http://www.differentscene.co.uk/?p=3663

Someone I know has recently written an article on Kylie. While he likes her, he hasn't held back on his opinion. What do you guys think? Don't take any of it personally as it is merely opinion and he is not attacking her in any way shape or form. Just opinion of the article would be really cool. No little arguments amongst kylie fans or haters. lol

Thanks peeps

I really liked it. I don't disagree with anything thats been said in that article.

I do think she is being shafted by her record company plus I also think its not 'cool' to like Kylie anymore.

I effing loved the 'X' album and wish she had stuck with electro.

I really liked "X" too... It deserved to do a lot better than it did because it was a strong album in my opinion

I thought X was awful, but that Aphrodite was the best thing she'd done since Light Years.

Its funny how different opinions can be on her albums. I'm not that keen on Aphrodite and Light Years is pretty good but I wouldn't say it was excellent.

X was just too messy for me.

It is a bit all over the place I'll gave you that much.

Take out the crappy ballads and its a stomping album.

I have the live in new york album and when she does 'the one' the crowd reaction is mental.

Ahh... The One is the exception to the X Rule for me The Freemason's remix of that track is one of my all time favourites.

I have been a fan of Kylie's since her Charlene days...I always will be. To quote Brucie, she is my favourite. Her success lies partly in the fact that she is none threatening and safe, but also because she is a great pop star and entertainer.

In terms of her music, I love her '88-'90 Stock Aitken & Waterman years...I prefer Fever (her best album in my view) to Light Years, I prefer X to Body Language, but I prefer Aphrodite (my second favourite album of hers) to both X and Body Language combined...although there are some cracking tracks on X.

For me...pop, dance, electro and hi-NRG is what she does best, and where in my view, she needs to stay. Indie, R n B and ballad Kylie does nothing for me...but we are all different and have different tastes. What she needs to do is to stick to what she does best...pop / dance...and avoid following trends.

I'm not sure that using her fight with cancer and other experiences is the answer really. I liked the fact that she almost said "business as usual" with X and post X. No-one can say that she was trying to use her health difficulties to her advantage.

Where I think she is right, and where I believe the record company got it wrong, was the promotion and the marketing of Aphrodite. We live in an instant society. As a result, marketing / promotion leading to track / album releases needs to be much tighter to reflect that. It needs to be like a military campaign. Kylie's marketing machine needs to get into the digital age.

Furthermore, (and this includes lots of other artists to) why release the album a week after the lead single? Most people will only buy a track once...except hardcore fans like me. Why not release three or four strong singles first leading to the album release, as happened with her first album, Kylie?

Why was it that Higher charted Top 10 following the flop of the fourth single?

Are mini-albums consisting of six tracks the future / answer?

Should a change of record company be considered?

Pop, dance, electro, hi-NRG Kylie is great, that is where she needs to stay, however, marketing and promotion needs to reflect 2011 rather than 1988.

For those of us who didn't manage to get to see Aphrodite Les Folies tour, a DVD / CD is going to released on November 28th, 2011.

Good points, Miles. But I'd still like more of her personality reflected in her lyrics.

No More Rain from X reflects on her dark days when she wasn't well doesn't it.

I guess so, I';d just like to hear more of it.

I think these comments were not very clever of her. If anything they made her sound like the Pop Puppet she's often accused to be. I understand your point and to a certain extent totally agree but when you think she's been in the business for 25 years and have a good understanding of how the things work, surely she would have reacted as soon as she was seeing the disaster coming. Instead she's suggesting she's watched the company messing up the album's promotion which also suggested she did what she was asked of her like a little good popstar...There's clearly some bitterness in her comments about the failure of the album and perhaps some signs she's slightly deluded. To me the failure of Aphrodite is mainly down to the musical direction itself. She's been stuck now in the same style of pop music for some years now with no real evolution and when it comes to Aphrodite, despite having S.Price on board, the album sounds horribly dated and quite bland...I see your point, Miles, about er not to have to follow the trends but if she wants to be successful and relevant then she'll have to come back with much stronger material than what she offered now. Rihanna, for instance, has stuck to the same formula over the past 3 albums but is able to show diversity and versatility as well as choosing songs which show case her ability to make the trends her own.
Personally, while I think it is much better than Aphrodite, Kylie missed an opportunity with that album to give a career new blood. She could have taken a few risks musically and lyrically and it would have played to her advantage instead of releasing a solid album which was a bit of a mess and relied too much on relying on different trendy producers with little consistency. Maybe it is about time for her to be as risque as she was with Impossible Princess and come out with an album of her own composition with a sole producer - it doesn't have to be indie, it could still be pop or dance - or doing something completely unexpected similarly to Tori or Annie with Strange Little Girls or Medusa...
On a complete different note, @designer84 - really enjoyed reading your friend's article and he made some valid point. If I can give one word of criticism, from a style point of view, perhaps he should do a bit less with the metaphores and hyperbolic sentences; I found some parts being over-written when the article could be much tighter making the writing's quality consistent throughout.

i love kylie and i always have. i am not ashamed to admit it and i loved her when it wasn't cool to when was cool and back to it being uncool again! it was out of character of her to make those record company remarks. although, it was unsurprising having heard rumours a long time ago that she was less than impressed with emi.

there is still huge potential for kylie as an entertainer. her concerts sell out world wide and she will continue to be a box office draw. people moan about her alleged lack of involvement in her music. other people discredit her for not having madonna`s vision. than there are folk that knock her for being stuck in a genre.

maybe there is some truth in all of the above. however, she is still kylie minogue! with 25 years in the business, endless experience and not to mention her obe. she is one of the biggest pop stars ever and even if her recording career ended at this stage, time will never change that.

one of the comments in that article mentioned comparisons with madonna were lazy. i agree they are very different artists. at the same token it is equally lazy to use madonna as a blueprint on how kylie can `rescue` her career.

Aren't all bands/singers/acts puppets to a certain extent. They all need effective promotion / marketing teams behind them don't they.


To me, as I said earlier, commercial pop / dance / club / euro / electro is the genre which works best, in my view, for Kylie. '94 - '98 teaches us that...for me, Kylie's least successful period. Bar 'Breathe' and 'Confide In Me', I am not into that period at all. That said, I know Kylie doesn't just have to please me...

Her sound does need to remain current, (although the PWL remix of 'Put Your Hands Up' is great, in my view) but also mustn't alienate her core fan base. 'All The Lovers' is a great track in my view.

Maybe David Guetta, Paul Oakenfold, Pete Hammond, William Orbit, Xenomania, Almighty ( http://www.almightyrecords.com/ ) and other current dance / pop producers should be considered for future projects.

I agree. I would argue that Madonna and Kylie actually compliment each other. There is room for both.

of course there is. my point is simple. they are different artists. while many laugh of comparisons between the two singers. the same people wish that she was more like madonna?

While I like Madonna now, (wasn't so keen back in the early years) Kylie for me has always been a safe pair of hands and non-threatening. That is part of her appeal.

i love madonna and she is possibly my favourite artist ever. however, i adore kylie also. she does have a different appeal and i like her individuality.

That would be me! I recognize myself in all 3 types of people you're mentionning in your posts GpK - There's definitely some truth in their/my tri-dimensional moan and I think you hit the nail later in your post. She might be one of the biggest popstar and all that you described in your post but with the relative failure of Aphrodite you wonder if she's not only one by default rather than by her own doings. And perhaps in between the lines that's what the article is pondering.
I think the comparisons with Madonna are not lazy in this instance. Kylie has often, if not always been influenced by Madonna and she admitted herself she sees La Ciccone as being inspirational. In a way, she's in the same situation Madonna was at the time between BS & ROL but with different circumstances. Kylie can carry on releasing albums that keep her in the same formula to please her fans and going on extravagant sold out tours and she'll be likely to be another Cher, minus the wigs and the feistiness. Or she can take the risk to do something for herself musicwise and come back with something completely unexpected, fresh and new that would still remind people why she's Kylie Minogue - if such thing applies to her -

All The lovers is a great track and a very good pick as a lead single but then the album didn't have any other gems similar to it. i could easily see her collaborating with Xenomania or David Guetta. think she's pretty much in the mould still go bold with somebody like William Orbit. She'd probably revisit the ROL sound rather than trying to find Kylie in between Orbit's wizardry.

And of course artists need to comply to record company to a certain extent but I just think it's way to easy - and actually very embarassing - for artists who have been in the game for so long to put the blame on the record's company. Let's face it, in that sense Kylie is no Madonna or K. Bush

the post wasn't made with anyone particular in mind and was more of a response to the article.

reading your post it is evident you like millions of other people just don't `get` her. of course you are welcome to your opinion and it is constructive. however, there are things here that you have suggested she should do and they sound like things that madonna would do. she is kylie and there are many that love her just as she is.

Everyone is influenced by what has gone before and what is current. None of us exist in a bubble do we.

'94 - '98 was Kylie's "risk" period...and it flopped. Looking back, one positive is that it led to her 'Spinning Around' comeback...and the impact of it was greater, in my view, because of the '94 - '98 material that went before it. When 'Spinning Around' came out, I can remember thinking...thank God pop / dance Kylie is back.

I do think her team have a lot to answer for. I don't think many of these artists have much control at all. I think they are told what is going to happen.

Perhaps the problem is that these record companies are too big. The artists need the record companies more than the record companies need them...and they know it.

She needs to maintain her pop / dance roots, work with some cutting edge dance producers but keep her hardcore fans happy...because during '94 - '98, they deserted her.

Perhaps a sprinkle of her 80s magic is needed...I bring you Phil Hammond's remix of 'Put Your Hands Up'...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBzIUw_AUhY

I know your post wasn't aimed at anyone in particular. I recognized myself in it and facetiously made it my own all ing odd spirit - But as much as you made valid points in your posts about her, I think you're dismissing 'us' - the categories of people you described in your previous post - a bit too easily. It's giving too much credit to her in this particular situation. I think 'we' get her and that's perhaps the reason why she get criticized in that respect. I'm not suggesting Kylie should do what Madonna did but to me, the Madonna references make sense in this article and I don't see what sort of harm to the 'Kylie' fans love this will do if she were to take some inspiration from Madonna's reinvention after Bedtime Stories. And let's not forget Kylie has heavily borrowed from Madonna through her career and still continues to do so to a certain extent. That's what partly made her 'Kylie' and if that's the 'Kylie' fans love then they seem to conveniently underrate these facts a bit too often for my liking.