BBC: Why Kylie Minogue is pop’s most underestimated icon

[BUtterfield 8 41,542]

Kylie Minogue is the most charming and unassuming pop superstar of all. She’s never been as provocative as Madonna or a vocal marvel to rival Mariah Carey, but her career has proven equally fascinating and enduring. The performer who was dismissively dubbed ‘the singing budgie’ when she broke through with The Loco-Motion in the late 1980s is now a gold-plated icon whose first name alone stands for joyous dance-pop brilliance.

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum celebrated her influence on fashion in 2009 with an exhibition called Kylie Minogue: Image of a Pop Star. Madonna paid homage in 2000 by performing in a T-shirt with Minogue’s name on it. And now, a new generation of artists including Dua Lipa, Kim Petras and Alice Chater are hailing her as an influence. “She’s just such a well-rounded pop star,” Chater says. “Her songs, video and image are always incredibly well executed.”

Where peers such as Madonna and Lady Gaga are hailed as ‘shapeshifters’ or ‘chameleons’, Minogue’s musical evolution has always been more measured. Other top-tier stars have reinvented their image by introducing a high-concept alter ego  – Beyoncé’s Sasha Fierce, for example – but tellingly, Minogue’s various eras are viewed as iterations of her own reassuringly radiant persona: we've had ‘Pop Kylie’, ‘Indie Kylie’ and ‘Country Kylie’; now we're onto ‘Disco Kylie’. “Kylie moves with the times without losing her own special quality: every album is fresh yet uniquely her,” says HERR, a British drag performer who has hosted Minogue tribute nights at London LGBTQ venue The Glory. “And because she's loved across such a broad spectrum [of demographics], I don’t see her star fading any time soon.”
 

Minogue, 52, cemented her international treasure status when she delivered a jubilant greatest-hits set in the ‘legend slot’ at last year’s Glastonbury festival. It's now the most-watched Glastonbury performance on UK TV, beating the previous record set by Sheeran. Though Minogue was noticeably younger than other recent legend slot performers including Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie and Barry Gibb, booking her wasn’t a stretch: in many territories including France, Germany and her native Australia, she ranks among her generation’s most prolific hit-makers. In the UK, where she lives and largely conducts her career, she’s racked up 34 top 10 singles including the all-time classics I Should Be So Lucky, Better the Devil You Know and Spinning Around.

Though Minogue has only ever scored two US top 10 singles – with 1988’s The Loco-Motion and 2001’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head – she’s loved by clubbers and LGBTQ pop fans. In 2018, Dancing became her 14th number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart, while 2002’s Come Into My World won her a Grammy for best dance recording.

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Though the planets didn't align in quite the same way for subsequent albums – even if they came close for 2010's excellent Aphrodite LP – Minogue has never stopped producing superior club-ready confections. From 2003’s slinky Slow to this year’s sassy Magic, via 2007’s Wow, 2010’s All the Lovers and 2012’s Timebomb, she has always managed to pull a banger out of the bag. When she gave last year’s greatest hits set Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection an atypically boastful subtitle – “pop precision since 1987” – it wasn't too much of an exaggeration. And through her career's peak and relative troughs, she's always been able to count on support from her LGBTQ fans, who remained loyal even when she ditched glittery disco for earnest country-pop on 2018’s Golden album.

When singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright picked her as one of his top 10 gay icons in 2006, he described her as “the anti-Madonna” because she offers light where her provocative peer skews darker. “Self-knowledge is a truly beautiful thing and Kylie knows herself inside out,” Wainwright said. “She is what she is and there is no attempt to make quasi-intellectual statements to substantiate it. She is the gay shorthand for joy.”

As 2019’s tremendously entertaining Glastonbury set underlined, Minogue has really blossomed as a joy-giving live performer. She now belongs in the top echelon of touring acts who can concoct and pull off spectacular stage productions like 2011’s Aphrodite: Les Folies Tour, which paid homage to Greek mythology and filled the stage with so many fountains and water jets that some fans chose to sit in a designated ‘splash zone’. Chater supported Minogue at the 2019 Brighton Pride festival and says it was “incredibly eye-opening” to watch her perform in the flesh. “I was blown away by her stage presence and how she can hold the crowd in the palm of her hand,” Chater recalls, praising the way Minogue is “sexy and elegant” at the same time. “And until you see Kylie live,” Chater adds, “I don't think you appreciate how many truly memorable songs she has. It's hit after hit after hit.”

Crucially, Minogue also possesses a somewhat nebulous but incredibly appealing quality that we don't necessarily associate with pop superstars: niceness. Her humility and natural reserve – even during her Glastonbury set's poignant moments, she refused to be fully overcome with emotion – almost undercuts the hackneyed narrative that it takes ruthless ambition to conquer the music industry. “I have never heard anyone say a single bad word about Kylie,” Aspaul says. “Everyone who's worked with her or for her, or even just met her briefly, they all love her.” He points out that Minogue is also “incredibly supportive” of her peers. “Take a look at her Twitter feed – she's constantly cheering on other women, which speaks volumes,” he adds.

In a way, Minogue's niceness might partly explain why she's sometimes been underestimated. In interviews, she keeps the conversation chipper and apolitical because she's acutely aware that her purpose is to provide escapism, not social commentary: in this respect she’s comparable to her heroine Dolly Parton, another seasoned trouper who almost never lets the mask slip. If you spotted Minogue in the supermarket, you'd want to scream with excitement, but would probably stop yourself so as not to give her a shock. But at the same time, it would be a mistake to equate approachability with ordinariness. She’s lasted more than 30 years by delivering brilliant pop songs with passion and panache, and retaining a quintessentially likeable persona along the way – no mean feat in such a cutthroat industry. These days, the one-time ‘singing budgie’ is more of a resplendent pop eagle.

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[Chlorine 47,976]

I think she's just the right amount estimated. 

[BlondeQueenOfGGD 25,454]

She deserves so much more success in the states

[Gagaism 12,008]

I really love the fact that she’s not on those lists of bests or worsts but actually she’s different of any music popstar somehow. And she got respect which is the most important. 

[Cameltoe Chariot 15,270]

The Dolly comparison is so spot on. I've loved her since Fever came out when was a kid, and she has remained one of my fave main pop girls since. An absolute icon that will be remembered as one of the greats, even if she doesn't always get the acclaim right now.

[weed 74,404]

such a good read!

[RRR 3,996]

Wtf is a singing budgie

[shoful 13,304]

3 minutes ago, LadyGoo said:

Wtf is a singing budgie

Lmao I think it’s a parakeet 

[BUtterfield 8 41,542]

I have to give thanks to ugly Betty for introducing Kylie to me

[vanna shintuyu 10,833]

23 minutes ago, Blue Lagoon said:

I have to give thanks to ugly Betty for introducing Kylie to me

The drag queen?

[BUtterfield 8 41,542]

4 minutes ago, Dukttapetoo said:

The drag queen?

No the the tv show nnn

[HausOfAntonio 8,021]

"she's acutely aware that her purpose is to provide escapism, not social commentary"

 

This is actually really rude and patronizing? Kylie has consistently been involved with a lot of causes. She has a voice and uses it exceptionally well.

[Jose P 23,341]

52 minutes ago, HausOfAntonio said:

"she's acutely aware that her purpose is to provide escapism, not social commentary"

 

This is actually really rude and patronizing? Kylie has consistently been involved with a lot of causes. She has a voice and uses it exceptionally well.

I’m pretty sure they’re just referring to her music, and they’re right. Ofc Kylie has had some deeper lyrics especially in records like KM94 and Impossible Princess, but for the most part she’s just fun pop perfection. And that’s exactly what she goes for, she’s obviously not aiming to make thought provoking music, just amazingly fun music. And she does that perfectly.

[HausOfAntonio 8,021]

13 minutes ago, Jose P said:

I’m pretty sure they’re just referring to her music, and they’re right. Ofc Kylie has had some deeper lyrics especially in records like KM94 and Impossible Princess, but for the most part she’s just fun pop perfection. And that’s exactly what she goes for, she’s obviously not aiming to make thought provoking music, just amazingly fun music. And she does that perfectly.

To me it seems like they were pretty focussed on her public persona. Its very concerning that they would praise someone for not using their platform, which she most certainly does. 

[vanna shintuyu 10,833]

5 hours ago, Blue Lagoon said:

No the the tv show nnn

Wait what was I thinking of...