it never ends, can we all be as one again ». Produced by Biff Stannard, this excerpt made fans even more impatient, especially since, for once, the track didn’t leak before it was played for the first time on radio. We can consider this is quite a miracle given what happened in recent years! After the song was released, Biffco said :
time. I think - when you see the video, which will be a week or two away - it’s like a galactic disco. I think it’s about all of our eternal quest for love, and that there’s something or someone out there that you can relate to ».
she stated, adding that she would do everything to make sure the video would come out as soon as possible. She talked about how excited she was about the release of the song, and also confessed « Hello. I’ve just sat and that another single would be reread all the lovely comments leased before the album (if we on SS. Thank you so much. I believe the rumours that we have feel all proud and fuzzy. The read, the new single should be team behind making this called « Magic »).
track are so happy the fans in general seem to be really enjoying it. The highlight for me being it didn’t leak. It felt like a collective surge of excitement when Zoe pressed play. I hope this happens more with other artists. It felt really special. Anyway. Big love and stay safe pop kids ».
« Say Something » was written by Kylie, Ash Howes, Jonathan Green and Biffco, and produced by Jonathan and Biffco. Here are the official credits of the song. • Kylie Minogue - singer, songwriter, backing vocalist • Louis Lion - realization • Jon Green - songwriter, backing vocalist, producer, guitar, keyboards • Duck Blackwell - producer, keyAnd on July 23rd, it was (finally) boards, mixing engineer D-Day. It was like Christmas time • Dick Beetham - sound engineer for fans (well maybe I’m exagge- • Richard « Biff » Stannard - aurating, but then again maybe not). thor, backing vocalist, producer, We were all listening to BBC’s Ra- keyboards dio 2 to • Ash Howes - author, director 1/ listen to Kylie’s interview be- • Adetoun Anibi - backing vocals. cause we hadn’t heard her for what seemed to be years and The track is rather mid-temyears and po pop, but we can’t really say 2/ hear the new single. it’s up-tempo even though some Kylie and Zoe obviously talked people described it like that. The about the lockdown, and the sin- guitar is a bit reminiscent of funk ger talked about the creation of songs, but the track is still quite this song, which was composed soft for something that has been and recorded last September in sold as a « disco anthem ». Here is Brighton, alongside Biffco: the press release that was sent to « We wrote it last year. It’s radios following the release of the like this gigantic song, and yet track, posted online at 9am, just it’s very heartfelt at the same after it was broadcast on the BBC: 15 www.kylie-world.com
Focus • Say Something
DISCO, KYLIE’S BRAND NEW ALBUM, WILL BE RELEASED ON NOVEMBER 6!!! « SAY SOMETHING », THE SUPERB FIRST SINGLE, HAS ALREADY BEEN RELEASED. LISTEN TO IT HERE https://Kylie.lnk.to/SaySomethingPR DISCO, Kylie Minogue’s new album will be released on November 6th and is already available for pre-order HERE!
The new single, « Say Something », is the first track from Kylie’s 15th studio album. Produced by Biff Stannard, her longtime collaborator, the disco-oriented song is characterized by particularly moving lyrics for the world of 2020: « We’re a million miles apart in a thousand ways ... Love is love, it never ends, can we all be as one again? » DISCO is the first album since Golden, 2018, which topped the charts in the UK and Australia. All in all, Kylie’s singles have spent over 300 weeks in the UK’s Top 40 Charts, and she has sold over 80 million albums worldwide. Kylie collects prizes and awards, including 3 BRIT Awards, 2 MTV Music Awards and a Grammy. Her 2019 concert at Glastonbury was the most watched television moment in the history of the festival. Kylie created the visuals for DISCO in collaboration with artistic director Kate Moross and director Sophie Muller. Listen to “Say Something,” the newest single, here. More information about DISCO will be coming soon. 16 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
the KYLIE
TIMES SURVEY
4 Do you like the first single ?
YES
The thing that surprised us about this track was the fact that it doesn’t really contain a « strong » chorus. It doesn’t seem to bother a lot of people, but when we first heard it, we found it a bit confusing - that kind of structure isn’t really common for a song. 83.5% of you are very happy about this first song and 54.4% of you reckon this song is « not really disco ». We also asked you what you like or dislike about this song, and here are the answers that came up the most: What you like : • The lyrics, their simplicity and the message it transmits • The emotion that emanates from Kylie’s voice • The production and the song’s unusual structure • The joy that the song conveys and the desire to dance • The sound of the song which is different from what is being released nowadays • The references to the 80s • The guitar riff
83,5%
5 Is it a disco song according to you ?
NO
54,4%
6 Do you think there’s better tracks than SS on the album ?
YES
51,5%
What you don’t like : • The production (we really have mixed opinions on this point!) : disappointed that the chorus doesn’t really exist • The track is not up-tempo enough, it’s not even disco • Some of you expected much better and think it’s a good track, why not for a single but not for a debut single from a new album • Some people would have called it « Love is Love » since these are the words that are repeated the most, much more often than « Say Something » After that, we asked you if you thought there would be better songs on the album « Disco », 51.5% of you answered « yes » and 44.7% of you answered « I hope so » (3.9% of you answered « no », lol, let’s stay hopeful Lovers!). The day after the singles’ release, a lyric video appeared on Kylie’s YouTube channel, with several scenes containing new visuals of the singer. The atmosphere of this video gave fans a taste of what was coming up in the official music video. To date, this video has been viewed more than 850,000 times.
17 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
Focus • Say Something
Say Something, LYRICS We're a million miles apart, in a thousand ways Baby, you can light up the dark, like a solar scape And I can almost feel you coming, and your heartbeat race Someone, somebody, something, in the choice we make I, I think about you, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah (I can't help thinking 'bout ya, I'm always thinking 'bout ya) I, I think about you, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah S-s-s-say something, say something Tell me how you're feeling
Oh, we're just, just trying to find ourselves, in the storms we chase Baby, in an endless summer, we can find our way I, I think about you, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah (I can't help thinking 'bout ya, I'm always thinking 'bout ya) Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah S-s-s-say something, say something Tell me how you're feeling 'Cause love is love, it never ends Can we all be as one again? (repeat x 8)
Oh, we all got wanderlust, in the darkest place So we're going with our heart, yeah it's all the rage
18 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Été 2K20
charts
• Australie Airplay (Radiomonitor) : 15 • Australie Digital Song Sales (Billboard) : 5 • Croatie (HRT) : 67 • Belgique (Ultratip Flanders) : 14 • Belgique (Ultratip Wallonia) : 41 • Euro Digital Song Sales (Billboard) : 17 • Hongrie (Single Top 40) : 15 • Nouvelle-Zélande Hot Singles (RMNZ) : 40 • Écosse (Official Charts Company) : 10 Regarding chart positioning, « Say Something » • UK Singles (Official Charts Company) : 82 got off to a great start on iTunes, ranking # 1 in many • UK Indie (Official Chart Compagny) : 8 countries (11 in total) and being in the top 10 of 21 • UK Digital Song Sales (Billboard) : 9 countries. But we have to be careful with iTunes, the • US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (Billboard) : 19 ranking is done over a 24-hour period: therefore, as • US Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales (Billboard) : 3 soon as a large number of people buy the track duOn Spotify, the title has had more than 5 million ring those 24 hours, it quickly climbs the charts. This means you can find yourself in the 1st place by having plays. In less than 24 hours, it was listened to 3.5 sold your song only 60 times, if the artists behind you times more than « Dancing »! have sold less within the same timeframe. Without official numbers and even if you’re well ranked, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve sold a lot of copies. Kylie still made the world’s biggest chart entry that day (choosing to release the track on a Thursday is certainly not insignificant). From the first day, after it was broadcast on BBC Radio 2, the single was a success and the singer was « Trending Topic » on Twitter in England and Australia, and in 9th position of trends with the audio of the track on YouTube in the UK. Meanwhile « Disco » became the most pre-ordered album on Amazon and iTunes in England as well.
Among the highlights, Kylie reached the top 10 in the United States with the song on iTunes, for the first time in her career, finishing at the 9th position! The singer will also be on Jimmy Fallon’s show on September 16th in the United States for the first ever live performance of the song! (Who would have believed it?). Here is the summary of the song’s best positions in the charts on the week of its release in different countries:
Reviews Here are some of the reviews that we found in the press: IDOLATOR « The pop icon’s latest is a sweeping mid-tempo disco moment that falls somewhere between Scissors Sisters and St. Vincent. ». BILLBOARD « Kylie Minogue is delivering some levity to a heavy moment in history with her just-released single. ».
19 www.kylie-world.com
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Focus • Say Something ALBUMISM « « Say Something » isn’t a social protest song in the purest sense. Rather, she uses a typical romantic story of connection as a subtle allegory for the broader reflection and unity much needed in the world today. The effective emotional communication of « Say Something » rests on how Minogue sings it—it’s a gorgeously understated performance. The composition feels genuine, enthused and adult throughout its run time—hallmarks of what made Golden and its singles so successful ». PURE CHARTS « Even if it’s got a guitar riff, this new track « Say Something » resonates like a pop-dance anthem with its very 80s synthesizers. A «pure Kylie song» which enables us to escape and which perfectly captures the spirit of the current times with its mixture of euphoria and melancholy ». MUUMUSE « Despite potential early expectations based on the album title alone, the song isn’t exactly a four-to-the-floor dance floor banger, like a « Spinning Around », a « Get Outta My Way », or a « Timebomb ». As opposed to going for more modern dance-pop a la Kiss Me Once, there’s a sort of glam-rock, ’80s electronic kick to the production, recalling Queen‘s “Radio Ga Ga” and possibly something her Scissor Sisters pals would do, strutting somewhere more towards X territory and matching the vibe of the campy, if polarizing Disco album cover ». MUSIC.MXDW « Kylie’s « Say Something » has a disco influence and sounds a bit like Madonna’s 1992 song « Die Another Day », like Robyn’s 2018 song « Missing U » and a few songs from Jessie Ware’s 2020 album What’s Your Pleasure, such as « Step Into My Life » and « Read My Lips ».
SAY SOMETHING - THE VIDEO For this new video which was filmed during lockdown, Kylie called on Sophie Muller, who also directed the video for the song « Dancing ». Sophie has also worked with stars like Selena Gomez, Beyoncé, Dido, Maroon 5, Gwen Stefani and Shakira. The video was filmed at Black Island studios in London with the strictest respect for barrier gestures, as Kylie herself confirmed: « We worked on it with the COVID supervisor and everyone in masks so it was a slightly different experience, but trust me when I say I felt as exhausted in that video as I do with any other video ». Certainly due to the Covid (well that’s what we presume), only one dancer (Kaner Flex) appears alongside Kylie in the clip. Kylie announced the video’s release on August 4th by posting a photo of herself riding a golden horse, with a background full of colours and the message « Time to be galactic! ». It was possible to preview the video on YouTube and the link was available in advance. So, even before the broadcast of the clip, it had already been seen more than a thousand times, thanks to the connections of curious fans, ready to do anything to see the video. The clip was released on August 7th at 10 a.m. and Kylie was connected to the YouTube live chat. Let’s face it, the live chat didn’t go quite as planned: yep, we could already watch the video whilst Kylie was still counting down in the chat. Filmed entirely on green screen, the video relies on heavily galactic special effects and a flamboyant wardrobe. The video opens with images of Kylie dressed in blue surrounded by yellow lights and by a lot of special effects, and then seen on the back of her golden horse in a white and black dress, created by Ed Marler and inspired by a picture of Marisa Berenson that Kylie and Sophie Muller found while doing some research on Studio 54. Here is what stylist Matthew Joseph and Ed Marler said: 20 www.kylie-world.com
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« Sophie really wanted us to use lots of sparkle, so not only using sequins and crystals, we used unorthodox materials such as lamiter tinsel, which we hand knotted onto a fishnet catsuit, which not only gave the sparkle Sophie wanted but also dramatic movement. The black and white dress was inspired by a picture of Marissa Berenson with Halston. Out of all of our research into Studio 54 it was one of the images that really jumped out to Kylie, and Sophie liked the idea of chevrons/stripes so we took that idea and exaggerated it, so that it would look dramatic on camera ».
the KYLIE
TIMES SURVEY
7 Are you happy with the video of « Say Something ? »
YES
74,8%
By the way, a cool little info about Ed Marler, the This horse reminded some of you of the « Aphrodesigner started his fashion show at Fashion East dite Les Folies » tour, more precisely of the moment SS15 with a Kylie song! when she arrives on the back of a golden winged horse. Throughout the whole video, Kylie is surrounded by special effects (they’re all over the place!) Fans’ reviews were generally positive, although - some fans have even used certain images to make some consider there are way too many special effects artworks with a Star Wars atmosphere -, we see her in the video and some would have liked to see the on her horse or lying on the ground in what appears singer more, and looking more natural. 74.8% of you to be aluminium foil except that it is silk-like foil so are very happy with this clip, however, here’s what it’s certainly of better quality than what we have in the majority of you would like to change if somehow our kitchens. Anyway, this « inter-galactic » video, you could have been the ones filming the video: which features Kylie as a space-age actress in Hol- • Everything (at least, that’s clear) lywood, is inspired by 70s psychedelia and « The • Less glitter Great Gatsby » (1925). It shows the singer travelling • Less special effects the universe, on a golden horse sculpture, with lasers • More scenes where we see Kylie and her outfits coming out of her hands at times. For information, the • A video with more budget horse is a nod to Bianca Jagger, who arrived at Stu- • A better post-production dio 54’s dancefloor on a white horse! Kylie said of her • To have a real story in the video steed: • More dance moves • Less tacky stuff « The horse was the star of the show. I don’t Two artists expressed themselves after the release think my galactic steed was designed to be of the video: Dannii, Kylie’s sister and Boy George. ridden, but I fell in love with him, he was gorHere are their statements: geous ». « Sparkles and disco beats. Just the tonic we all need! ». - Dannii Minogue « Love this new Kylie song and video. It’s absolutely Kylie in the best sense of whatever that means! ». - Boy George To date, the video has been watched more than 5 million views on YouTube! 21 www.kylie-world.com
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Focus • Say Something
Say Something, Behind The Scenes On August 21st, i-D magazine put online a behindthe-scenes video for « Say Something », along with an exclusive interview. In this 3’33 minute video, we can see Kylie on set alongside her dancer and see how the video was filmed before the addition of the special effects, even though the result could more or less be seen on the monitor of the camera. We also got to see how Kylie’s horse (well, the horse’s wooden bust lol) was allocated and how was filmed the opening scene of the video. Many fans were disappointed when seeing this clip and asked Kylie’s team to rework on the official video to include some scenes that were in the « behind the scenes » clip but missing from the song’s video, and we have to agree here! Some of the images are stunning, especially when Kylie is wearing a purple or a pink outfit.
production, record her vocals, and take care of the design and the communication! And speaking of the acoustic version of the song, the English singer Anne-Marie sang a cover (which is also an acoustic version) of the track when invited on BBC Radio 2 and frankly it’s pretty cool so if you haven’t heard it yet, we strongly advise you to check it out on YouTube.
SAY SOMETHING - THE REMIXES
We know that the majority of Kylie fans love remixes. Some of them are also very good at actually creating remixes, such as Matias Segnini who did an incredible job with his remix of the song. It’s so good that it was shared by many fans and by Kylie herself, before she announced that an official remix was coming our way very soon. As we’ve said before, even if the song is described as up-tempo by some people, it’s not really the case so it’s difficult for electro-oriented SAY SOMETHING - ACOUSTIC VERSION On August 14th, the singer surprised fans once radios to play the song. BMG therefore addressed the again by releasing an acoustic version of her single, issue to release an official remix, which would be apand this version gives it an even more touching di- proved by the record company, Kylie and her managemension (get your tissues ready Lovers!). This time, ment. At the end of the day, Estonian DJ Syn Cole took the track features an acoustic guitar and takes us care of remixing the track. He has previously remixed straight back to one of the singer’s hit albums - « The songs by Katy Perry, Ava Max and Selena Gomez. Abbey Road Sessions » - and above all, it really highlights her amazing voice - special mention to the end of the MORE INFO ON THE ALBUM song where the «say» is accentuated and we find it It seems that Kylie’s album is finished, meaning, of beautiful. This version enabled the single to classify it- course, that the songs which will make it on the album self once more, but briefly, in the charts, but has only have all been chosen. If we know that we will already have reached 270,000 plays on Spotify. Biffco commented on « Say Something » and probably a track called « Magic », the work done on this version of the track: the rest of the tracklisting is - as you can see below - a « Hoping everyone enjoys the acoustic version. total secret for now. Kylie did give us some info here and We rebuilt the track from scratch and recorded there during interviews though, like for example when a completely new lead vocal. Kylie recorded and she confirmed, when being asked about potential colengineered all the vocals herself at her new home laborations, that nope, no other artist features in any of her songs on this album. Here are the credits for the studio ». Deluxe version, and you will see that several artists who When we think of everything that Kylie carried-out collaborated with the singer on Golden are there again! during lockdown for this new album, we are almost Oh, and one last thing, Kylie was involved in writing all convinced that at the age of 80, Kylie will be able to the new songs except two (tracks 1 & 11 apparently). release her own EPs, be a sound engineer, handle the 22 www.kylie-world.com
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1. Untitled – Michelle Buzz, Daniel Heløy Davidsen, for blessing this with their amazing talent for Peter Wallevik, Teemu Brunila a 2nd time round, Thomas Totten for his effort2. Untitled – Kylie Minogue, Ally Ahern, Brunila, Nico less guitars... big up Guy Massey for delivering « Stadi » Hartikainen on the final mixes, big up my man Will Blake 3. Untitled – Minogue, Alida Gaprestad, Brunila, Harfor connecting the dots as always... Thank you tikainen Jupiter Adams & Filly Adams for being my rock 4. Untitled – Minogue, Linslee Campbell, Maegan through all of this and also playing your part. Cottone, Daniel Shah, Skylar Adams We poured our hearts and souls into this and I’m 5. Untitled – Minogue, Cottone, Adams honoured to be a part of hell of a record! I can’t 6. « Say Something » – Minogue, Jonathan Green, wait for you all to hear it! Album on pre-order Ash Howes, Richard « Biff » Stannard now ». 7. Untitled – Minogue, Cottone, Adams 8. Untitled – Minogue, Stannard, Duck Blackwell Thomas Totten, guitarist: 9. Untitled – Minogue, Shah, Adams, Kiris Houston « Very stoked to announce that I’ve played 10. Untitled – Minogue, Campbell, Cottone, Adams guitar on 4 tracks from Kylie Minogue’s new 11. Untitled- Fiona Bevan, Troy Miller album! Thank you to Sky Adams for giving 12. Untitled – Minogue, Cottone, Shah, Adams me the opportunity. It was fun and challen13. Untitled – Minogue, Linslee Campbell, Sky Adams ging bouncing ideas and voice notes to each & Teemu Brunila other during lockdown to get this right but 14. Untitled – Minogue, Cottone, Adams when you get sent good music like this you 15. Untitled – Minogue, Cottone, Adams just connect with it immediately. Can’t wait 16. Untitled – Minogue, Shah, Houston, Adams for you guys to hear it. Album is available to pre-order now ». On social media, some of the singer’s collaborators spoke about the album, including Sky Adams: « I started working on this album about 3 weeks before lockdown happened and being faced with these new challenges we had to really dig deep and figure a way to finish it while also blocking out the madness going on the outside world... Shout out to Kylie Minogue being a total boss getting a home studio Setup /learning to navigate logic while I also recorded engineered the rest of it from my home... Massive shout outs to Maegan Cottone for soldiering through this all and delivering the majority of all incredible songs from my side on the album. Big up my guy Linslee Campbell for playing a key part in this incredible body of work and really helping me take this musically to the next level. Big up Daniel Shah and Kiris Houston once again
Filly Adams, artist and author & Sky Adams’ wife: « I got to hear this album in the making while we were all isolated indoors. Overhearing the sessions, I fell in love with these songs. Being a new mum, locked away from friends and family, the sounds coming from Sky Adams home studio really brightened the tough days. Jupiter Adams and I have danced and danced (well mainly me) our way through the summer thanks to this record. Thank you for letting us be a part of the journey (not that you had a choice) and thanks for allowing us to keep gatecrashing online! Congratulations all of you on disco at its finest! ».
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Focus • Say Something William Blake, artist, producer and songwriter: « Super proud of our client and friend Sky Adams who managed to make 10 incredibly records with Kylie Minogue on her forthcoming album « Disco » during the lockdown. Was incredible impressive how despite only working remotely Sky / Kylie and the other collaborators pulled off such fantastic records. Genuinely cannot wait for this one to drop and people can hear these disco bangers! Nov 6 release and currently no 1 on preorders already ». It’s important to know that if Kylie claims a number 1 album this decade, she will be the first singer to have managed to have a number 1 album in the UK charts across 5 consecutive decades! It would be brilliant news right? To be honest, we’re sure she’s going to succeed! Another topic in which all the Lovers are interested is, of course, a new tour. Kylie spoke about it briefly during interviews and although she would love to perform the songs of her new album on stage, she admitted that, given the current situation, it is difficult, well more like impossible to plan anything just yet. She already has a lot of ideas, and some rumours are spreading that there may be a little promotional party, a kind of underplay gig, like she did for her album « Golden ». However, it is likely that this gig will take place online (and that fans will have to pay to attend). For now it’s just rumours, only time will tell what the singer has in store for us! 24 www.kylie-world.com
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In any case, here are your wishes for this new era: MERCHANDISING In order to start this new era in the best conditions, • Disco music (well, obviously!) and a dance album Kylie released her new merchandising a few days ago • A nice tour with classic tracks and new tracks on her official website. Let’s be honest, we’re not su• Success in the charts and a number one album per fans of it all, we’re pretty sure we could design • Numerous physical bundles (hmm, think we got the stuff ourselves when we see the different items. I that one already) mean, where’s the creativity gone?... We really hope •Live performances on TV there will be some prettier items if Kylie ever gets to •Several « killer » singles (4 or 5) tour. Still, here’s a recap of the merch you can buy on •Gorgeous videos and high quality visuals, more the site, in case you wanna go and have a look creativity • A lot of remixes •References to the 70s and the 80s
Chroma Tee 25£
Disco Tee 25£
Kylie Logo Tee White 25£
Kylie Logo Tee Black 25£
Say Something Hoodie 45£
Lady Red Poster A2 10£
Kylie Logo Mug 10£
Say Something Tote Bag 15£
It appears that the « Lady Red Poster » should have been called the « Say Something » poster in the end. Indeed, the poster that was for sale on Kylie’s site has now slightly changed. It used to just have Kylie’s new logo across the picture but now, it says « Kylie Say Something », and that change was
made without anyone knowing. The artwork was changed at the last minute and the image wasn’t updated for a period of time. So, in case you didn’t know and you ordered the « Lady Red Poster », the one you’ll be receiving won’t be exactly the one you ordered.
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After releasing a Rosé, the first wine of her wine range, on her birthday, Kylie Minogue expanded her brand by releasing two other wines during the summer... Among all these wines, there is bound to be at least one that you’ll like!
Focus • Kylie Minogue Wines « Collection » series. The Côtes de Provence is my first vintage wine! I look forward to seeing and hearing how people enjoy this beautifully pale, blush Provencal rosé ». This new addition is available online and in Tesco shops for £18.
We had announced the upcoming releases in our previous edition and out of the four wines we had told you about, three of them have now come out. Indeed, Kylie now has three wines under what is called « The Signature » Wines (Fruit-driven and expressive wines): the first is the « Vin de France Rosé » that we already know, then there’s a Merlot (red wine) and a Sauvignon Blanc (white wine), and one wine under what is called « The Collection » (Single-estate wines), which is another Rosé, the « Côtes de Provence Rosé ». The Merlot comes from the French region of Pays d’Oc is described as « A fruit-forward, intense nose of ripe bramble fruits and cherries. Plush and juicy on the palate with soft tannins and a long, moreish finish of plums and spice ». The Sauvignon Blanc comes from vineyards of Gascony is described as « A modern style of Sauvignon Blanc with a fresh and lively nose of lime blossom and gooseberry. Zesty and crisp on the palate with a mouth-watering green apple and lemon finish ». The new « Côtes de Provence Rosé », is described as follows: « Elegantly pale peach in colour with alluring, expressive aromas of pink grapefruit, watermelon and lemon blossom. Crisp, dry and beautifully textured palate with zesty fruits leading to a long, silky mineral finish ». The singer stated: « I am so excited to debut the first of the
For the launch of these new wines, new pics, which were taken at the Ritz in London, appeared on the internet and they are just gorgeous! Kylie also posted a short video on socials where we can see her walking in a hotel room, holding her new vintage rosé bottle before putting it gently on a table. For this launch, the singer also got a pic taken with Paul Schaafsma, head of the Benchmark Drinks distribution brand and because of social distancing, we see them separated by a bottle of rosé each, having a toast. If the different wines are only available in the UK in Tesco stores and online (hurryup, there is a box of 12 bottles of rosé in promo online!), we know that the brand is working on organizing a more international distribution. For example, Australians will be able to enjoy her collection as of October, just in time for spring there! Also, a new wine, this time a high-end chardonnay straight from Australia (Margaret River) should be released very soon, in the fall. In an article which was in the Daily Mail this summer, it was reported that having your own wine brand would have a
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little extra money. Indeed, it is reported that Kylie could earn up to £1 million from her contract. The singer is not the only one who’s launched wines recently as actress Cameron Diaz and singer Post Malone also unveiled their bottles of Rosé, but other celebrities did it first: Graham Norton, Cliff Richard, Phillip Schofield, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker. Surprisingly, even the Queen has a range of sparkling white wines: Windsor Great Park Vineyard 2014. Andy Barr, CEO of PR agency 10 Yetis Digital said: « The main draw of the wine business, aside from the obvious cash money returns and the vague tax laws around investing in the industry, is the chance for a niche or maybe B list celebrity to upscale their «brand» appeal and take them to the A-List level, with the right marketing and PR strategy that is ». He adds: « Lending a respected and well-known name to an existing vineyard enables mediocre or substandard wine to be sold for an inflated price, increasing the potential margin just by franchising a celebrity name. Easy money, for very little involvement, especially if they don’t actually own and oversee the production themselves. I can’t imagine Posh Spice treading the grapes herself in her skinny white jeans, can you? ». Errrrm nope, clearly not lol. Laeti, Summer 2K20
Credit: Kylie Minogue photographed at The Ritz London, August 2020, (c) Darenote Ltd
KYLIE MINOGUE LAUNCHES HER FIRST VINTAGE OF CÔTES DE PROVENCE ROSÉ « I am so excited to debut the first of the Collection series. The Côtes de Provence is my first vintage! l look forward to seeing and hearing how people enjoy this beautifully pale, blush Provencal rosé ».
Kylie Minogue EMBARGOED UNTIL AUGUST 12TH, 2020: Following the overwhelming debut of the Signature Rosé, Kylie Minogue and Kylie Minogue Wines are thrilled to introduce the first in the prestigious « Collection » series, the 2019 Côtes de Provence Rosé. Created in the oldest winemaking region in France, Provence is famed for its lavender, sunflowers, olive trees and vines. Just west of St. Tropez lays the picturesque, palm-lined Domaine of Château des Anglades, perfectly situated on the Côte d’Azur. The 2019 vintage emanates alluring, expressive aromas of pink grapefruit, watermelon and lemon blossom. A crisp, dry and beautifully textured palate with zesty fruits leads to a long, silky mineral finish. Kylie Minogue’s Côtes de Provence Rosé will be launching exclusively online via www.kylieminoguewines. com, at £18 per bottle. For more information and to purchase Kylie Minogue Wines online visit www.kylieminoguewines.com, and to join the Kylie Minogue Wines community, follow Kylie Minogue Wines on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Above left: Kylie Minogue photographed at The Ritz London, August 2020, (c) Darenote Ltd.
KYLIE MINOGUE WINES LAUNCHES THE SIGNATURE SAUVIGNON BLANC AND MERLOT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (MONDAY, 24TH AUGUST): : Kylie Minogue Wines are thrilled to introduce the latest two wines in the Kylie Minogue Wines portfolio: the Signature Sauvignon Blanc and the Signature Merlot. Both the Sauvignon Blanc and the Merlot complete the long-awaited Kylie Minogue Wines’ Signature Range, which also includes the wildly popular and best-selling Signature Rosé, debuted in May by pop icon Kylie Minogue. Fun and spontaneous like Kylie herself, the Signature Sauvignon Blanc originates from Gascony, in the south-west of France, and carries a fresh and lively nose of lime blossom and gooseberry, whilst zesty and crisp on the palate - described by Kylie as the perfect accompaniment with a fresh watermelon, feta and mint salad. The Signature Merlot features grapes grown in the sun-drenched Pays d’Oc region in the south of France, delivering an intense nose of ripe bramble fruits and cherries and a moreish finish of plums and spice. Kylie’s go-to for her Signature Merlot are grilled halloumi, tomato and aubergine skewers, beautifully enhanced by the fruit-forward red. The Kylie Minogue Wines’ Signature Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot will be available exclusively in over 750 Tesco stores nation wide from Monday 24th August. For more information and to purchase the Kylie Minogue Wines’ Signature Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot online visit www.kylieminoguewines.com, where the Signature range is on sale for £9 a bottle. To join the Kylie Minogue Wines community, follow Kylie Minogue Wines on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
BLEND : Grenache 50%, Cinsault 40%, Rolle 10% ABV : 13% CÔTES DE PROVENCE : The oldest winemaking region in France, beautifully robed in lavender, sunflowers, olive trees and vines. Just west of St. Tropez lays the picturesque, palm-lined Domaine of Château des Anglades, perfectly situated on the Côte d’Azur. VITI : The 27-hectare estate is wholly orientated around maximising quality and environmental sustainability. The terroir benefits from a unique mineral composition due to its proximity to the coast, where the shale and clay in the soil enhance the aromatic profile of the grapes. The local microclimate of strong southerly sea breezes and the northern mistral winds continually aerate the grapes and foliage, ensuring optimum ripening conditions. VINI : Grapes are pressed gently to ensure a soft tannin extraction. The must is then settled to give a clear juice prior to fermentation. Temperatures are kept at 1618°C throughout fermentation for around 12 days. After this stage the wine is drawn from lees and refrigerated. 2019 VINTAGE Young, dynamic owner and winemaker Christophe Gautier celebrates this beautiful vintage thanks to the hot weather in July followed by light August rains that allowed grapes to reach ideal level of maturity. TASTING NOTE Elegantly pale peach in colour with alluring, expressive aromas of pink grapefruit, watermelon and lemon blossom. Crisp, dry and beautifully textured palate with zesty fruits leading to a long, silky mineral finish.
Blend : 100% Merlot, IGP Pays d’Oc Sugar : 5g/l total ABV : 13.5% Viticulture : o The grapes are grown in the beautiful, sunny Languedoc region in the south of France, predominantly on the chalky soils around St Chinian. o Grapes harvested at optimal ripeness and quickly transported to the winery. Vinification : o A small part of the fruit undergoes hot skin contact maceration to extract the maximum amount of fruit aromas whilst the majority of the grapes are destemmed and undergo a traditional maceration. o The juice is then fermented for 3 weeks with regular pigeage and pumping over. o This long process is designed to extract as much flavour as possible and give structure and supple tannins without any greenness.
Tasting note : o A fruit-forward, intense nose of ripe bramble fruits and cherries. Plush and juicy on the palate with soft tannins and a long, moreish finish of plums and spice. Suitable for vegans.
Blend : 100% Sauvignon Blanc, IGP CĂ´tes de Gascogne Sugar : 3g/l total ABV : 11,5% Viticulture : o The grapes are grown in the picturesque region of Gasgony, nestled between the Pyrenees mountains in south-west France. o It is a region famed for its aromatic, elegant and well-balanced white wines. o The cooling influence of the Atlantic breezes from the west allow optimal development for expressive aromas and bright acidity. Vinification : o Grapes are night harvested to ensure freshness and to protect from oxidation. o On arrival, the grapes are immediately destemmed and gently pressed to retain the fruity characters in the wine. o After a cool fermentation the wine is aged on its fine lees for 4 months with regular stirring to enhance aromas.
Tasting note : o A modern style of Sauvignon Blanc with a fresh and lively nose of lime blossom and gooseberry. Zesty and crisp on the palate with a mouth-watering green apple and lemon finish. Suitable for vegans.
News • Summer 2020
Chromatica II vs Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
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his is one of the buzzes of this summer: on Lady Gaga’s new album, « Chromatica », a transition music between two songs on the album is called « Chromatica II » and it works perfectly just before the track called « 911 ». The beginning of « Chromatica II » reminds us of Kylie’s « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head »... Many fans of both pop artists commented on this on social media and several Tik Tok users have even made short videos featuring this song. This offers a nice exposure to Kylie who recently created an account on Tik Tok too (now we can only hope there will be a Kylie/Gaga collaboration soon...).
D
Cakes for the caregivers
uring the lockdown in England, Kylie and the team of «Colette Cuisine», a gourmet restaurant in London, near Chelsea, volunteered to offer small snacks (lamingtons) to the nursing staff at the nearby Chelsea & Westminster hospital. Kylie recorded a short video which was posted on Colette Cuisine’s page, where she thanked the staff and explained that lamingtons were also her birthday cake during lockdown. Then we see the chef explaining how to make a lamington, from cake to topping with coconut. A few bottles of rosé of our fave Australian’s brand were also offered. Here is the message posted by Colette Cuisine under the video: « Organised by the lovely Kylie Minogue, together we have prepared a little thank you to our local hospital, by delivering a batch of the tastiest lamingtons made by our Chef Chris Hill. Thank you again to everyone at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital - we hope you enjoyed the treats and the incredible bottles of Kylie Minogue Wines! ».
Pictures of Kylie in GQ Spain magazine
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n one of the last editions of GQ Spain magazine, Andres Velencoso was able to publish some of his personal shots taken over the years. Among the photos was a black and white portrait of Kylie taken in Tulum, photos of Jon Kortajarena and of Rianne Ten Haken, both the latter being models. The photos are arranged like a book, with a small caption under each one. We let you admire this pic of Kylie !
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TOP OF THE POPS Kylie tops chart of most positive lockdown tweeters
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survey conducted by Sheffield-based digital agency « Evoluted » revealed that Kylie was the most positive tweeter during the lockdown, closely followed by other stars such as Tom Jones and Lionel Richie, while Nigel Farage, Piers Morgan and Cher were among the most pessimistic tweeters. If this survey may seem odd, here’s how it was conducted: 200 of the UK’s most famous people were selected and only the 131 most active stars on Twitter who personally manage their own accounts were kept. The agency then analysed their tweets and retweets (in short, all their activity on Twitter) and with a lexicon, decided which were positive or not. That’s how a percentage of positivity was assigned to each account and the ranking was done. James Stone, content specialist at « Evoluted » said: « We aim to be as thorough and accurate as possible within our research and our team really enjoyed carrying out this study. It’s extremely interesting to see which celebrities are using their platforms to display positivity and which ones heavily feature negativity ».
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special Kylie Top Of The Pops was broadcast on BBC4 on July 15th featuring the best performances of the singer during a 30-minute show. It was later available on the BBC platform (but - as often - you can only watch it if you live in the UK).
Kylie out and about in LONdON
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few days before the release of her new single « Say Something », Kylie Minogue was photographed by paparazzi in London on July 17th. The singer was dressed very simply, with a beige zip-up jacket, a cap and sunglasses, rather short white trousers and was holding a white mask in her hand. And of course she also had her usual beautiful smile !
Even though Kylie wasn’t very present on Twitter during the lockdown, apart from a couple of tweets or retweets here and there, she certainly deserves the first place anyway thanks to all the emoji hearts that she posts very often on social media!
Official inauguration of Kylie’s Tik Tok
Kylie Minogue – 89.74% Sir Tom Jones – 89.39% Lionel Richie – 89.24% Mariah Carey – 89.24% Cristiano Ronaldo – 89.13% Ben Affleck – 89.13% Robbie Williams – 88.46% Jamie Oliver – 88.32% Paris Hilton – 87.27% Lewis Hamilton – 87.21%
Nigel Farage – 45.32% Piers Morgan – 46.20% Cher – 51.30% Hugh Grant – 51.59% Barbra Streisand – 52.47% Justin Timberlake – 52.83% Liam Gallagher – 53.09% Pamela Anderson – 53.13% Stephen King – 55.01% Lord Sugar – 55.95% 35 www.kylie-world.com
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e told you about it in our last edition, Kylie’s team created an official Tik Tok account for her. On the occasion of the release of « Say Something », a few videos were posted on there to promote the song. In the first one, we see the singer doing slaloms between big red led lights while we hear the intro of the song in the background. We can also find other videos where she dances, where she presents us her new bottle of wine, the behind the scenes of the music video, or the famous video of the dog moving its head on « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head ». Laeti, Summer 2K20
Playlists to celebrate Pride
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ast year, Kylie headlined Brighton Pride, a concert that ended off her summer tour. And just like last year, the singer offered us her ideal playlists on several streaming platforms. Here are the playlists that she shared on Deezer and Apple Music
ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme BANANARAMA - Venus CARLY RAE JEPSEN - Cut To The Feeling CHIC & NILE RODGERS - Le Freak CYNDI LAUPER - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun DONNA SUMMER - I Feel love DUA LIPA - Don’t Start Now ELTON JOHN - I’m Still Standing HARRY STYLE - Adore You JAKE SHEARS - Big Bushy Mustache JANELLE MONAE - Make Me Feel JENIFER - On Oublie Le Reste JOHN PAUL YOUNG - Love Is In The Air KYLIE MINOGUE - Your Disco Needs You LADY GAGA - Stupid Love LIZZO - Juice MADONNA - Like A Virgin OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN - Xanadu QUEEN - I Want To Break Free ROBYN - Dancing On My Own RUPAUL - Cover Girl TAYLOR SWIFT - You Need To Calm Down TEGAN AND SARA - Boyfriend THE WEATHER GIRLS - It’s Raining Men WHAM - Club Tropicana WHITNEY HOUSTON - How Will I Know YEARS AND YEARS - If You’re Over Me
DOLLY PARTON - 9 to 5 KYLIE MINOGUE - Raining Glitter LORDE - Green Light BELINDA CARLISLE - Heaven Is A Place On Earth THE BEATLES - All You Need Is Love LADY GAGA - Rain On Me ROBYN - Dancing On My Own CECE PENISTON - Finally KYLIE MINOGUE - All The Lovers HARRY STYLES - Watermelon Sugar DONNA SUMMER - Last Dance JOHN PAUL YOUNG - Love Is In The Air DIANA ROSS - I’m Coming Out OTTO KNOW - Back Where I Belong KYLIE MINOGUE - Love At First Sight MUNA - I Know A Place DUA LIPA - Physical WHITNEY HOUSTON - I Wanna Dance With Somebody SCISSOR SISTERS - Any Which Way OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN - Xanadu GLORIA GAYNOR - First Be A Woman ARETHA FRANKLIN - A Deeper Love LIZA MINNELLI - Losing My Mind TOVE LO - Really Don’t Like U SAM SMITH - I’m Ready KACEY MUSGRAVES - Rainbow TAYLOR SWIFT - You Need To Calm Down LIZZO - Good As Hell BETTY WHO - Somebody Loves You GEORGE MICHAEL - Freedom! 90’ KYLIE MINOGUE - Better The Devil You Know CHAKA KHAN - I’m Every Woman ABBA - Dancing Queen JANELLE MONAE - Make Me Feel
News • Summer 2020
Iggy Azalea tweets about Kylie
Some memories of William Baker and Kylie
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ustralian rapper Iggy Azalea recently talked about Kylie when retweeting a message from someone who was talking about Kylie’s new single « Say Something » on Twitter. She said on July 24th:
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n the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the « Aphrodite » album, William Baker shared a few shots he had taken during this period that served as official promo photos for the era. Kylie’s former stylist has also completely redone his Instagram account where he shares some of the recent projects he has worked on, as well as some older projects, including the video for « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head » for which he had worked on the costumes. If you didn’t know, the white jumpsuit Kylie is wearing in the clip was created by Mrs Jones and her outfit was inspired on the one hand by Princess Leia and on the other, by Grace Jones.
« She’s an icon, but she’s still underrated. I love her so much ».
This is not the first time the artist mentions Kylie, she had also said: « Kylie Minogue is an artist that I’ve always felt really inspired by visually. Her song « All The Lovers » pushed a lot of limits at the time particularly in Australia and seeing that visual really inspired me to stand up for my art and also the things that I believe in by being uncompromising and my vision in the things that I have to say ».
Kylie has also reacted to tweets from the singer, saying she loved what she was doing.
No 2021 calendar?
T Kylie and Miley Cyrus FOLLOW each other on Instagram
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few days ago, Miley Cyrus started following Kylie’s Instagram account. A few days later, it was Kylie’s turn to follow her (and she went from following 63 people to 64... yippee!). It has never been a secret that Kylie really likes Miley Cyrus’ music, she tweeted about one of her songs, « Younger Now » in 2017 or when she watched Miley’s performance right after hers at Glastonbury, where she seemed to really enjoy it. Our Australian recently commented on one of Miley’s photos with multiple hearts. Miley Cyrus presented her new single (and music video) « Midnight Sky », which is also very « disco ». If some people hope for a duet soon, nothing is planned for the moment. (With all these artists praising Kylie regularly, honestly, we wonder why she’s not doing more collabs ! Gaga, Miley, Dua, Iggy ... and the list goes on...). 37 www.kylie-world.com
his is one of the Kylie-related news that got fans disappointed over the last few weeks: it seems that an official Kylie 2021 calendar is not planned... Indeed, the Danilo website, on which we could pre-order the singer’s calendar since what seems like (almost) forever, first wrote it was «sold out» before eventually cancelling it. It was a shock so of course, fans wanted to check by themselves. That’s what Neil did by sending an email to the Danilo team, and this is what they answered him: « Every year, we plan all the licences we wish to produce and contact the relevant teams - unfortunately this year their team did not wish to proceed ».
Despite this announcement, a calendar could perhaps be produced via another store or even appear on Kylie’s official store (we hope so!). If a Kylie calendar doesn’t get published for 2021, it would be the first time in over 20 years! Laeti, Summer 2K20
News • Summer 2020
KYLIE AND PAUL TO GET MARRIED ?
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n June 18th, the online magazine Closer posted an article called « Wedding bells for Kylie? Has Kylie Minogue finally got her happy ever after? ». Apparently, friends and industry professionals told Closer that if Kylie is taking on more lucrative side projects than her music, it’s to prepare for a more relaxed future with her boyfriend Paul Solomons. Popular culture expert Nick Ede, who has worked with the likes of Meghan Markle and Eva Longoria, explains :
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Promo on the rosé!
lcohol Alert (lol) - On the WineDelivered.co.uk website, you can find a special offer to get 12 bottles of Kylie’s rosé for £95 instead of £108! Enough to fill your cellar before winter! Please note that deliveries are only made to England and that when you order over £45, delivery is free!
« Spin-offs are what savvy stars do as their careers ‘mature’ and they reach that point of wanting to have more of a settled lifestyle while still bringing in the money. It’s understandable that she will be looking to the future and setting things up so she can focus on her own love and happy-ever-after. And people will buy into the brands because Kylie is still so popular – everyone feels they have grown up with her and they have lived vicariously through her ups and downs, and all we want for her is to find the love she deserves, which it seems she has with Paul ».
Friends agree that Kylie – who was heartbroken when her engagement to Joshua Sasse broke down in 2017 – has deliberately geared up for a « more home-based » lifestyle since meeting Paul, and they suspect wedding bells are on the cards soon. A source says : « Kylie was always so busy and career-focused in her early years, but now her happiness lies in putting love first. She was engaged [to Joshua] for a year before meeting Paul and thought she would marry forever, which is why she started branching out into other ventures some time ago, as she realised they won’t take her away from home for months on end, like touring and promoting new music does ». « She is massively in love with Paul. In the past, she has questioned whether men were with her for her fame, but Paul was never bothered about her profile. While he’s her biggest supporter, he’s also got his own career and is successful in his own right ».
Happy fans!
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uly has made some fans super happy! Kylie has indeed written back to fans (well sent back autographed items) who had written her letters and sent her CDs, album covers, photos etc... Some even expressed themselves on social media saying they no longer believed they would receive anything, because they had written to her two or three years ago, without ever getting anything back. If you want to try your luck, here’s the official address you can write to: Kylie Minogue / BMG UK / 8th Floor, 5 Merchant Square West / London, London W21AS / United Kingdom Don’t forget to provide a stamped envelope with your address on it to receive a reply!
« She has no doubt in her mind that Paul is ‘The One’ for her, and all her friends and family agree. Kylie and Paul openly talk about marriage and she has told friends she would love to become ‘Mrs Solomons’ ». « That feeling has only grown stronger, even in lockdown, and she has really enjoyed spending more time with him. That’s one of the reasons she embraced side projects in the first place - so she doesn’t have to spend eight months of the year jetting across the world touring, and can focus her attention on her future with her man, instead ».
Ok… we all know that when Kylie has a boyfriend the media say she’s going to get married - and that it’s never really been true (Joshua who?), so we have our doubts here - however, just imagine how gorgeous they would be walking down the aisle… Let’s just wait and see. As long as they’re happy then so are we! 38 www.kylie-world.com
Certification of old tracks
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n July 24th, the song « I Believe In You » was certified silver in England after having sold more than 200,000 copies in the country! As a reminder, the song was released in 2004 on the « Ultimate Kylie » compilation and is a the collaboration between Kylie, Jake Shears and Babydaddy. On August 21st, it was « Spinning Around », released in 2000, which was certified gold, also in England, with more than 400,000 sales! Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Kylie explains the story behind « Suicide Blonde »
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n an interview with News Corp, Kylie revealed how Michael Hutchence was inspired to write the song « Suicide Blonde ». The singer explained that it refers to her blonde character in the movie The Delinquents, Lola Lovell: « « Suicide Blonde » came from me talking about my character in The Delinquents, we met just after that. My hairdresser had called the colour of the wig I wore «suicide blonde» Anything he wrote at that time, well, I was around ».
Kylie features in the Mystify: Michael Hutchence documentary which came out last year. In it, she talks about her relationship with the singer, who committed suicide at the age of 37.
Rina Sawayama talks about Kylie
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apanese-born singer, Rina Sawayama, who has been living in England since she was five years old, gave an interview to the English magazine Cosmopolitan a few days before the release of her album. She was asked a question about her song « Comme Des Garçons », described as a love letter to the LGBTQ+ community, to which she replied :
« The sonics of that track were definitely inspired by the visuals of Kylie Minogue…like in the 2000s, she was really serving. She was the gay icon in the UK and absolutely everyone adored her. I always thought of « Comme Des Garçon » as a Kylie homage because her « Spinning Around » video had such an influence on me. I was too young to know what the LGBT community was up to when I was 12, but being part of the community now, I feel the inspiration has come quite naturally and found its way into the song ». Kylie also added Rina Sawayama’s song « Comme Des Garçons » to her Infinite Disco playlist, and it delighted the young artist! 39 www.kylie-world.com
INFINITE DISCO
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n a playlist shared on social networks and available on Spotify, Kylie unveiled all the tracks which inspired her to create her album « Disco ». It’s a 38-track playlist which also revealed a previously unreleased image of Kylie on the cover. Here are the different tracks she selected:
KYLIE MINOGUE - Say Something MILEY CYRUS - Midnight Sky SYLVESTER - Dance MADONNA - Deeper And Deeper DIANA ROSS - The Boss GIORGIO MORODER - Right Here, RIght Now ROBYN - Ever Again AMBER SIMONE - Only You NILE RODGERS - I Want Your Love JANELLE MONAE - Make Me Feel CHAKA KHAN - I Feel For You STEPHANIE MILLS - Never Knew Love Like This ROISIN MURPHY - Incapable TINA CHARLES - I Love To Love THE WEEKND - In Your Eyes GOLDFRAPP - Number 1 DIANA ROSS - I’m Coming Out - JESSIE WARE - Soul Control GRACE JONES - Pull Up To The Bumper CHERYL LYNN - Got To Be Real VICTORIA MONET - Experience PRINCE - I Wanna Be Your Lover CALVIN HARRIS - Promises DONNA SUMMER - I Feel Love DUA LIPA - Hallucinate AMII STEWART - Knock On Wood RINA SAWAYAMA - Comme Des Garçons SYLVESTER - You Make Me Feel SG LEWIS - Chemicals CHIC - Everybody Dance ANITA WARD - Ring My Bell TOM ASPAUL - W.M. LAPSLEY - Operator DONNA SUMMER - Bad Girls BLONDIE - Heart Of Glass SZA - The Other Side MARK RONSON - Late Night Feelings ROSE ROYCE - Wishing On A Star
Laeti, Summer 2K20
News • Summer 2020
RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW THE VINYL Several interviews With Steve anderson
D
uring and after the lockdown, Steve Anderson gave several interviews to various podcasts. He spoke in particular to the podcast « The Diminutive Collection », in which he talked about the creation of the album « Impossible Princess ». He talked about how he understands that the album may have divided fans, with some preferring more pop albums, but said that signing with DeConstruction had given Kylie a lot more freedom : « The songwriter in Kylie was really coming out, especially in the lyrics ».
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n Record Store Day, which was postponed to August 29th due to the global pandemic, an exclusive and limited 12’’ vinyl of « Right Here Right Now », the collaboration between Giorgio Moroder and Kylie Minogue, was available for sale. The beautiful grey vinyl includes two unreleased remixes by Kenny Summit. Many fans who are collectors tried to find a copy of the record at their favorite record store. Exceptionally this year, copies were also available on the various record stores’ websites, enough to satisfy most of the fans. Just in case you missed it, you can now preorder another limited edition of the same vinyl with the same mixes, except that this time it’s yellow. You can find it here: https:// townsendmusic.store/
he said, before adding : « I genuinely believe it was a very important record for her to make at the time. I think it was an itch that needed to be scratched ».
He also talked about the direction the album took a little later: « When we delivered it, it was a ten-track album and was before the Manic Street Preachers were involved. And we thought ‘this is a lovely piece of work’, but we didn’t think it would sell gazillions. We were very proud of it. Then the label thought they were going to struggle with radio so they got James [Dean Bradfield] on board to write a couple of extra songs (« Some Kind Of Bliss » and « I Don’t Need Anyone ») that were fantastic. It did what it needed to do ».
In another 49-minute interview to Time To Talk Show, he talked about his favorite tour, the « Anti Tour » and also talked about Kylie - The Musical, the creation of « Confide In Me » and many other topics.
Kylie on the cover of No.1 magazine in SCotland
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he Scottish No.1 magazine put Kylie on the cover of their August issue, with a small timeline inside that summarizes the singer’s career and a few photos of Paul and her. If you were thinking about buying the magazine but were hesitating, there are only 4 pages dedicated to Kylie (so, basically, don’t buy it). 40 www.kylie-world.com
Sheldon Riley re-imagines Can’t Get You OUT OF MY HEAD
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t happened a few days ago on the show America’s Got Talent: Sheldon Riley sang a cover of « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head », which didn’t go unnoticed to say the least ! Indeed, the singer transformed this dance track into a heartbreaking ballad, which gives a whole new dimension to the song. The performance can be found on our Twitter but also on YouTube. Laeti, Summer 2K20
Concert4Cancer
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n August 28th « Concert4Cancer » was broadcast on Irish television. It’s a program with numerous performances by artists which lasts more than two hours to raise funds for the Marie Keating Foundation, which is one of the leading voices in Ireland for cancer prevention, awareness and support. Among the artists who performed this year, there was Ronan Keating with the Mount Sion Choir, Gavin James, Kodaline, Gary Barlow and Lisa McHugh. The reason we are talking about it is because Kylie made an appearance, she didn’t actually sing but she left a little video message. Here’s what she said: « Hi everyone, it’s Kylie Minogue. Marie Keating Foundation, thank you so much for what is now years and years of incredible work. I can tell you from firsthand experience, knowing there’s people out there who are going the extra mile for you and for people like you, people in need is extraordinary. It’s so reassuring and encouraging. So thank you for your time and dedication if you’re able to donate anything at all tonight, no matter how small. Thank you so much. Do you know that that’s going to help the foundation carry on with their day care and their commitment? And. Yes, thank you so much. And until I get to see you in person, lots and lots of love ».
Back to Glastonbury one year later
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ast June, Kylie was headlining the Legend’s slot at Glastonbury. A year later, many articles came back on this performance, the singer’s concert having been ranked by the Daily Mail as the third most iconic performance of the festival since its beginning, just behind Queen and David Bowie! As this year’s edition was cancelled due to the global pandemic, the BBC dedicated a special channel to the festival and broadcast again Kylie’s performance, among others. Kylie also posted a picture of the little badge she got to access the festival and she is just like us, she also collects those little souvenirs we get in concerts! At home with Paul, she also did a kind of small « Glastonbury at home » by recreating the mythical Pyramid Stage with little bits and bobs Paul and her found. Talking about Glastonbury, in an interview with the One Show in England, Jason Donovan didn’t hide the fact that he was disappointed not to share the song « Especially For You » with Kylie on stage, after seeing the presence of Chris Martin and Nick Cave : « I was available. I would have flown in ».
he said.
New unpublished photos
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ew unpublished photos from the Golden Era appeared on social networks at the end of August. They were taken notably by Olivier Yoan and are just beautiful! We’ll let you admire some of the pictures below.
Jason Donovan’s separation has left a deep impression on him
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t’s been 33 years now (yes... already!) since Charlene married Scott in Neighbours. Many articles have been written about the wedding that thrilled all of Australia and England and the fact that Kylie and Jason were also a couple in real life. The singer decided to break with him after meeting Michael Hutchence, and Jason confided that he had been deeply affected by the separation, when Kylie called him from Tokyo to tell him it was over : « It was an extremely painful parting of the ways and, without a doubt, I took a long time to recover from it. Years, definitely. It was bad enough that she’d run off with anybody but she happened to run into the arms of the greatest rock god of the period, the very guy who I secretly wanted to be. That was a pretty big punch to take ».
Thankfully, Jason has managed to get over the years, and is now married with two children! 41 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
News • Summer 2020
KYLIE still wants to work with madonna
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ylie joined Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM Andy Cohen Live show on September 14th, to discuss her upcoming album. During the interview she mentioned that she would love to collaborate with Madonna, adding : « I’ve long said that it would be great to do something with Madonna ».
We all know that Kylie and Madonna met briefly at the Met Gala in 2013, and had a picture taken together, however, we don’t see Kylie because Madonna’s boyfriend was in front of her. Kylie stated: « I went to say hello to her and we had a brief chat, the photographer got one picture, probably didn’t know who I was, and I think it’s her boyfriend at the time that is blocking me out so the fans are going nuts! ».
Kylie also mentioned that her friend Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters was supposed to work on new music with Kylie, for her new album « Disco » but that Covid put a stop to that: « We were supposed to write together for this album, I had a writing trip to LA planned in March so of course that was cancelled. Otherwise, there may have been another Jake Shears collaboration with me. But unfortunately, that didn’t happen ».
She said that she loves Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa, and she also confirmed that there would be a new single before the album is released and that she’d been filming the video for this single just last week. We are SO looking forward to it!
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I LOVE BEIRUT
n September 19th, the singer Mika will broadcast live on Youtube a charity concert called « I love Beirut ». The sale of the tickets will be entirely donated to associations that support the population after the double explosion that devastated the city of Beirut on August 4th. The singer, born in the Lebanese capital, will perform this intimate concert in a place kept secret for now and it will be broadcast in four time zones and there will be guests and surprises. Tickets giving access to the live event went on sale Monday, August 24th at 9 a.m., and prices are 10 Euros, 10 dollars or 10 Great British Pounds. On September 15th, we found out that Kylie will also be attending this event when she posted a poster on her social media adding : « So pleased to help my friend MIKA with a special performance for his «I love Beirut » live stream available to view on 19th September! ».
and giving us the link to the concert. In parallel to this event, a fundraising campaign will also be launched on the GoFundMe platform. The money raised will be redistributed to the Lebanese branch of the Red Cross and Save the Children Lebanon.
42 www.kylie-world.com
Isa, Summer 2K20
Rumors • Summer 2020
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A collaboration With Dua Lipa
t was a real wish for all the fans of the two singers. During the lockdown, Dua Lipa re-recorded the songs from her latest album, this time with many other stars to then release « Club Future Nostalgia ». Following the various rumors of Dua collaborating with Kylie, many were hoping that Kylie featured on one of the tracks of this new album. When the front sleeve was released, we could see pictures of the first stars taking part in this album: Madonna, Gwen Stefani or Mark Ronson, but there was also a horse on there... And some people thought that the horse was a reference to Kylie (as she is riding one in her new clip). But in the end, the tracklisting came out, and Kylie is not on this album... The collaboration between the two artists will not take place right away...
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BACK TO The Voice Australia
ince July, a rumour has been going around on social networks saying that Kylie may be joining the cast of The Voice Australia for a second season, as a coach. This rumour was denied by the singer herself in a radio interview. Indeed, Kylie explained that she doesn’t even know what her plans are for next year, and that touring - if it’s possible - remains her primary goal. Some rumours also say that if Kylie doesn’t return to the show, it’s because she hated the experience. This information hasn’t been confirmed by the singer yet...
A new single for September 4th
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s you read this magazine, you now know that this rumour was fake: Kylie’s second single was supposed to be released on September 4th. The song is described as mid-tempo while being a little faster than « Say Something ». If we listen to rumours, the song is called « Magic », and should be Kylie’s second single before the release of the album in November. No release date is known at this time, but the only thing that Kylie has confirmed regarding new stuff was that she had an official remix coming our way on September 11th, and indeed, it did ! Now we have to wait for the rest.
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A new photo deleted FROM SOCIAL MEDIA
nly the quickest fans have been able to see this: a photo was posted on the singer’s Insta account and was removed a few minutes later. We don’t have much information about this picture, we only see Kylie’s feet which seem to be in red and gold stilettos, as well as the bottom of a long dress or a cape. It doesn’t reveal much, let’s see if it’s another pic from the album photoshoot or for a surprise which will be revealed to us later!
Laeti, Summer 2K20
Kylie In The Press • Summer 2020
All of Kylie Minogue’s British GQ covers, from 2000 to 2019 To mark Kylie’s 52nd birthday in May this year, GQ UK website went back and found all her British GQ covers. They stated it was a chance to remember how she changed British culture and pop music in equal measure. Looking at this list, we can’t help but wonder why she wasn’t on any GQ covers between 2005 and 2019... But anyway, here are the covers and the comments that go with them on the website. BY DAVID LEVESLEY (GQ-MAGAZINE.CO.UK)
2000 The year 2000 marked Kylie Minogue’s seventh studio album, « Light Years », an album that includes « Spinning Around » and the heavily underrated « Your Disco Needs You ». It’s safe to say she served up some of her best singles this year (get it, because it’s tennis and… OK).
2001 One of two Minogue GQ Men Of The Year covers – she earned the title Woman Of The Year – this marked her « Fever » era and a time when « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head » was living up to its name all over the country.
44 www.kylie-world.com
2002 This was maybe Minogue’s best year for singles. « In Your Eyes », « Love At First Sight » and « Come Into My World » were all released this year after their debut on « Fever ». How do you top that? She released « Slow » in 2003. She keeps us so well fed.
Isa, Summer 2K20
2005 A big year for Minogue: it marked the last single she released before her breast cancer diagnosis, which saw her take some time off before she came back to music with 2007’s « X ».
2019 For 2019’s GQ Men Of The Year issue, we went behind the scenes of Kylie’s Legends slot at Glastonbury and got to see how she plans to keep changing and evolving as an artist.
« All roads led to Glastonbury », she told Jonathan Heaf. « I couldn’t even bring myself to call it ‘Glastonbury’; my team and I named it ‘The Short Show’. I was so worried about, well, everything. I kept having flashes of Spinal Tap ». But it’s safe to say she killed it and has no plans on slowing down after a momentous moment for her musical career. « I’ve reached a point where I don’t want to become a tribute act to myself », she told us. « No way. No thank you ».
How Kylie Minogue is cashing in on her $109 million fortune On June 1st, 2020, The New Zealand Herald newspaper put online an article regarding Kylie’s fortune which is estimated to be around $109 million. Obviously, Kylie has earned a lot of money by selling her music but that’s not all. She also has a range of bed linen, curtains, Kylie glasses, make-up, perfumes, underwear, and now wine. Here’s a summary of what the NZ Herald state. We’re not saying this is actually true but you know what we’re like. When we see Kylie news, we’re here to let you know! BY ALISON BOSHOFF (NZHERALD.CO.NZ)
THE WINE Available at Tesco for £9, Kylie’s rosé is said to have « aromas of fresh summer berries and white blossom, with a fruity, crisp finish », although one critic described it as « a coarse, sweet-yet-bitter disappointment ». It’s hard to say how much she will make, because it depends on the deal which has not been disclosed (and how much is sold) but as an example,
they state David Beckham who supposedly gets £5.5m a year for Haig Club whisky. However he also films adverts and has ambassadorial duties, so not sure we can really compare the two. « KYLIE AT HOME » PRODUCTS In 2008, Kylie launched her first range of bedding « Kylie at Home ». The range is produced by British textiles 45 www.kylie-world.com
giant the Ashley Wilde Group and has been running successfully ever since. « Kylie at Home » is sold in High Street retailers such as Debenhams and Next and is also available online. The bedding features a lot of satin, velvet and sparkles. The range has expanded to include candles, lampshades, wallpaper and even curtains. Signature items include velvet boudoir cushions trimmed with diamante. The deal is Isa, Summer 2K20
Kylie In The Press • Summer 2020 thought currently to net her at least £500,000 a year. THE H&M BEACHWEAR Kylie lent her name to a beachwear line by High Street fashion chain H&M in 2007, featuring silver, gold, animal prints and swirling patterns. It sold out and was, at the time, the firm’s most successful celebrity range. H&M’s head of design rhapsodised about her « fantastic personal style ». They don’t give us any indication of how much she earned thanks to the collection though. THE WATCH For the die-hard Kylie fan there is a £450 watch made by luxury London watch designers Bamford. A spin-off from its Mayfair collection, it is a limited edition, with only 300 made. UNDERWEAR One of Kylie Inc’s earliest business ventures was with Love Kylie lingerie in 2001, which was launched at Selfridges in London. The ranges were called Vamp, Seduce, Fever and Cheekies and included black fishnet bras and « lucky pants » with ribbon and diamante trim. The range was discontinued in 2006 as she dropped out of the limelight having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. In 2015, she returned to the fray by teaming up with the brand Sloggi. She modelled the range herself in adverts which were shown across Europe. The range was available in « mystic blue » and « electric raspberry » as well as neutral tones. She put her dancers in Sloggi underwear during her concert tour in 2015 and released a promotional film on YouTube. The range is no longer available. According to the newspaper, Kylie first endorsed lingerie in a 2001 cinema advert for Agent Provocateur, in which she rode on a mechanical rodeo bull in her undies. It was voted the greatest cult cinema advert of all time in a poll. The thing is, they
are wrong; Kylie already had a H&M lingerie collection in 1999! Anyway, the Sloggi deal was estimated to be in the region of £600,000, while her own underwear range is thought to have bagged her £250,000. PERFUMES Kylie sold perfumes from 2006 to 2012, with her scents made by cosmetic giants Coty. Her first was called « Darling », and was supported by the release of an EP of the same title. Next came « Sweet Darling » and « Sexy Darling ». Other scents included « Couture » and one for men, « Inverse ». They are now only available via resale websites. Some have become collectors’ items, going for nearly £100. How much will she have been paid? At their height, the Beckhams sold £68m of fragrance a year and were reportedly paid £4m a year by Coty. Kylie’s deal was probably worth around 25% of theirs. THE MAKE UP A limited makeup range, branded Kylie, was launched six months ago and is available from the Merch section of her official website. It includes a £12 lip gloss in « Raining glitter », cheek colour in « Wild Rose » at £15 and £14 eye shadows in pink, teal and purple. The newspaper doesn’t tell us how much she earned with the make-up sold, they focus more on the Kylie Jenner « case » that Kylie won.
She has released two hardback art books about her style and a « magical » picture book for children, « The Showgirl Princess », in 2006. Her biggest earnings, however, will have come from calendars which sell briskly and have done so for 20 years. How much money has she made? Well, former Strictly dancer Ola Jordan reportedly got around £100,000 for her calendar, so assuming a much bigger star such as Kylie would reasonably expect to be paid double that, the total figure could reach £4m. THE MUSIC Over the past 10 years, Kylie has released four albums. « Golden », in 2018, achieved gold status, selling 100,000 copies, while « Aphrodite », which came out in 2010, went platinum with sales of 300,000. Her first album, 1988’s « Kylie », sold more than two million copies in the UK. There was a lucrative tour on the back of « Golden » and, recently filed accounts from her company Ten Minutes, which receives touring revenues, shows net assets of £1.8m in 2019. More money from her music career can be found in her company Darenote Ltd which filed accounts in May. These indicate net assets of £3.7m in 2019, up from £3m the previous year — nearly the blockbuster levels of 2013 when she made just over £4m in a year. In all, she is believed to have made around £30m from music and touring.
THE GLASSES Kylie launched her first collection for Specsavers on Valentine’s Day 2017 and featured prominently in its advertising that year and again in 2018. Her glasses - with a distinctive gold K tag - are still sold by the High Street store, with prescription frames starting at £99. Clearly it is an asset worth protecting. According to the newspaper, last year, her legal team lost a court battle to try to stop a Spanish firm from selling « Kylie » glasses. BOOKS 46 www.kylie-world.com
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Have you seen these 3 iconic queer images from around the world? The LGBTQ Nation website has chosen 3 images that have marked the queer world, including: Monty and Jeanne Manford, Stormé Delaverie and the Equality Show. BY MATTHEW TODD (LGBTQNATION.COM)
Believe it or not but the blond bombshell performing here with Australian pop star Kylie Minogue at the Equality Show 1995, is Sir Elton John. The two duetted on « Sisters » (« There were never such devoted sisters ») at the annual fundraiser for the UK gay rights charity Stonewall at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Over the years stars such as Pet Shop Boys, Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Saunders Joanna Lumley, and Antonio Banderas made appearances, but it was Elton as his alter ego « Sharon » in Versace drag and Kylie who stole the show.
This photograph is a personal favorite of mine because I worked on that show and met Kylie which was a thrill – their performance was one of the most showstopping, fabulous things I’ve ever seen – but also because those shows felt like a fightback against the extreme media homophobia of the time. Celebrities coming out and straight allies standing up for us were hugely important. Boy George, K D Lang, Elton John, Bronski Beat, Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres and others coming out in the 70s, 80s, and 90s changed public perceptions.
straight support was more impressive. There’s a special connection between gay audiences and famous women who supported us – especially in the early years. Stars such as Elizabeth Taylor who committed her life to HIV and AIDS research and relief, Bette Midler who began singing in gay bathhouses, Cyndi Lauper who has a charity that supports LGBT homeless youth, and Madonna, who spoke up for gay people in a way mainstream American TV audiences had not heard before, made a massive difference when we were under attack not just from a virus but the hatred that came with it.
Today LGBT people are an important marketing demographic for many popstars but in earlier years
Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite: Looking Back At The Classic Album 10 Years On
It’s been 10 years since Kylie released the euphoric « Aphrodite », her 11th studio album and her fifth Official UK Chart Number 1. Get your togas on as we step back in time to an era that showered us with love and gave us arguably Kylie’s most ambitious tour to date. BY GARY JAMES (ENTERTAINMENT-FOCUS.COM) 47 www.kylie-world.com
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Kylie In The Press • Summer 2020 Kylie’s last studio album, « X », was released in 2007 and although it performed well it didn’t reach the dizzy heights of « Fever » and met criticism for lacking a cohesive sound. In 2009, writing started for Kylie’s follow up « Aphrodite », but it wasn’t until a suggestion from Kylie’s pal Jake Shears that the sound of the album solidified. Jake was recording with his bandmates, Scissor Sisters, for their album « Night Work » and were working with producer/writer Stuart Price. Stuart had very successfully produced Madonna’s 2005 opus « Confessions on a Dancefloor » as well as worked with The Killers, Seal, Keane and more. Jake convinced Kylie that she needed his magic for her album. Stuart came on board as Executive Producer and Kylie had obviously been listening to her fans as she said about the album, « It’s probably the most cohesive album since the beginning of my career back at PWL days ». With a theme of universal love filling the album, it’s certainly a warm hug of an album that sees Kylie firmly in pop/ dance territory.
The video for the track featured Kylie in a cityscape as the goddess of love summoning all around to her to share in what can only be described as a tame orgy that builds into a writhing mass of people with Kylie stood atop. It was directed by Joseph Khan who had also worked with everyone from Britney (Womanizer) to Eminem (Without Me) and was filmed in Downtown LA. Kylie recreated a mini version of the video for Alan Carr’s Chatty Man. With another Top 3 hit under her belt, Kylie and her then label Parlophone, showed they meant business by hosting journalists at a lavish album launch party at Pacha, Ibiza where Kylie also performed some of the new tracks. At a press conference on the island, Kylie said « I feel like the planets have aligned with this album…to end up here (Ibiza) and it all making sense is just genius ».
Stuart explained, « You can hear someone smiling when they sing… every song we recorded, if we weren’t having a good time we pressed the stop button ».
The UK fans agreed as we snapped it up and sent it straight to Number 1 on the Official UK Charts selling around 80,000 in its first week. This feat gave Kylie a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive decades with Top 5 albums in the UK having scored Number 1’s in the 80s with « Kylie » and « Enjoy Yourself », in the 90s with her first « Greatest Hits » collection and the 00s with « Fever ».
The first tease was to come in the form of the single « All The Lovers », which was released in June 2010. When I heard it was written by the same writers (Kish Mauve) who were responsible for « 2 Hearts » I was worried. However, « All The Lovers » was an understated banger with a subtle, whispery Kylie, pulsing beat and electronic twiddles setting the scene as it pulls you in, before erupting into the uplifting chorus and sheer joy of the middle 8 full. The track peaked at Number 3 on the Official UK Charts, spent 10 weeks in the Top 40 and became a massive summer airplay hit.
Incidentally, « All The Lovers » went on to be Kylie’s second biggest selling single of the Millennium behind « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head ». It was perhaps the longevity of this song, particularly at radio, that left follow up « Get Outta My Way » struggling to get as much exposure. Due to album tracks being available to download individually, « Get Outta My Way » first charted in the Top 100 in the middle of September 2010 but it peaked in the UK at Number 12 early October when physical versions of the single were made available. It only spent two weeks in the Top 40 yet has since 48 www.kylie-world.com
gone on to become one of her most streamed tracks of all-time as well as one of her most watched videos. « Get Outta My Way » tells the tale of being out at a club and wanting to dance but your partner isn’t playing along and so you’re going to show them what they are missing by dancing with someone else. It’s a piano led dance track that caught the attention of DJ/Producer Alesso who sampled the melody for his own song « Cool » which peaked at Number 10 in 2015. It gave Kylie a Number 1 on the Billboard Club Dance chart and here she is in a rare US TV performance on Dancing with the Stars. The third single took us back to where the album began. In 2009, Kylie had sessions with singer/songwriter Nerina Pallot where it was suggested she do a take of a song Nerina had written called « Better Than Today ». It’s actually got quite a Scissor Sisters feel to the track as Kylie encourages positivity despite how bad a day you’ve had; there’s always hope for a better tomorrow. The track was released in November 2010 but only just crept into the UK Top 40, peaking for a week at 32. The music industry was changing and the sound just didn’t capture fans imagination it seems. Interestingly, the video was directed by Kylie herself and sees Pac Man style heads on her band and long pink wigs on the shoulders of her dancers. Next on the « Aphrodite » journey was Kylie’s most ambitious tour – « Aphrodite Le Folies » – starting in early 2011 in Europe before heading to Japan, North and South America and landing in Australia in June 2011. The theatrical experience played heavily on the Greek mythology themes that the album title suggests but with a Vegas showgirl spin including a dramatic fountain finish complete with acrobats and water jets. To coincide with this, Kylie released a fourth single from Laeti, Summer 2K20
the album in Australia. « Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love) » was released on CD in Australia (and download in the UK) and more excitingly PWL’s Pete Hammond gave the song a reworking that brought back fond memories of the late 80s and Kylie’s SAW heyday. Listening to the rest of the album, there are so many single options to choose from and perhaps the record company could have moved quicker to follow up « All The Lovers ». In my mind, « Cupid Boy » would’ve been a great second single as it had a harder edge than « All The Lovers » (and « Get Outta My Way ») and was produced by Swedish House Mafia who are credible dance producers and DJs who were enjoying Top 10 success themselves in 2010. Knowing that « All The Lovers » would still be dominating radio airplay, « Cupid Boy » could’ve served the clubs and music TV channels to keep the
album doing well before releasing the more mainstream « Get Outta My Way » in September. Also « Better Than Today », as much as I like the song, did sound a bit dated by the time it was released as a single, they could’ve gone for the anthemic album title track (imagine if that had been her first single post-cancer; what a statement), the unmistakable Kylie pop of « Can’t Beat The Feeling » or my personal favourite, the dark and slightly frantic, « Closer ». Elsewhere on the album, there’s a suprise mid-tempo ballad written by Keane’s front man Tim Rice-Oxley and Fraser T Smith (Adele/James Morrison) called « Everything Is Beautiful ». « Too Much » is a 90s house inspired banger that Kylie wrote with Jake Shears and Calvin Harris. Stuart and Kylie wrote a couple of tracks together; the gorgeous « Looking For An Angel » and
the slightly out-of-place « Illusion ». It’s worth mentioning the bonus tracks that featured on the album’s Japanese and Australian releases. On the former was a Xenomania written track called « Heartstrings » which is a jaunty, electro-guitar track that feels like it could’ve been a « Light Years » b-side. Then there’s Mighty Rivers which was a bonus on the Australian version also written and produced by Xenomania. It has a similar vibe to « Heartstrings » but has more impact. On a final note, Taio Cruz wrote « Higher » for Kylie for « Aphrodite » but when it wasn’t to be used, Taio released it himself with Kylie as a featured artist (as well as Travie McCoy). The track peaked at Number 8 on the UK charts in January 2011 and has become one of Kylie’s Top 10 biggest UK hits and one of her most streamed songs.
FOREVER YOUNG Singing hits by Queen, Wham and Kylie Minogue can make you look younger and rejuvenate ageing skin, say scientists. SCIENTISTS say singing hits by Queen, Wham and Kylie Minogue can make you look younger. (THEWORLDNEWS.NET)
Warbling classic tunes for just five minutes a day gives you a hit of the feel-good hormone dopamine which helps rejuvenate ageing skin. Singing also exercises the jaw muscles which stretches the skin and keeps it supple. Chemists at Swedish beauty firm Foreo teamed up with The British Academy of Sound Therapy to
compile a look younger top ten. It is based on lyrics which reduce stress and a driving rhythm which boosts oxygen flow around the body and to the face. Among the best hits to belt out are « Don’t Stop Me Now » by Queen, « Spinning Around » by Kylie, « Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go » by Wham, « Angels » by Robbie Williams and « Happy » by Pharrell Williams. A Foreo spokesman 49 www.kylie-world.com
said: « The great news is that singing is officially good for your face, and who doesn’t love a good singalong ».
He added: « Our playlist has been designed for younger looking and glowing skin ».
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Kylie In The Press • Summer 2020
Should Have Been Bigger: Kylie Minogue’s « Crystallize » BY MIKE WASS (IDOLATOR.COM)
Disco is enjoying a huge revival in 2020. Dua Lipa dipped into the genre on « Future Nostalgia », Jessie Ware celebrated it on « What’s Your Pleasure? » and Kylie Minogue stepped back in time — again — on « Say Something ». (Her new album is even called DISCO). However, the pop icon is hardly new to the mirrorball scene. Kylie has been dabbling in disco, on and off, since the ’80s. One of the most underrated examples is « Crystallize ». Released as a charity single in 2014, the dance anthem is something of a lost, nu-disco gem. Originally recorded for Kiss Me Once, « Crystallize » mysteriously missed the final cut despite being vastly superior to songs that were released as singles (yes, this is « I Was Gonna Cancel » shade). Bright, airy and quintessentially
Kylie, the Dev Hynes-penned track is a shimmery burst of dance-floor glitter. « When everything is caving in and you don’t know what you’re gonna do », the Aussie hitmaker begins the song. « When you don’t know if you should go or stay, you only have to turn my way ». That takes us to the lovely chorus. « Baby, you can always count on me », Kylie coos over Babydaddy’s disco-flecked production. « Just come and look deep into my eyes, crystallize ». In some ways, this is a perfect companion piece to « Say Something ». They’re both soft, dreamy mid-tempo moments that gently raise your serotonin level. Unfortunately, « Crystallize » underperformed on the charts and has been relegated to a footnote in Kylie’s iconic discography.
The Stella x Smart Works charity auction: 34 iconic women donated pieces from their wardrobes - and now they could be yours Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham, Alexa Chung and more have donated to a one-of-a-kind fashion auction from Stella, Smart Works and Christie’s. BY CAROLINE LEAPER (TELEGRAPH.CO.UK)
If you could delve into any celebrity’s wardrobe, whose would it be? Kate Moss, perhaps? Victoria
Beckham? Alexa Chung? Now is your chance to buy a piece of their style, as they and over 30 more of the world’s 50 www.kylie-world.com
most iconic women have donated exceptional, personal items in aid of the Stella x Smart Works charity auction, Laeti, Summer 2K20
in association with Christie’s. From a masterpiece of a dress by the late Alexander McQueen, donated by Dame Helena Morrissey, to an Hermès Birkin bag given by Jane Birkin herself, many of the lots on offer are pieces of fashion history. Samantha Cameron has donated the dress that she wore to re-enter Downing Street after Prime Minister David Cameron won the election in 2015. Barbara Taylor Bradford has given a rare Hermès Kelly bag, which was bought for her by her late husband in the 1990s. Every piece on sale has a story, and holds sentimental value to the woman who donated it. This is much more than a lockdown-inspired closet clearout, though: 100 percent of the proceeds from all sales will go to Stella’s charity partner Smart Works, the organisation that helps vulnerable, unemployed British women find jobs and rebuild their lives after times of struggle. With unemployment figures in the UK
set to rise as the coronavirus pandemic continues, now, more than ever, this charity needs your support. The auction is live online at christies.com/stellaxsmartworks from 11am on Friday 21st August, allowing you to place bids before the hammer goes down on Tuesday 15 September 2020. Discover the stories behind the lots, as told by the stars themselves… Tamara Ralph Lot: Ralph & Russo silver liquid velvet dress worn by Kylie Minogue Valuation : £2,000-£3,000 Ralph & Russo designer Tamara Ralph has donated a silver wowdress, worn by Kylie to the Royal Academy Summer Party in 2019. « This piece looked gorgeous on Kylie, but it’s a unique style that can flatter many different body shapes », Tamara says. « We hope that this, combined with the kind and confident spirit that is Kylie, will inspire the next owner to feel both empowered and beautiful ».
Can Kylie Minogue crack the US with her Disco album? BMG UK boss Alistair Norbury has told Music Week that the Kylie Minogue campaign for new album Disco has so far been a « perfect storm », based on its early international success. BY ANDRE PAINE (MUSICWEEK.COM)
Following her signing to BMG, the label scored a No.1 album with « Golden » in 2018, her first chart-topper since 2010. « Golden » has 156,423 sales to date (including 22,726 from streams), according to the Official
Charts Company. BMG and Minogue repeated the chart feat last year with « Step Back In Time – The Definitive Collection » (released in partnership with Rhino), 51 www.kylie-world.com
which has sales of 124,479 (30,732 from streams). So hopes are high for her 15th studio album, « Disco », released on November 6. « We’re having a fantastic time with Kylie ». Laeti, Summer 2K20
Kylie In The Press • Summer 2020 said Norbury, BMG UK president, repertoire and marketing. « We’re 100% ahead of where we were [at this stage] on « Golden » already. That’s on every metric: streaming, social media, Amazon pre-orders, D2C pre-orders, video views. And what’s very exciting is the US response, which is the biggest response since the heyday, and there’s already lots of interest at US radio ».
« Golden » peaked at No.64 in the US Top 200 albums. Her biggest Hot 100 hit remains 1988’s « Locomotion » (No.3), while « Can’t Get You Out Of My Head » made No.7 in 2002. Lead single « Say Something » has achieved new career peaks for Minogue in the US. Earlier this month, it opened at No.19 in Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and No.3 in Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales.
In the UK, the single has so far peaked at No.82, with 13,265 sales to date. Radio 2 is on board once again for the singer, with the track on the station’s A-list. Minogue has 5,780,104 monthly Spotify listeners.
it got off to a great start. But this time, she launched the album from her house. So, while you will see some very exciting, big promo things coming, they’re going to be much more focused ».
Norbury said the coronavirus restrictions have altered the roll-out of global campaigns, which previously involved expensive international promo trips.
Norbury suggested it was an opportunity for labels to reassess the scale of promo plots for global artists.
« What we’ve achieved on Kylie is that perfect storm, where we’re currently setting up to sell more records than last time without the cost of promotion, because she’s not going anywhere ».
he told Music Week.
« I’m hoping that there’s a re-education of how we will promote moving forward ».
he said. « Yes, we will still do big things, but we don’t necessarily need to zoom around the world and do TV in every country and everything that’s offered ».
« When we launched the « Golden » album, we were all in Soho House in Berlin with Kylie and Hartwig [Masuch, BMG CEO] and
This unearthed Kylie Minogue music video is a love letter to Melbourne Kylie Minogue is one of Melbourne’s most famous exports. This hidden gem that celebrates the city was created around her Neighbours days. BY GENEVIEVE ENRIGHT (THEBRAG.COM)
In my university days, I was berated by a tutor for not knowing who Scott and Charlene from Neighbours were. Their wedding was a bigger television event than Charles and Di, she exclaimed. My mother would disagree but to blatantly ignore the role that launched Kylie Minogue into international stardom was a cardinal sin in her eyes. You have to remember that despite the refined, British accent Kylie Minogue has now adopted, there was a time that she was the OG bogan on Ramsay Street. She had frizzy hair, was a mechanic (a gender-crushing role for a soap even then) and it was during her time on the show that she started singing. I won’t launch into a catalogue of her hits, but there is a song that often gets overlooked. « Got To Be Certain » was recorded in a London studio in 1988 after the success of « I Should Be So Lucky ». 52 www.kylie-world.com
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The single was recorded in London, but the music video was filmed in Australia. I simply must share the iconic locations Minogue plays tribute to here, because I am missing the streets of Melbourne as I’m sure every Melbournian is right now. Here she is strolling down the Yarra River. I know it’s the ’80s and there’s meant to be less people, but I’m guessing they cleared the path for this one. I haven’t seen a coordinated red hat/ blazer combination in some time but it really is iconic. The only thing missing is a rowing regatta or a passing jogger.
Yarra River
T&G
We now turn to Collins Street, specifically the top of what was then the T & G (now KPMG) building. If there was a venue for a rooftop works social, this is it. The skyline is gorgeous as it is tinted with dusk and twilight, and you can just make out St Paul’s Cathedral in the distance. Unless that’s a random triangle shaped building. You can’t see it, but somewhere in them vicinity is the Regent Theatre, which hosted « Priscilla Queen of The Desert: The Musical » in 2017. The link is tenuous but Kylie’s song « Better the Devil You Know » was added to the show set during that production.
Luna Park
My detective skills end here but this has to be Luna Park. The Twin Dragon is the better ride but you can’t harmonise and hold on for dear life at the same time. At the time of filming, the carousel ride hadn’t been oiled « since Kylie was born ». 53 www.kylie-world.com
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Interviews • Summer 2020
Kyle and Jackie O JULY 23RD, 2020 australia There you go, a brand new song for Kylie, she’s had so many songs, I can’t even count. Yes, the list was too long to mention. I love that song, « Say something » it’s brand new and it’s out there. Kylie is on the phone now. God, you’ve done it again. You know that, right? Good morning! How are you, good? We’re good! It must be almost embarrassing to be so successful continuously. I understand that people like Jackie and normal people, they don’t understand. Well, I’m sure they’ve got some tricks up their sleeves. I don’t know how you do it. You’ve had a very long successful career. Let me roll through some of the greatness that is Kylie Minogue: she’s sold over 80 million albums it’s unbelievable! -, she’s got 16 ARIA Awards, 3 Brit Awards, 2 MTV Music Awards and a Grammy. Wow! « Disco » is Kylie’s 15th studio album, and will be coming out on November 6th. I didn’t even know these facts! I would definitely fail on this questionnaire. Did you think back in the day when you did « Locomotion » that it would see you through 15 albums later? Oh, no way, absolutely not. I did « Locomotion » as a demo. I didn’t have a record company. I didn’t know what a record company was. It was like something I’d dream, you know like a daytime fantasy, so no, absolutely not. Wow! And here we are all these years later, and you’re still going and I feel like you’re in a good place. We can only know by what we see here. We see your photos from six months ago and we think that everything still is [good for you], that you’re in a good place. Everything’s good. I mean, everyone’s dealing with the current situation. I managed to, you know, I’ve got Paul in my life, which is amazing. Oh, yeah. You kept him. I like him, I got a good vibe from him straight away, I was I think that’s the guy. Yeah he’s a good one, he’s a keeper. He’s been amazing, and I basically finished my album in lockdown so I was busy. I feel like some days in my schedule - well I didn’t even have a schedule, I was taking it day by day - were all about cable people! Setting up a home studio with cable! Oh my God. So I’ve got even more respect for my crew now. You know, with them it kind of magically happens when I turn up to rehearsals!
We were reading rumours about you and Robbie collaborating once again for the new album. Is that just a rumour? I didn’t hear that remotely. It was a rumour, but I’d love to work with Robbie again for sure. The other rumour was that you’ll be coming out here taking over boy George’s or Kelly Rowland’s spot on The Voice next year with Keith Urban. Is that true? I did hear that rumour, and that is not true, and to be honest, I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing next year. Are you keeping the year for a wedding or something…? Or what’s your plan? Oh no. I was just about to say that I saw a little snippet of The Voice today with the social distancing and it looked amazing. They did a good job, they really did. And as you would know, your sister and I are about to start filming Masked Singer together in Melbourne. I know, so I took a particular interest in that. I thought how are they going to do it? So I’m sure you’ll find the best way. Take care of her, you have to be the big sister. We’ve been having some phone calls because we’re both a bit worried about certain things. I struggle a little bit with quarantine and then missing my daughter, and then she’s got, you know, her things. She’s just such an amazing woman, Kylie. She really just is such a wonderful friend and so supportive. I know. [Then they talk about when Kyle and Dannii worked together years ago]
Someone just slipped me a note saying that Kylie Minogue has a signature rosé as well. So you’re in the wine business? Oh, yeah, I am, and it’s going really well. That came about... Gosh I have lost track of time, I think six weeks ago. It was on my birthday what I am talking about!? It was on my birthday. It’s a rosé. It’ll be available in Australia in Spring. And then we’re going to have a Côtes De Provence Rosé, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Merlot. So we’re loving that new song « Say something », it’s so good. It’s like the « old Kylie », you know, the stuff you want to dance to, it’s back!
54 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Yeah. My producer is a guy called Biff and we worked together firstly on « Light Years » in 1999 and I’ve done a lot with him over the years. « Love At First Sight », « In My Arms », a bunch of songs and a bunch of fan favorite b-sides and songs that I performed on the « Anti Tour », so it was great to be reunited with him. And then, I brought in another songwriter who worked on « Golden », and I just thought those two would hit it off and the three of us should get in a room together. So yeah, it’s got a throwback feel. But how do you do every song you do? Do you want to
put your hands above your head? Did anyone else notice this, when you’re dancing to a Kylie song, both hands for some reason just lift off automatically into the sky, I don’t understand! It’s weird, it’s like there’s a magical spell. K: Have you also got the dreamy look on your face? Yes, yes! Kylie thank for chatting to us, it’s good to talk to you, the new song « Say Something » is out now and it is exciting! Congratulations on that, I’m so thrilled for you! K: Thank you so much and lots of love to you both and everyone else who is listening and take care! Take care as well!
HIT RADIO CATCH UP JULY 23RD, 2020 united kingdom
This morning, we are joined by the queen of Pop, it’s Kylie Minogue! Hi! This is exciting, great to see you all. This is so exciting Kylie. Before we start, I should just say Cheers! I know it’s the morning, but I don’t care. How good is it? Happy Kylie Rosé everybody! I see you’re rocking some sequins today, I love it. I had to! I feel like I was getting ready for gay pride, just to interview you to be honest. So the wine is amazing. You must obviously love it. How is the wine tasting? I love how we are not talking about my new song but we’re just going straight on with the Rosé. It’s delicious and it’s been such a lovely project to have through lockdown where it was something that was accessible and people seem to get a lot of joy out of it, and I felt like I was reaching and connecting with people in a new and fabulous way! Absolutely. What would you say is the perfect musical accompaniment to your rosé? Oh, megamix. Oh my God. Everytime. There was a 50 + 1 megamix, like yeaaaars ago. I didn’t even know I had 50 songs years ago. I mean, you’ve done a lot Kylie to be fair. Some amazing music, you’ve got your own wine, you’ve got your own bed sheet range. So how does it work then in your life? Do you have your own wine for dinner and then you get in bed with your own bed sheets? [Laughs]. Hum, not the bedding anymore, we’ve finished that up, but the wine definitely. My boyfriend and I would
say « should we have a bottle of the KM ? » and we love it! « The KM », how cool is that? So the actual reason you’re here is because you’re back with new music and we’re so excited. So what’s the vibe of the new single? It’s… wow, I mean, I’ve only just started talking about it so, and you’ll know, Fleur, when you go start a new campaign and you haven’t quite figured out how to explain it… I would say this song for me without getting too deep, is almost existential. It can feel very epic by the time you get to see the video, which is like « galactic disco » I think. It’s called « Say Something » and it could be about just wanting to hear that person or for you to express yourself or I think of it as more endless, you know, that kind of endless quest for love and being understood and finding something or someone out there that you relate to and that speaks to you. It’s not as easy as « I met someone on the dance floor and danced all night ». That’s coming! That’s a little teaser! You said that it’s galactic disco Kylie. You look like you’re in the middle of a galactic disco with a light saber things behind you at the moment. Is that maybe a hint that the album that’s on its way, perhaps in November? It is a little bit, yes. You tell us more about the album, what can we expect? Escapism, emotion, and one of my true happy places is emotional pop where It’s up to you. You can just let loose or you can interpret the words and the feelings. We started last year with the single « Say Something », and then I guess I was like maybe a third through the album and then there was a lockdown. So she knows how to record her on vocals so I loved that.
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Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Interviews • Summer 2020 On top of everything else... It’s like I’m in prep school with Logic. I did my kindergarten on Garage Band and then I went to Logic. We need to hear the song now. Can you introduce the song for us, please? I’m nearly shaking. I’m so excited. OK, here’s the first single from my upcoming album. This is called « Say Something ».
throw « Say Something » in there as well now. And then « Locomotion » because I recorded it as a demo, I didn’t have a record company. It got very, very humble beginnings from my part because it had already been a hit. But I’ll choose where it all began for me. The actual answer was « Hand On Your Heart » by the way Kylie. Listen Kylie, there was an article the other day that said singing Kylie tunes for 5 minutes * They play the song * a day can actually make people look younger. This was a genuine article I love that song! The song is so good, and at first I was skeptical, but have the baseline is so good. I love the a look at James here, you know that space in the verses as well. It’s ama- James is actually 68 years old! zing. [Laughs] I think he listens to more than Thank you so much. When we wrote it five minutes a day. last year, it just hung around and we OK, more than 5 minutes. I probably thought we had something and then had at least an hour a day, I think, I was worried it would fall into the… since I was maybe ten. So that’s why there’s always a few songs that you I’m looking so good. So I need to know just love so much, you love with your if we’re going to see you on tour once heart and your soul and sometimes Miss Coronavirus is done, and if so, those songs don’t ever get heard be- can my boyfriend and I please have a cause they’re not in the right style or meet and greet? it’s not the right time or whatever The second part of the question is they’ve got isn’t enough. So I was easy, yes. The first part it’s the dream, really glad that this song made it and isn’t it? I think we all just, in whatever people are now hearing it. form that we love, for me, it’s music Yeah, I’m excited, too. This might sur- and concerts, for others, it’s sports or prise you actually; one of my favorite bingo. Whatever it is, it is the dream songs of yours is « Step Back In Time ». to get back to doing those things and Is it? to have a brand new show with these Yeah, because I used to watch all of new songs. Lots of disco would be abyour music videos. solutely amazing. So I’ll be dreaming D’you wanna funk? about that for now. Oh my Gosh, d’you wanna funk? I OK, I can’t wait. We’ll wear face love that! I just love the harmonies masks. You have an incredible career and I used to have all of your music that spanned decades, Kylie. Is there videos on VHS that I used to watch anything that you want to do that you when I was growing up, but I used to haven’t tried yet? watch them like back to back to back. Stacks, stacks of things. There’s always You’re delighting me, thank you so new stuff like… I think if I’d said « I’m much! done » before finishing this album, I It was amazing. If I had to ask you wouldn’t have these new songs. I’m what your favorite song was, is it al- really curious, I’m still completely most impossible to ask you that? inspired and love to know what’s out It’s impossible. Maybe I’ve got like a there that I haven’t done, acting once « clutch ball », « Slow » being one of in a while I get to do, and that’s pretty them. « Love At First Sight », « Dan- much a thrill. I get quite nervous becing », I really enjoy it. I’ve only sang cause it is where I started and I love « Dancing » for a couple of years but it. I love not being Kylie for a while, I love that it tells us a story and it’s being someone else is brilliant. You all a slightly different structure to tradi- know what it’s like when you’re going tional songs, so that’s fun as well. If to work for music. You sign off and I was to round up five, I’m going to everything but to get into a hair and 56 www.kylie-world.com
makeup van for a film or TV, you kind of sign off but at the same time, go « just do whatever you need to do. I don’t have to look good. I don’t have to look like the best version of myself. Just do it », and it’s really it’s a real sense of freedom. So yes, there’s tons, tons, tons. We can’t see what else you’re going to do. Now I need to ask you... That’s another thing, the wine we’re gonna have red, white, etc... So that’s another thing. Now how do you become an icon Kylie? I’m asking for a friend, James. [Laughs] I really don’t know. When I started out, I was just happy to have a job and I’ve made enough mistakes and had enough embarrassments along the way. I think you’ve just got to keep trying. And if it’s your destiny, it’s your destiny. Well Kylie, because it was cancelled this year, you’re still the last person to play the Glastonbury legend slot. Be honest with me, did you do an Adele? I don’t know if you saw her on her Instagram dancing to her performance. Did you secretly do that as well? I did. I just didn’t post it, but I did. My boyfriend and I made a little miniature Glasto. He said, « come on we’ll make the pyramids » so out from the recycling bin we got bits and pieces and I was kind of nervous like it was the date - not that many nerves because that was off the charts, like crazy anxiety and nerves about the whole thing - but yeah, we did watch it on the TV and I was nervous leading up to it then. I was a little bit nervous watching it as well, had a bit of a tear where I realized it was the difficult point for me to talk about the past. But, yeah, overall, I celebrated it. Oh, I love that you did that. That’s brilliant. Well, we’ll have to make a fresh one next year. Hopefully we’ll just be there next year. Exactly! Now, we’re all huge fans of yours, but James is the biggest fan here hands down. And he’s been so well behaved Kylie. James, we’ve got a minute left with Kylie right now, it is your chance to tell her how much she means to you. Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
James: I think it’s so obvious without even saying anything. I mean, you’ve changed my life and made me more me, and I’m so thankful for that. Like, without your music, I wouldn’t be as accepting of myself as I am and, yeah, I love you. In fact I think we met a long time ago and I trod on your foot and you were so nice to me about it. And that meant so much that you’re clearly a beacon of positivity, light. Thank you for everything. That’s awesome, that’s the best thing I could hear. And what’s amazing is,
carrie and tommy JULY 24YH, 2020 australia
unless you tell me or someone writes me a letter and tells me or someone stops to talk to me… [I wouldn’t know anything about it]… it’s those little human interactions that give you the extra fuel in the tank. There’s days where I will honestly go: « Can I do this? », and it’s stories like that that mean so much to me and help me. You really help me keep going, so it’s a circle. It’s beautiful. It’s like in a live show. We come with energy. The audience comes with energy. You can’t really say who’s come with more,
but it just goes round and round and builds into this beautiful thing. Yeah. I don’t know what it is about you actually. I just cry every time you perform. Every time I’ve seen you I’ve cried it’s so bizarre. It could be the wine maybe but so thank you so much. Thank you so much for talking to us this morning Kylie and all the best with your new music. We can’t wait to hear it. Thank you so much. You’ve made my morning. Lots and lots of love.
And what a treat we’ve been talking about it all the show. The princess of Pop, the one and only Kylie Minogue joins us. Hi, guys. How are you? I’m good. How are you both? Oh, living the dream over here. Your new single, « Say Something » is an absolute tune. But I have to ask you, you’ve sold over 80 million records all around the world, so when you release a song, does it still give you a buzz? Oh, my God, yes, totally, especially the first single from a new album. This is a really exciting time for me. There’s always a certain amount of anxiety as well, but definitely excitement for people to hear it and have new experiences with the song and see how it works within the body of work. And I know we can’t do it now, but I’m looking forward to performing it live sometime. Honestly, I was actually also thinking I’m looking forward to going out dancing to it. When I heard it, it made me just want to be all hot and sweaty in a nightclub, having a dance, Kylie… I don’t know much about bass guitars, but the bom bom beat, I really like that sexy beat. Yes. It reminds me a little bit of... You remember the Robert Palmer video with other girls in the band, there’s something that reminds me of that video. Oh, yeah, very much so. When was the last time you got out or have a party Kylie? Oh, I mean the same as everyone
else, ages ago. But I think I’ve reached the conclusion that a disco can be anywhere but often the best place to have a disco is when it involves moving furniture. You know, you’ve had a dinner or you’re somewhere, and it wasn’t meant to be a dancefloor or disco, but you’ve got to move something and they can be some of the best discos. So I think we just have to either shut our eyes or imagine we’re out (like outside) or yeah, just hold out for better times. Kylie, you just mentioned moving furniture. It’s no secret that you’re a tiny. I was just picturing you throwing a couch on your back. That’s not an unlikely scenario because I’ll give everything a red hot shot. And someone sensible would say « What are you doing? Stop that ». Speak of giving things a red hot shot, your 2019 Glastonbury performance was the most watched TV moment in the festival’s history. I was meant to go this year, but bloody Corona got in the way. The idea of performing in front of that many people fills me with anxiety. What are you feeling the moment before you step out? I still have trouble describing that journey and that moment. But certainly right before going on the stage, I think as a performer - and I’m sure it’s the same with the others, you know with the band and dancers and the entire team - the clock’s ticking and you’re getting closer to that point. And well, certainly for me, ten minutes before going you’re like « Oh, this is real. It’s getting real ». It’s almost like going into
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Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Interviews • Summer 2020 a kind of vacuum space or a kind of air-locked space and somehow your body’s walking to the stage and then the music starts and there’s no turning back. But it was the most extraordinary experience, it was truly « other ». Tell me you go out hiding afterwards or something. I would feel like the adrenaline that would happen when you’re doing a show like that, what do you do after? It’s extremely boring. I mean, there’s not a lot of rock and roll. I probably stare at a wall for a while just with adrenaline and going through what happened in the show and « debunk », as I call it, kind of get everything off, and yeah, we might wind down and have a glass or something. But no, it’s a singer’s nightmare to go to the hotel bar or something, where you have to talk over a lot of noise. That’s just asking for trouble really. It’s not the wild post-show party I was expecting though just walking in and seeing Kylie stare at a wall. I should have an « option » story, which is totally wild. You mentioned that you might go home and just have a glass of wine. I mean, are you drinking your own rosé when you’re having that glass of wine? Oh, well, I am, it’s really good. Yeah, my boyfriend and I would say as the weekend rolls about, should we have a bottle of KM? So we’re extending the range and we’ve got a Merlot and a Sauvignon, working on an Australian Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay, which are exceptional. So, yeah, it’s kind of doing its own thing. And when I met with the company benchmark I’m working with, we were all just on the same page. We just want to deliver quality, we want to deliver experience and for people to just enjoy it. It’s a little bit like the music where with people, we’re somehow connected through the « product ». So, yes, that’s definitely gonna be on the rider whenever we do get back on the road. Kylie, would you consider launching a box of wine? Oh, yes, like a cask. In our memories from years ago, they seemed to be
a bit « daggy », but I’ve seen they’re really good now, so yes I would definitely. I don’t know if they are getting better or you’re just becoming more of an alcoholic because I feel like that’s what my dad would say. Well, I haven’t done it yet, but there are different options, you know, if you’re going to a barbecue or whatever. I’m not against the idea now… that’s just really made my day, I love it, I miss you and I miss Australia so much. I wanted to talk to you about not only your Tik Tok fame, but also Carrie Bickmore Tik Tok fame because both of you seem to think it’s OK to be on Tik Tok yet post nothing. Well, I will soon. We were waiting for this single to launch, so I don’t know what I’m gonna do. But let’s say, yeah the pressure! Would you consider collaborating with Carrie? Maybe you should take this footage of us just doing nothing. Watching the wall and drinking the rosé. When are you going to be able to get back to OZ? Oh, I don’t know. Trust me, I’ve dreamt about it every day recently. And of course with everything that’s happened, I just couldn’t have felt further from home, further from my family. So it’s a big question mark at the minute, but… as soon as I can, I will. I’m desperate to get home. And in any to quench people’s appetite before then, is there going to be any virtual concerts or anything we can zoom into? I hope so, yeah. I mean, it’s all a bit of a moving target at the moment. We’re looking into doing something for the album, but that’s something that will depend what the rules are at that point in time. I do love the idea of having a disco, it’s just in my mind at the minute. But, you know, the old disco floor where it was coloured squares. Hypothetically, if it was one metre, I mean, you got your own squares. That would be fun. That’s as far as I’ve got because it really depends what happens. What colour square would you like guys? 58 www.kylie-world.com
Hot pink for me please, I’ll move the couch. I’ll take anything I can get. OK, alright, would you like to be next to each other or not? No, far away, I took him to the Spice Girl concerts last year and I couldn’t be more excited and he stood there and he was such a drag. I don’t wanna bring him to a disco party. If I get us to do a disco night, you better be going wild! It has been lovely talking to you again, congratulations again on releasing new music on the album, on everything, we love you back home here in Australia, we miss you and yeah, we can’t wait to see what’s coming in the days and months to come. There’s a lot coming up, this is just the beginning so it’s a really exciting time and thanks for sharing it with me. Thanks Kylie Alright lots of love, bye!
Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Fitzy & Wippa JULY 24TH, 2020 australia Please welcome the magnificent Kylie Minogue. Hello! It’s been long! Kylie it has been far too long. Where are we talking to you from? Where exactly are you right now? I’m at my house in London. You’re in London. How is lockdown going over there for you? Oh, lockdown seems a little lighter than it did in the previous months. Yeah, it’s going OK. Yeah. I mean, I’ve been out to make a video and do photoshoots, everyone’s in masks and covid supervisors and all of that. So, you know… it’s baby steps back into that kind of world. Yeah. Good news. Thanks for asking. I’m doing OK. This is your 15th studio album and disco, I think this is the genre that you have excelled at for so long. « Say Something » is such a brilliant track. Was it always on the cards Kylie, did you want to do another album or being in isolation, writing etc… did you get a love for performing again and getting back out there? It was a very different experience. I started working on the album last year, so I had regular studio sessions, one of which was when we wrote « Say Something ». But then I’ve spent... I mean, put it this way, there’s a couple of producers I can’t wait to actually meet. I’ve spent hours and hours and hours and hours with two producers. I only know them from the waist up and in two dimension. I don’t know how tall you are or who you are beyond that screen. It was a really different experience, but I learnt a lot. Kylie, what drives the decision? Your last album was more country, this
one obviously is going back to disco. What makes you change your mind to change an album direction, or is there someone that you sit down and spitball with and decide that you’re going to do something else? I was about to say part of it’s just being a gemini, and I change my mind all the time. Haha, no I think particularly with the last album, with Golden, that was a totally unexpected turn and I genuinely loved that experience, going to Nashville and I think some of the songwriting lessons while I was there have stayed with me on this album, but we’re putting it into disco form. So but I would say I work really closely with my A&R from my label here, Jamie Nelson, and I first worked with him when I signed with a different label back in 1999, so I’ve worked with him on and off for many years. He’s the guy who found Spinning Around. Right OK! Are the gold pants coming back for this disco album? No, no. I don’t want to frighten anyone. Actually, Kylie, can we cast your mind back around this time last year, because, unfortunately Glastonbury was supposed to turn 50 years of age this year. You performed last year, which was an emotional one for you, Kylie, because you originally were supposed to perform there in 2005. And obviously with your breast cancer diagnosis, you had to pull out. So for you to go back to Glastonbury and perform for the first time, was that one of the highlights of your career? K: Without doubt. I mean, it’s still hard for me to believe. Like if there wasn’t a record of it happening, I mi59 www.kylie-world.com
ght have felt like I’d invented it or something. It was such an extraordinary experience, even if I hadn’t had that history of having to cancel in 2005. It is just a huge deal and I think every artist I’ve ever heard or sing talk about it. It’s that same kind of reverence for this show. And everyone’s nervous, which made me feel a bit better for having quite a bit of anxiety leading up to that show. It was amazing. I’ll tell you who got emotional when you were performing at Glastonbury, it was my wife when you brought Jason out for “Especially For You”, because that is my wife’s favourite songs. No, that was in Hyde Park! Either way, I remember seeing that and thinking « this is just such a beautiful moment ». Was it strange for you now or is it something you enjoyed doing? No, hmmm, can I tell you about that because it was just beautiful! I texted him maybe it could have been the day before or two days before the show and said, « Hey, I’ve got this gig on in Hyde Park. If you want to come, let me know », and he said that he had a lot on and he would just let me know if he was going to come or just be him on his bike. So I said « OK, let me know ». Then he told me that he was going to come, then I let my team know, and of course, you could see the light bulbs go off on all of them. They were like « D’you think you could ask him to… » they were trying to pester me to ask him straight away. I said, I happen to know he’s cycling and I’m not going to ask him now and, you know, so when he showed up I was like, « Hey, we’re doing the song anyway, do you want Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Interviews • Summer 2020 to join? But you can easily say no, you can do a bit. You can, you know, do whatever you want to do » and bless him, he did it and afterwards, because it was a genuine last minute thing, I had grown good friends of mine calling me crying. It was such a moment. That was such a big part of us growing up… I mean, the Kylie and Jason thing, of course, you know, coming from Neighbours and then to see you guys together and that film clip too where you were so close together, I remember my mum saying to me when she saw that film clip for the first time « I’ve heard these things take a long time to film. They’re very close to each other. I hope they’ve got fresh breath » [laughs]. [Laughs] I think we both did, you can let her know! You’ve also branched out as well Kylie, which we heard has sold out as well. You’ve got your own your own Rosé now as well. Have you been having a few rosés in isolation? I most certainly have, yes. I was asked about it this morning on a British radio interview and they said « Did you do an Adele and did you watch Glastonbury in your costume? ». I said
that I did do an Adele in the way that I did watch it. My boyfriend and I had the t-shirts on while we were drinking the rosé. Good on you, love it! Kylie, it is so good to hear your voice again. I suppose the hardest part Kylie is we always want more of you and Sarah is your biggest fan here on the show and she’s still angry that we’re not sitting face to face ‘cause she wants to give you a hug. You never come in the studio, I get it, you’re in London and it’s been tough. The hardest part for Kylie is sitting there thinking, well, you know, I’m an Aussie, I’m originally from Melbourne and I don’t know when I’ll even be able to get here yet, you know? Yeah. I’ve got to say, through all of this and through the lockdown, I don’t think I’ve ever felt further from home, and that was probably the most difficult thing for me amidst everyone not knowing what was happening. Yeah, I just thought, oh, « When can I get home? », and I still don’t know the answer to that. But as soon as I can, now I’ve got an album but after would be amazing. If you’re flying to Sydney here, we
can get you straight to quarantine in Nicole Kidman’s farm; you can do 14 days there and then come and join us in the studio. Well, I think we’re all trying to be hopeful at least, that I might be able to fly in and just go straight to your studio to have a good old catch up. Kylie, what you’ve gotta promise us as well, the next time you’re coming back to Australia, well you’ve got to perform « Disco » don’t you, there’s gotta be a tour, there’s gotta be a performance. It is the dream right now, it really is. And I mean, that’s the first single from the album. I know what else is on the album and I know how much fun it will be to perform those songs live. So, yes, I’ve just got to hang on to that dream. We can’t wait! Kylie, it is so good to hear your voice again. « Say something » is the new single, the new album « Disco » is out further in the year, but we appreciate your time and good luck with it all Kylie. Lots of love everyone! Sending love, thanks Kylie!
Boogie and Arlene JULY 25TH, 2020 united kingdom Hey Arlene, [screams] Kylie Minogue! Boogie and Arlene, hi! Hey Kylie! We are all a bit like the Muppets then! Yeaaah the Muppets show! You want Muppets Kylie, two right here, excluding you. K: How are you?
We are very well and we are so excited that you’ve got new music coming out. Can I just pick you up on the first line of your song? So the song is « Say Something », and it says: « We’re a million miles apart in a thousand ways. Love is love. It never ends. Can we all be as one again? » So 60 www.kylie-world.com
obviously it’s very up for this period of time in our lives, given that we are all separated with lockdown. I mean, did you have a premonition? K: No, definitely not. But we wrote the song in about September last year and when I was finishing my album in lockdown from home, I would Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
keep coming back to this song and the lyrics just felt more and more relevant. So how was lockdown for you? You live in the UK now Kylie, were you here the whole time? I was home. The first few weeks I barely moved and then I set-up my studio at home which was a good thing to do to have all that set-up, and then I was able to work remotely with my producers. It’s amazing how we all adapted to everything that’s changed. Thank goodness you set-up your home studio, otherwise you would have been the size of us because all we did during lockdown was eat. I’ve spent more time just staring at the fridge that I would have previously. You’ve been doing this now for 30 years! That’s amazing! You’re as amazing as you were in 1988. Was it when you started releasing songs? 87 in Australia then 88 here. You’re a chameleon, that’s the point isn’t it? And I think it’s a fantastic role model to be, to show women of all ages that it doesn’t matter your age, really. If you have a passion for something and you’re good at something, you just keep doing it. If you are passionate, you’re always learning. I’m still always learning. I’ve learned to record my vocals and I guess I kind of explored that with the previous album, with « Golden » and the song « Golden » says… You know, I could only do what I did at 18, I couldn’t do what I do now when I was 18. So, you’ve been with me for over thirty years and we’ve all got these different phases and eras in our lives. And yes, so I find myself here in a really good place actually, musically. Kylie, the song is brilliant, it’s classic Kylie isn’t it, it’s very disco. The album is called « Disco », isn’t it? So it’s going back to what you’re probably most famous for musically. It just felt like the natural place to go back to the dance floor, to the disco. It may be kitchen discos for a little bit longer, but I think … actually I think some of the best discos are the ones that involve moving furniture. You didn’t plan it, but somehow one thing’s led to another and suddenly there’s a dance floor.
Last year, you played a couple of gigs at Edinburgh Castle. So what are your memories of your last time here in Scotland? Oh, brilliant, they were fantastic gigs! There are certain venues where those of us on stage have an awesome view, and that’s one of them, like you really feel the history and the excitement being at the castle. So, yeah, it was amazing. I got to tell you, you did an amazing thing for one of our palls. Richie Jeffrey, he’s one of our co-workers and he’s one of your biggest fans. And he managed to push his way into the mosh pit at Edinburgh Castle and he’s wee small, I’m surprised he didn’t get crushed... Anyway he made it to the front, and you Kylie, you made his life. What did I do? You presented him with a rose. He got the rose? He was my wild rose! He kept the rose, and the thing is, his mum kept the rose for safekeeping and has recently presented it to him in a glass case, she got it pressed. It’s like Beauty and the Beast and his love for you will never die until that last petal falls. That’s incredible, he was the wild rose. We did that each night, it kind of became a thing in 2018, and there’s certain places where production cannot find a good rose. So I hope it was not one of the less nice roses. Sorry. So what are you looking for? What’s the briefing for the ideal rose? It’s a good red rose which you’d think you could find anywhere but not really. I just wanna tell you another thing which is really fun, I think you’ll like this Kylie. A couple of weeks ago, on our show, we did a thing called « Pics or it didn’t happen ». Now, the premise was that it’s a true story that somebody has, but he’s got no photographic evidence at all. We got a lot of calls and they were brilliant. One of them was about you. Can I let you hear the twenty-second clip? So this is a guy called Dave, who’s a taxi driver in Edinburgh, and he phoned the radio to tell us this story. I hope you can hear it.
Well, it could very well have happened because when I’m out, I do get taxis and cabs and I’m on the fence. Fifteenth album now, how do you remember all the words to the songs? Sometimes I’m distracted by something and it’s gone. It will often happen if I sing, you know, someone’s calling out for something, and it’s a song I haven’t done in a long time. We’ll start in the wrong key, which makes it dreadful. I’ll try not to get the verses mixed up or I mean, it’s always a fun part for the audience because they’re like, we know, better than her « oh bless, she’s forgotten the lyrics ». We’ve actually come up with a little game to test you a little bit, it’s alright, it’s very quick, I had to come up with a name really quickly, so I’ve called it I should be so clucky. And basically what we’ve done is we put a chicken sound effect over the words of some of your songs. Can you tell us the words that have been missed from the songs? Here’s the first one. * They play step back in time: Hustle, pumpin’ the muscle, blame it on the.....*
K: BOOGIE! *They play shocked: ‘Cos it struck me like lightning Like a bolt out of the blue....*
K: Emotions …[she hesitates]… inside me, all over you. Lucky I did a Greatest Hits Tour last year. OK, go on one more. This is from Love at First Sight. * playing Love At First Sight: « And everything went from wrong to right and.... » *
and the stars came out and filled up the sky. I mean, thank you for making those fairly easy. But on the flip side, if I had not got any of them, that would have been disastrous. Well, I think we were really lucky having Kylie on the show and we absolutely adore the new song, the new album is called « Disco ». It’s out November and the first single from that is « Say Something », which is out now. Kylie Minogue. Keep doing what you’re doing, we love you!
*We hear a guy tell us a story of when he was a taxi driver. One day, he had Kylie, Dannii and Jacques Villeneuve jump into his taxi* 61 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Interviews • Summer 2020
RADIO 2 LIMBURG JULY 30TH, 2020 belgium Kylie Minogue, good afternoon. Hi. How are you Daan? Very good, thank you, and you? Exceptional, it’s a beautiful day. Yeah. The sun is shining also with you? Yep, totally, and the weekend is getting closer so that’s good. Kylie, first of all, I hope you’re safe and sound in this pandemic. Thank you for asking. Yes, keeping well and my family are well. I think like the rest of the world, we’re just trying to take each day, one day at a time, but, you know, try to find the joy and spread the joy when we can. Kylie you’re originally from Melbourne in Australia. I read that for the second time the city is in lockdown due to the Covid-19 virus. Are you worried about friends and family over there? Yes, I’m always concerned about them. I mean, I am far away, but obviously throughout this period I’ve felt I’ve never felt further away. It just seems... I just can’t do what I would normally do: book a flight, take a plane and be home. It’s a long way to go but, you know, a day later you’re there. So I feel very, very sad for Australia that they’re having a spike now. And obviously, I just want them to all be as well as possible. But Kylie there’s also a bit of good news. You’re making a new album right now, but it must be difficult and special during a pandemic. You know, no one’s experienced anything like this before so... I finished the album during lockdown, I
made a home studio and I had to teach myself how to record my vocals and I mean, that was a real silver lining, I suppose that I’ve got some new skills. But as far as the release goes, I don’t know that I would have been able to release, I wasn’t ready to, but I think the early part of lockdown was just too traumatic. I don’t think I could have, you know, hand on my heart, gone out and spoken about music. So now I do feel comfortable to do that, and I’m very happy that I’ve got a song that seems to touch people and that they love. Well if you don’t like it, you just don’t like it but I feel like the people who do and who have responded to it, well they also feel the song, and that to me is just such a wonderful thing. So throughout these dark and difficult times to be able to spread, yeah, to be able to spread a little bit of joy and hope and understanding means a lot to me. Kylie, you mentioned your new single right this morning here at Radio 2 in Belgium. It’s called « Say Something », well, say something about it! Oh, yeah. Get ready! We might not be going to an actual disco, but I do also believe that you can have that sense of disco or escapism and exuberance. So you can go to the disco if you want but it can also be in your kitchen, in your lounge or even in your mind, you know. So yes, there’s a lot of disco to come. I would say that “Say something” isn’t as “disco” as what’s to come on the rest of the album. 62 www.kylie-world.com
Kylie, it’s probably a difficult question, but if there’s a new album coming, is there also a new tour being planned? We can’t do that yet, but I’m certainly hanging on to the dream of that. I toured a lot last year and the year before so in 2018 and 2019, and really it felt like a kind of a new stride with my team. And we knew that this was disco, well the album wasn’t finished then, but I knew that’s where it was heading, and so we’d already started talking about how much fun it would be. So, yeah, the dream is to make that happen but it’s impossible to make those plans right now. But, I can tell you, if we can reach that point, I will enjoy every second on the stage with the audience. It would just be so life affirming and it would be incredible. So I’m going to hang on to that. Kylie, you’re now live on the biggest radio station in Belgium, Radio 2. Is there something you’d like to say to the Belgium fans? Oh, my God. Hello. I send so much love. I wish you all well, stay safe, and thanks for listening. I’m really, really excited to be on the show with you Daan. Let’s hope we can see each other in the not too distant future. I would love to come back and visit you, it would be amazing. Kylie, thanks very much for spending some time with us this afternoon. I wish you all the best with the new album and the new single « Say Something ». Lots of love to you all. Take care. Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
TODAY FM JULY 31RD, 2020 united-kingdom Welcome back to The Breakfast Show on Today FM. Now, it’s probably no secret to people who know me that there are 2 people in this life that if I got the chance to interview them, my first reaction would be something like AAAAAAAH. Those two people are Roger Federer and Kylie Minogue, and I can safely say that I’m freaking out a little bit because one of them is standing by on the line to talk to me on Zoom. I think, you know, it’s not Roger Federer. Good morning, Kylie. Good morning Mairead, how are you? I’m good. I can’t believe you said my name perfectly. That never happens ever with anyone. You know it’s the first time I’ve ever said that name as well, it’s beautiful. Well, thank you so much. You might remember my voice because I was screaming probably the loudest at the Aphrodite tour. I got tickets for the Splash Zone back in 2011. That was some gig. It really was. And, you know, we had to call it splash zone because we designed the stage with the water features and everything and then we thought, oh, people are going to complain if they actually do get wet. But as it turned out, it was the opposite. People who were in this Splash Zone would be asking like security or people from the crew, like, where do I stand to get wetter. So I don’t know if you were... I got soaked, but everyone in the splash zone, got a pack. So I got it, I was in the splash zone, I got a poncho and a little backpack, and I still have all three of them. So thank you. You really were there. I’m so happy. Oh, I was so there myself, my best pal
Linda, who has modeled herself on you for many years, but I need a lot longer to tell you all about that. That would be a story just for the hair. Exactly! Your new single « Say Something » is out now and it features very apt 2020 lyrics. We’ll take a listen to a bit of a clip now. *They play an extract of the song*
Very apt lyrics indeed for 2020: « We’re a million miles apart in a thousand ways ». How was lockdown for you, and did you enjoy any of lockdown? Yeah, I really struggled in the beginning and then I ended up with plenty to do, setting-up a home studio and finishing my album, and it was a real blessing to have that to focus on and well, kind of drain me by the end of the day. But, I definitely still do feel very far away from my family at home in Australia. So, you know, like everyone I just try to make the most of it, try to stay well and hope everyone else can do the same. Yeah I think we took so many things for granted, just like, you know, travel. Just go and see your family whenever you wanted to. You met our prime minister the last time you were in Dublin, and afterwards he sent you a letter. And I don’t know if you know this, but it caused a bit of a stir, a bit of controversy. It did. And, you know, I don’t like to get involved with politics. I thought it was really silly because I just thought it’s plain good manners to send a thank you note, if you have enjoyed a night out or someone’s company... Yes. I certainly didn’t foresee any kind 63 www.kylie-world.com
of ruckus coming from that, but I didn’t follow it very closely. But I was aware that that was happening, and I just thought, oh, that’s taken a bit of the shine off that, but anyway… Yeah I thought it was silly. I’ve met Leo a couple of times he is a gentleman. And I just thought that was plain of good manners and a big hoo-hah about absolutely nothing. I’m not going to ask you what is your favourite song, because you’ve got too many and that’s just unfair. And you know what? I’m always asked and I never know what to say. No, because you couldn’t possibly. There are too many brilliant songs there. But I’ll tell you what, I have so many favourite Kylie songs, but there’s one that I « used » a lot during a tough time of my life in the early noughties, and it’s « I Believe In You ». I used to put it on when I was having a tough day and I’d have my headphones on and I’d hear you over and over just singing « I believe In You ». And I was like « it’s all going to be OK ». Oh, that’s so nice, thank you. That’s the biggest joy of this job and being able to connect with people. Now we get to talk with each other, and you can tell me that story. And somehow we’ve been connected many, many years ago or through the years. And your friend with her story, so yeah that’s awesome. Thank you. Well, we have been connected for many, many years because also in my hands, I brought it in this morning, it’s your first ever album on vinyl. I know it was released nineteen... What condition is it today? It’s in pretty good condition. I’m going Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Interviews • Summer 2020 to hold it up to the camera so people who watch this can see. I bought it for my sister, my older sister as her birthday present in January 1989. So it came out in 88, but I saved up and bought it in 1989 and it’s still in my vinyl collection now and I love it so much! That so awesome! You would have had to save up for a bit. I mean wasn’t that the best back in those days and then to physically have it in your hands? It was such a brilliant physical gift to give people. And that’s returning again, which is wonderful because everybody wants a bit of vinyl now and to give somebody the gift of music physically handed to them is such
a gorgeous gift. Yeah, it’s beautiful. In my home studio, a.k.a. the lounge, I had a few vinyls on display. Doing the last album, which had a kind of country Nashville influence, there was a lot of Dolly Parton around and on this one, just randomly the vinyl on the front was Prince, Purple Rain, which really took me back. Oh, wow, it’s so lovely. Looking at the cover here and chatting to you is surreal, but you must have used a full bottle of mousse, a diffuser, and you got a big sponge. You got a serious scrunch dry for this album cover. Yeah. Well, it’s almost never what you plan it’s going to be. And when we were doing that shoot, because
of everything else going on and, you know, all the other elements that we’re trying to get, which was kind of hit and miss with the lighting in the way it was being photographed... Initially we were saying « Yeah Ok well with that outfit, it might just be like kind of « no hair hair » ». You know, this is so fashion speak: « something, but nothing » and next saying « pooow there they are, explosive curls ». Kylie Minogue, thank you so much for talking to us this morning. I cannot wait to see you again live. And the best way to end this is to play the new single. It’s called « Say Something » and it’s out now. Thank you, Kylie. Thanks Mairead, bye !
CADENA 100 JULY 31RD, 2020 spain Kylie, you were in London during the lockdown, how did you experience this abnormal situation? I lived through a lot, a lot of emotions, as I imagine most people did. I felt shock, disbelief, sadness and uncertainty. But like everyone else, I adapted to the situation. I set-up a home studio and finished my album. It was a beautiful thing, I had something to do and I could work. I tried to move on. « Say Something » is a success on the radio and in half of the world. How does it feel? It feels amazing. It’s only been a week but I feel a lot of love, especially from people I haven’t talked to in a long time. It’s always exciting to hear my songs on the radio, and every new song has this new special feeling. Do you still have an old walkman on
which you could listen to the radio? Yes, I have one in Australia. It’s the first one I got when I was 14, it was a very cute radio player. I’m not going to let my parents get rid of it (laughs). It even has pictures and stickers that I used to put on it. It’s an antiquity. I read some reviews about your new single and they’re brilliant. Here’s one of my favorites: « Kylie is the CEO of the record company. It’s the song that saves 2020 ». That would be a good introduction (laughs). I never had a business card, but if I had one, I’d put it as a title, my new title. If you were the CEO of a club, who would you put on your Board of Directors? Giorgio Moroder would definitely be there. I had the chance to work with him a few years ago. Donna Summer, 64 www.kylie-world.com
Diana Ross, Jessie Ware, Dua Lipa - A lot of people would be welcome. It would be a great ZOOM meeting. You’re a big disco fan, aren’t you? I’m a big fan, I also like a lot of other kinds of music, but I thought I should do disco after I immersed myself in country music with my previous work. In another article about your new single, I read: « When you’re sad and hopeless, you put on this Kylie song and the world becomes a better place ». It’s so beautiful! In Spain, we have the European capital of the party: Ibiza, what do you remember about your time there? There are parts I completely forgot (laughs). I really enjoyed performing in fantastic places like the Pacha. That’s where I launched my album « Aphrodite ». Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Others also say that «Say Something» is a song that can also make you cry. I read it too and I cried listening to it too. I finished «Say Something» during the lockdown and listening to it at that time was a very emotional experience. That song brought out a lot of emotions in me. The part where you say «Light up the dark like a solar scape» is brilliant! Is it something that belongs to you?
Yes, I invented the word. It’s not real, but it sounded good. It makes sense in my head (laughs). You know Spain well, you’ve made some videos in Barcelona... We shot «Slow» there, one of my best videos. What does Spain mean to you? I love visiting Spain. I had a Spanish boyfriend, so I went there a lot, especially to the Costa Brava: Good food,
good wine, nice people. It’s a good life. Now, I know that in Spain, people are having a very bad time. I have very good memories and I wish Spanish people all the best. I give them all my support. Would you like to collaborate with artists from other countries? I’d love to! That’s always good. I was able to sing with Miguel Bosé a long time ago, it was a lot of fun.
ZET RADIO JULY 31RD, 2020 poland Good morning Kylie, greetings from Poland! Hi Magda, nice to meet you. Kylie, I’m glad we can talk about your new project - you just released the single « Say Something ». It’s very disco, fresh, I’m impressed. Can you tell about the emotions associated with recording this song? The song is inspired by the people I recorded this song with. We worked on it in September last year. Now I look at this song differently - mainly because of the current situation. I think that the first line of the song - « We’re a million miles apart in a thousand ways » is such a gate to virtual space, distance. It’s a song about someone who can brighten your world. It also touches on the subject of deep love and even escaping from it. The song is very catchy, lively, it has good vibes. I guess we all need it now. Absolutely. When we wrote this song at the beginning, we felt that this song has that « something ». Lots of songs are written, but not all of them actually have that. I liked it immediately and it ended up being the single announcing the new album. This track is on a completely different level. First,
it’s about being musical, but I really appreciate you talking about the emotions in this song. This is my favourite answer to what I do. I’m glad that people can feel the song, listen to it and like it. It somehow touches their emotions. I felt it when I wrote this piece, now it’s available all over the world and people react to it like that. This is amazing, I’m so happy. You said the song was inspired by the people you work with. Will you tell about them? With great pleasure. One of them is « Biff » (Richard « Biff » Stannard - editor’s note), who wrote a lot of hits and was responsible for the Spice Girls albums, for which he is very famous. It can even be said that he himself has a fan club. We’ve been working together since 1999, so it’s been a while. Another person is Jon Green, with whom I have been working since 2017, when I recorded the album « Golden ». I love his energy. Interestingly, the gentlemen had never met before, so I decided that it would be great to sit down together and create something. I finally did my job and I am very happy about it. We recorded the song in Brighton, England, and fi65 www.kylie-world.com
nished it during the lockdown. The song « Say Something » announces your new album, which will be called « Disco ». Do you remember the moment when you decided it was time to get back to disco sounds? In 2018 I released the album « Golden », which was recorded in Nashville and was inspired by country music. It brought some freshness to my pop world. It was a fantastic experience that I really appreciate. In 2019, I went on a « Greatest Hits » tour, which was based on the sounds and hits from previous years of my career. This tour was amazing, especially as I was performing at the Glastonbury Festival back then, which is absolutely one of my favourite moments in my life. Because I was singing my greatest hits, I thought it would be nice to have new songs that I could present to the world. I decided that it would be better to be an artist looking to the future rather than to the past. I thought about going back to the studio and I did it. One of the first recording sessions for the new album was the one from Brighton, which we were just talking about. Back then, I didn’t have a specific idea for a disco album or a Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Interviews • Summer 2020 title like that. I just wanted to write. So « Say Something » wasn’t written with that vibe in mind, and it’s not as disco as the rest of the album. We used to sit in a band and we thought we would call the album « Disco ». These situations can be frustrating because you want to write songs that you like but that don’t match the mood of the entire album. It took some compromise and concentration at times, but it turned out to be fun in the end. I asked you this because I had the great pleasure to be at your concert in Berlin at the Berghain club and standing in front of the stage, I was wondering which way you would go after country. (Laughs) In fact, not every album is strictly identified with a given artist. The album « Golden » was a mix of pop and country, a new double world. You know, I fell in love with 70’s disco when I was 10. I played the Donna Summer records that belonged to my dad over and over again. I also had the great pleasure of meeting Giorgio Moroder, who is like the god-
father of disco. This music has always reminded me of the ‘70s the most, but the truth is, it’s present in almost every genre now. This album will refer mainly to those years, but even in the song « Say Something » there is also a touch of the 80s. We didn’t want to make an album that would be like an album full of covers of the greatest disco hits, but we dreamed of something new and fresh. And I guess it happened. I remember your last year’s concert in Poland during the Opener Festival... How cold it was then! … But it was also very nice, because you received an award. Yes! It was a statuette for an artist whose album entered the list of the most-bought albums in Great Britain. It was about the album « Golden ». Going back to the Opener itself, it was an incredibly nice party, we had a fantastic time there, but I have to mention one memory (laughs). I remember that the guys from the band mentioned that their fingers were so cold that they could barely play any instruments, and it was very blowing
towards the stage. We played for 90 minutes then, because that’s how long a show usually lasts at festivals. We fought the weather and we still do and we love it, but seriously - we almost froze then (laughs). I read the comments then and the fans were delighted, so as you can see - they appreciated this fight (laughs). That’s why I have to ask if you are planning any more performances, and if so, will you remember to come back to Poland? Of course I have to come to Poland! Again! You know, at the moment it is difficult to plan anything, but I already have a dream in my head about going to concerts and playing songs from the new album. It would also be nice to add a song from the past to it and it would be a mix of old and fresh disco. Something fantastic. I will stick to this dream. Kylie, thank you so much for this interview! Thank you, Magda! I am sending a lot of love to you, all listeners and Polish fans! See you - I hope - in Poland!
THE SOUNd AUGUST 9TH, 2020 australia Kylie Minogue hasn’t let anything interrupt the making of her brand new album, « Disco », which is out November 6th. She’s finished the brand new record, her 15th in her home studio in London, and the first single “ « Say Something » is out now. The queen of Pop joins us for a world TV exclusive right now, Kylie Minogue. Thank you so much. It’s a privilege to have you here on The Sound.
Thanks for having me. What an exciting show, and I’m just so excited to be talking to home. Have you been connecting much with family and hometown friends? Yeah, definitely, connecting home whenever I can, checking in. It’s a delicate balance, isn’t it? Because you have to acknowledge what’s happening, of course, but try to keep people’s spirits up if possible, but 66 www.kylie-world.com
mainly just checking in. « You’re OK? Good ». And how is it there in sunny London? Yeah, it’s hot. So if I just kind of start to glow more, it’s because it’s really hot here in London. Yeah, I’m just adapting basically to the new way of doing things, at least for now, hopefully not forever, but for now. You’ve got to tell me about giving yourself a crash course in home stuLaeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
dio recording. I mean, this is a great addition to your CV! I mean, I actually had thought about that sometimes in the past. Thinking, « You know what? I should have a set-up ». I think my diary for a few days just went « leads, cables, cables, leads, switches, extension, extension leads », but I got there in the end. I had my little set up, you know, duvets, blankets, the works. It must feel so wonderful. I mean, people write the date in their diary for a new Kylie single, people are listening or downloading now. It’s been so amazing. I have to use some imagination of it, as I just said, like actually being out there. But, yeah, it seems to have touched people. They like the song and like the message. And you mentioned the message. It’s certainly one that’s really pertinent again to this time. I love it. Can we all be as one again? Can we please? I know, right? Yeah. So we’ll hang onto that dream for sure. We’re hanging on. Now you’ve called it « Disco », we can only guess what the theme of the record is, but what was the deciding factor that made you think « Yes, this is what I want to do ».
There’s a bit of a license with the term disco. But I mean, right now it’s a kitchen disco or the lounge room disco. So, yeah, it’s a bit 70s, it’s a bit 80s. But the first step into it was dance floor and disco seemed like a heavenly place to be. You know, when you say dance floor, I’m thinking studio 54, I’m thinking Bee Gees… Well, you mentioned artistic license, were there reference points at all? Yeah and actually you’ve just jogged my memory. Of course on the Golden Tour we had a section of the show which was the studio 54 section. Even in that section it was broken into two parts. So the first part was arriving at Studio 54 and then it segued way to kind of 5 a.m. the next morning, everyone’s a bit messier and it just it was a really fun world to inhabit. So, yeah, that definitely played a part of it, actually so that was 2018. We’re going to have a look at your brand new single « Say Something » in just a moment. But in this video, your stunning co-partner is a shiny gold horse and there’s so much glitter even by your standards Kylie, tell us about the concept. It’s an intense amount of glitter. « How much sparkle do we want, it needs to be intense ». The Director, Sophie Miller, is notoriously in love
with sparkle, so there was no question it had to be her to direct this video because this is her happy place. So, yeah, it was a different shoot, obviously, with the restrictions, but it felt good to be back on set making a proper video. The horse was the star of the show. Can’t say it was entirely comfortable. It’s not I don’t think my galactic steed was designed to be ridden, but, I kind of fell in love with him, he was gorgeous. Let’s have a look at you in all that tinsel and those beautiful costumes in all their glory. Kylie, it’s been absolutely wonderful to catch up with you on The Sound. Thank you so much for your time. Thanks so much. I’m really excited about the show and having a musical show with all sorts of people contributing, it feels like old school, but entirely fresh and more real, one of the things we all need right now. So way to go, The sound! Yeah, thank you! It would be remiss of me to introduce your brand new video. You’re here. Could you please throw to it? I just got a little bit nervous then. Yeah, of course I will. OK, I hope you enjoy this, everybody. This is the brand new video for my first single from the album, « Disco ». This is « Say Something » !
I-D magazine AUGUST 20TH, 2020 united -kingdom Hi Kylie! How do you begin work on a new album? Do you start with a concept? In the case of Disco and Golden, we didn’t start with any concepts. I was just keen to get back into the studio. I
think by the time I’ve done an album campaign and toured, I want to do something new and different. Usually, I go in with people I know and like. In this case it was with [writer and producer] Biff Stannard and we actually 67 www.kylie-world.com
got « Say Something » in those first initial sessions. But normally, after a few sessions and hearing what’s coming out during the period where we don’t know where we’re going, then the concept will be solidified. In Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Interviews • Summer 2020 this case I’d been speaking with my A&R and just in general about heading straight back to the dance floor; that’s where I want to go. I was inspired because it’s my happy place, but also because on my last tour, going back almost three years, there was a Studio 54 section. It just felt like the burst of energy and such a fun place to inhabit. You’ve played in the disco sandpit a few times. Was it different this time around? Firstly, ‘disco sandpit’ is unreal [laughs]. I’ve not heard that before; that’s awesome. It was different because we knew that all along that the album was going to be called Disco. I’ve got to say: I never expect things to be easy but it took a while to hone in on that and not sound like a tribute record. Obviously, [the songs on] Disco are disco in [the genre’s] many mutations over the years, so I guess we’re rooted in the 70s, but there is a bit of 80s and there’s even a 90s interpretation of it. But it was the same on Golden. Like, country? What? That took longer and it wasn’t until I’d gone to Nashville that it all made sense for me. How much had been done before we went into lockdown? We were pretty much on the way and we’d broken the back of it prelockdown. Then in lockdown, we just wanted to make the most of our time. Everything was a little bit more difficult than normal. There was less time to muck about. Sometimes there are those times you give yourself to veer off, but we tried hard to really stick with the brief. Otherwise it wouldn’t make it. I was also quite conscious as well because I was here on my own, mostly. I was working with different people and there were moments that it lent in another direction. We tried to stay on topic. I read that you learned to do vocal production and use production software. Well, vocal production might be going a bit far [laughs]. But I can do my bit, for sure. So there’s not going to be a self-produced Kylie record in the future? [Laughs] I don’t see that happening,
no. I mean, sometimes I might flirt with the idea, but I do actually love working with people. But for me, it was – ugh – the buffering and trying to figure out your delay rate. It took a lot of patience from all of us. I don’t think I’d be able to do that again in a hurry. People have struggled to remain creative during this time. Was it because you had something to work on that you could stay focused? I think it really helped that we were already off and running. Now that you’ve mentioned that, I’m trying to put myself into the situation if [lockdown] had been a few months earlier and we hadn’t started. It would have been much trickier. We were fortunate in that respect. Just in general, every other day we would be saying, « We are so fortunate that we get to do this ». I didn’t know that we’d be able to wrap it up in time, but we got there. The lyrics for « Say Something » are quite pertinent to our current situation. Was that why it became the lead single? That song has been around since September. Every now and then you have a feeling that a song you’ve worked on might be something, but with « Say Something » I wasn’t sure. I thought maybe would be a song that I wished people could hear and maybe it’ll turn up as a B-side one day. Thankfully, it found its place. When I was getting different mixes through, I did have a teary moment with Biff. We were FaceTiming each other and thinking back to the days when it was uncertain. I just couldn’t believe the dimension that this song has taken on. And it was written last year! I was very aware of its pertinence. It felt right to release it. It’s also not the most indicative of the album, so the decision was made to take the leap with that first. Like « Dancing », the song has a little bit of wistful, existential energy. I’ve used that term for describing « Say Something » because I do find it hard to say what it’s about. I don’t want to sound like that person, but it has an existential lean. It’s the big questions 68 www.kylie-world.com
and the things that are just out of reach, and yet we feel them within us. Why do you think your music has become more philosophical in the last few years? I don’t know!. Maybe it’s my age. I did think, back when « Dancing » came out, that the lyrics might not have seemed so genuine if I was singing them as a 20-year-old. I think having lived a bit of life and facing challenges, it comes across as more authentic. I’m not just singing the words in front of me. Last year, you said that you didn’t want to « become a tribute act » to yourself and that Glastonbury was an opportunity for you to wipe the slate clean. What do you mean by that, exactly? It’s hard for me to explain, but I wanted it to feel like there was a future for me as well. I’m of a different generation to perform in the Legends slot. But it did feel good and we did our best to make people feel like they’d heard all the songs, when we could only choose a selection for 75 minutes. But I wanted to feel like there was more to come, that Glastonbury was isn’t it, you know? It was a moment to chug out all the old hits – that was what it was and it was a celebration – and I was so overwhelmed and thrilled with the response. But I’ve drawn a line. But I’m not under that line. I’m standing on that line. There is a disco revival going on, as well as people like Dua Lipa referencing your earlier work. Have you collaborated with anyone else on the record? I haven’t at this stage. And there’s actually nothing planned. But I do think that with more people being able to do remote recording, it could very well be possible. I genuinely love collaborations. It’s better to be able to perform together and do live performances together. There’s an unspoken understanding of what it is to be an artist and performer. I always go back and re-watch your performance with the Scissor Sisters at Glastonbury. Oh! I was terrified. There’s a lot of love in that. I mean, people are still desperate for Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
this Kylie x Jake Shears album that is apparently in a vault. We have done a lot of songs. I don’t even know how many. I don’t even know if I have them all. He’ll have them. And he knows that he better not upload them or he’ll be in trouble! His finger has hovered above ‘Enter’ a few times. He’s such a good friend of mine. You’ve had a few big life events in the past few years. Does it feel like you’re entering into a new phase? Kylie 4.0? I don’t know what number it is
[laughs].
It does actually. I’m going back to a place I’ve been before, but it’s changed and I’ve changed. There’s some familiarity, a warmth or an embrace, but things are different places, have a different sheen and I’m seeing things differently. If we’re able to tour this, and I hope that isn’t too far away, I would be able to extend that hug to quite a lot of the back catalogue that would sit nicely within this framework. I can see the galactic disco theme going there. It could rival the water
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from Aphrodite! I think it could! The theme of disco is that you’re all hot and sweaty and in it together, but could be in a crowded room and shut your eyes, let the music and feeling in, and you could be in your own world. Or, there could be no one around and you feel like you’re having your own party. I imagine it as a tour, but done in the round. You normally want people to watch the show, but I think, in this case, part of it would encourage you to shut your eyes and feel the energy.
Laeti and Isa, Summer 2K20
Kylie Minogue - August 4th, 2020 - London Outfit : Flannel Mask : More Joy / Christopher Kane Backpack : Chanel Sunglasses : Specsavers 70 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
Kylie Minogue - Say Something (Music Video) Dress : Ed Marler 71 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
Kylie Minogue - August 12th, 2020 - London (The Ritz) Dress : Rotate Birger Christensen 72 www.kylie-world.com
Laeti, Summer 2K20
Kylie Minogue - September 15th, 2020 - London Dress : Loewe Shoes : Chloe Bag : Chanel Sunglasses : Specsavers Face mask : More Joy 73 www.kylie-world.com
Isa, Summer 2K20
Meanwhile, on social media... • Summer 2020
LIFESTYLE FACTS
FACTS
FACTS
LIFESTYLE
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Isa and Laeti, Summer 2K20
LIFESTYLE FACTS
LIFESTYLE
FACTS
LIFESTYLE
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Isa and Laeti, Summer 2K20
Kylie Reactions • Summer 2020
Expectation
Reality
My daytime clothing routine since the lockdown...
My night clothing routine since the lockdown...
When I can tell someone’s telling me a big lie
« And kids, that’s how I saved the world from a global pandemic »
My face when I see my colleagues when I arrive at the office...
My face after seeing them for two minutes
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Laeti, Summer 2K20
Me this summer when I wanted to take a dip (before a big fail)
When I’m trying to do voodoo stuff to put a spell on my boss...
Act 2 of the voodoo stuff (also works when the car lights are broken)
Video of my children’s prom (well yes, alone in the living room #covid19)
When I see a spider on the wall
And when I show my friends its size
Me on the streets on Saturday nights...
And the result in the club after having drunk two bottles
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Laeti, Summer 2K20
The Kylie Times is made by Kylie World Website : www.kylie-world.com In partnership with Kylie Brasil Founder : Laetitia Berry Editorial : Laetitia Berry, Isabelle Marin Design : Laetitia Berry Translations : Laetitia Berry, Isabelle Marin, Junior Barreto Website : www.kylie-world.com Email : contact@kylie-world.com SPECIAL THANKS TO : A&P Management Junior and Deyse from Kylie Brasil Anthony from Kendal & Partners
CREDITS : All photos belong to their authors respectively. Our last issue :