Kylie Minogue: A Kiss Me Once Deep Dive

[YeehawKylie 7,817]

Kiss Me Once (March 14, 2014)

Welcome to my Kiss Me Once deep dive, in preparation of her upcoming lead single Dancing from her upcoming LP Golden. This was an album some loved, others hated, and many were indifferent toward.

Highlights

Into the Blue (January 27, 2014)

The lead single was released in January 2014, with the music video dropping the following week. While divisive, Into the Blue is a pulsing dance-anthem that embraces independence and single-life. The song peaked at #12 on the UK charts and hit #1 on the Billboard Dance Charts.

Sexercise Music Video (March 19, 2014)

While the song wasn’t well-received (I personally think it’s a banger, albeit a little out of place on the album), the music video for Sexercise is the best of its era. Inspired by the 1965 short-film Kustom Kar Kommandos, the video is a sexy, sleek, and visually stunning masterpiece. 

Debuts at #1 in Australia and #2 in the UK

Kiss Me Once debuted at #1 in Minogue’s native Australia (March 14, 2014) and #2 in the UK (March 17, 2014). In the more competitive US market the album debuted at #31 (March 19, 2014).

I Was Gonna Cancel (April 22, 2014)

The second and final official single was written and produce by Pharrell Williams. The song was inspired by Minogue almost cancelling her session with Williams in the midst of a terrible day. The song received favorable reviews and is noted as an album highlight.

Kiss Me Once Tour (September 2014 to March 2015)

The Kiss Me Once Tour took place over 35 shows and three continents earning $21,000,000. As usual, the concert was a visual display utilizing more minimalistic elements than her previous tour Les Folies. The Kiss Me Once Tour is a personal favorite of mine due to its sleek design and setlist. Sometimes less is more! 

Sleepwalker Short Film (Kylie + Garibay)

Minogue collaborated with Fernando Garibay for a short film, Sleepwalker, used as interludes for her Kiss Me Once Tour. The visual and creative masterpiece debuted three new songs: Glow, Wait, and Break this Heartbreak.

Album Highlights

01. Into the Blue, a pulsing anthem for single-life with two brilliant choruses. 

02. Feels so Good, a low-tempo, breathy song that delivers infectious feel-good vibes. 

03. Kiss Me Once, the title track is a throw-back to her early music in the best way possible. 

04. Fine, the closing song is a ballad-anthem that makes you wish more of the album geared toward its sound. 

05. Sleeping with the Enemy, a bonus-track that deserved a spot on the standard album.

Missteps

01. Sia, the Australian singer-songwriter came in as an executive producer and urged Kylie to add some ‘sex’ to the album. The result was the addition of 3 ‘sex’ titled songs on the final 11 song tracklist, of which only one truly works (Les Sex).

02. Roc Nation, Minogue’s new management that did little to promote the album properly and overloaded the album with several producers which lead to a lack of cohesion. 

Conclusion

While the album is widely viewed as her worst and quite frankly flopped, I honestly don’t think it’s as bad as it is made out to be. The album delivered some great songs and, with a little more cohesion and better direction, could’ve been a nice (albeit subdued) addition to her discography. Being under Roc Nation certainly didn’t help the album or it’s era any....so it’s miraculous such a great tour, video (Sexercize), and short film (Sleepwalker) even happened. 

[Blake 7,385]

Probably one thing to note for Sleepwalker is that the actual short film was shown being the show started, with Chasing Ghosts aka the fourth track, being an interlude.

Kiss Me Once was an amazing era so all the fans that hate can suck it tbh.  

[Bio 23,538]

I don't think the album is that bad. It's just that it's uneventful. It's not inovative but if you listen to the songs they're decent feel good songs. And it's a little dated, especially with the dubstep beats in a few songs. And Beautiful is her worst track ever lol. But I don't hate it at all. 

What I mean is: it's meh but it's not a Britney Jean sized mess.

[Kleth 72]

30 minutes ago, Bio said:

I don't think the album is that bad. It's just that it's uneventful. It's not inovative but if you listen to the songs they're decent feel good songs. And it's a little dated, especially with the dubstep beats in a few songs. And Beautiful is her worst track ever lol. But I don't hate it at all. 

What I mean is: it's meh but it's not a Britney Jean sized mess.

This. 
But yes the album was overloaded to the point of losing cohesion. It has good tracks but nothing remarkable Into the Blue remains my favorite. I don't think Sia was a good option this time for executive producer I mean she is amazing and all that I love her, but this time it wasn't good Kylie. The kiss me once tour is one of my favorites too, but nothing will ever top the gloriousness that Aphrodite Les Folies was. I would rate the album with and 8/10, it's a good album, I don't get the hate. 

[GagaMariaSpears 1,627]

Into the Blue was cute, but I feel the rest of the songs either were forgettable or just sounds dated 

[Kandy life 204]

3 minutes ago, Kleth said:

This. 
But yes the album was overloaded to the point of losing cohesion. It has good tracks but nothing remarkable Into the Blue remains my favorite. I don't think Sia was a good option this time for executive producer I mean she is amazing and all that I love her, but this time it wasn't good Kylie. The kiss me once tour is one of my favorites too, but nothing will ever top the gloriousness that Aphrodite Les Folies was. I would rate the album with and 8/10, it's a good album, I don't get the hate. 

That's what I say. Most of the album spread such a great message, and it helped me get throught some s*** back then. I still listen to it very often. The sound of it is so joyful for me. 

[YeehawKylie 7,817]

1 hour ago, Bio said:

I don't think the album is that bad. It's just that it's uneventful. It's not inovative but if you listen to the songs they're decent feel good songs. And it's a little dated, especially with the dubstep beats in a few songs. And Beautiful is her worst track ever lol. But I don't hate it at all. 

What I mean is: it's meh but it's not a Britney Jean sized mess.

You hit the nail on the head. Each song is fine on its own, some more than others, but together they don't really work as well as they should. The songs were a little too similar in tempo that it sometimes feels like nothing happens? I feel differently when I listen, but once it's over and in hindsight it does feel uneventful...

[YeehawKylie 7,817]

1 hour ago, Blake said:

Probably one thing to note for Sleepwalker is that the actual short film was shown being the show started, with Chasing Ghosts aka the fourth track, being an interlude.

Thanks for clarifying. I did this whole post on my phone so it was a sloppier job than I had hoped...

[misunderstood 8,736]

It's one of my favorite album of hers. Has one of my favorite songs If Only along with the gems Mr. President, Sexercize, Sexy Love, Feels So Good, Les Sex, and Fine.

[FGGrayson 9,670]

this was the best of the era tbh

 

[Lumi 3,512]

It actually really liked this album and I think I Was Gonna Cancel it's one of Kylie's best. I'll give it another listen tomorrow

[AnnTakamaki 6,744]

Kiss me once & Les sex make me love her tbh  too bad skirt wasnt included

[Lucas 24,314]

It's not bad but it's definitely not on the level of Body Language, Fever, Light Years or Impossible Princess... The album is pretty generic but delivered great bops like Million Miles (suprised that it wasn't mentionned above), I Was Gonna Cancel, Sexercize, Les Sex and Fine. And the tour is so visually pleasing

[YeehawKylie 7,817]

2 hours ago, GagaInTheZone said:

It's not bad but it's definitely not on the level of Body Language, Fever, Light Years or Impossible Princess... The album is pretty generic but delivered great bops like Million Miles (suprised that it wasn't mentionned above), I Was Gonna Cancel, Sexercize, Les Sex and Fine. And the tour is so visually pleasing

I actually love Million Miles, but it never really stays with me like some other tracks which is why I didn't include it. Of all the songs on the album, it's always the one I forget about. Not sure why. 

6 hours ago, AnnTakamaki said:

Kiss me once & Les sex make me love her tbh  too bad skirt wasnt included

I agree about Skirt, it would've been interesting if the album went the route of Sexercize, Dear Mr. President, and Skirt. Of those three songs, Skirt is definitely my favorite.

7 hours ago, misunderstood said:

It's one of my favorite album of hers. Has one of my favorite songs If Only along with the gems Mr. President, Sexercize, Sexy Love, Feels So Good, Les Sex, and Fine.

If Only was a great song. Had the album had 4-5 singles, I think If Only/Kiss Me Once/Les Sex would have been the best options. It's a shame they ended with two singles, because I know Kylie really wanted Kiss Me Once to be a single.

6 hours ago, Jorget said:

It actually really liked this album and I think I Was Gonna Cancel it's one of Kylie's best. I'll give it another listen tomorrow

I agree, the album is flawed in some ways but there's something I really like about it. The era gave us some great things and I love visuals to the era. I Was Gonna Cancel was great too, it always bothered me it never received proper promotion.