While all the other would-be pop princesses were still toddling around in diapers or struggling to pass algebra, she was already taking over the world.
Now, more than 20 years after first touching down in America, Kylie Minogue returns to rule our dance floor.
“Lady Gaga dropped a meteor in the middle of the pop landscape — which is amazing,†Minogue says. “But it meant that we had to take that into account. It wouldn’t have made any sense to go down that road to try to fit in.â€
Instead, Aphrodite delivers lighthearted pop songs — woozy with crushes, trampled hearts, and late-night excursions to the local disco — made up of sweeping piano lines, fizzing synths, and layered background vocals, all of which would have sounded right at home on Minogue’s debut.
“The record isn’t trying to be clever — it delivers exactly what we want from Kylie, which is pure pop,†says Shears, who cowrote the standout “Too Much†with Minogue and Calvin Harris.
“When we were writing lyrics together, sometimes she’d put something down and I’d think, Oh, my God, that is the lamest thing I’ve ever heard! And then it comes out of her mouth and it’s absolutely brilliant.
That’s the beauty of her and that’s the beauty of great pop music—taking something very, very simple and injecting it with meaning and emotion.â€
“We didn’t want to try to reinvent the wheel,†Minogue says. “We just wanted to make really good songs.â€
By Noah Michelson
Photography by Xevi Muntané
Styling by Grant Woolhead
Read full interview on Out Magazine
