One of the great unwritten rules of showbusiness could be: never write off La Minogue. As she turns 55, Kylie Minogue is back at the top of the charts with the single Padam Padam, inspired by the 1951 Édith Piaf song of the same name. It has topped the UK Big Top 40, becoming Minogue’s highest-charting single since 2014’s Into the Blue.
It could be on track to bother the upper reaches of the US Billboard Hot 100, like her 2001 global smash Can’t Get You Out of My Head. “Thank you, thank you,” said Minogue in her birthday Instagram post: “My heart is bursting with joy.”
What’s more, young people are driving the Padam Padam phenomenon. On its release, the single was targeted at older audiences – it wasn’t considered for airplay on BBC Radio 1 or Capital FM. Then the generation Z and TikTok crowd caught the Padam Padam bug.
They loved the infectious retro-glitterball beat. They delighted in sharing the cheeky-meets-chic video (Minogue, all red-garbed glamour, like a disco Miss Scarlett). They debated the meaning of the title (it evokes a beating heart). They sprayed around memes. They posted their own Padam Padam dance homages.
This, then, is the nature of modern, app-driven fame: TikTok catches on to something – or someone – it likes and it all erupts in volcanic cross-generational lava.
How interesting to see Minogue organically triumph in a medium she – a creature of pre-social media fame – freely admits to initially finding “a little tricky”. Also, to see reverse-cultural ageism in action, and not, this time, with an old track, as with last year’s chart re-entry of Kate Bush’s 1985 hit Running Up That Hill.
Still, if the youth are igniting the latest Kylie resurgence, “latest” is the operative word. If Minogue is “having a moment”, it is one of many. This, after all, is just the latest of the her many regenerations. She is one of those pop culture Doctor Whos, remanifesting themselves when necessary. While gen Z is enjoying Padam Padam, it is late to the Kylie party.
Since her career breakthrough in the 1980s, there have been many Kylies: Soap Kylie (Neighbours’ Charlene turned Stock Aitken Waterman Loco-Motion popster); Jason Kylie (the message: love conquers all, even Jason Donovan’s mullet); Sex Kylie (around the time of her romance with the late Australian rocker Michael Hutchence).
Also, anglo Kylie (the continuing British love affair with the Australian pocket rocket is fascinating in itself).
Then there was Euro Kylie (the Paris years); Indie Kylie; the Spinning Around disco Kylie; the avant garde Can’t Get You Out of My Head Kylie; Borderline-goth Kylie (performing Where the Wild Roses Grow with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds); plus, along the way, there were several comeback Kylies.
And now what – Renaissance Kylie? The point is that Minogue was supposed to be a bubblegum pop star with a built-in obsolescence. She was not supposed to survive, never mind thrive. Yet multimillion-records-selling decades later, here she is.
I met Minogue when she was Indie Kylie, promoting her “gritty” 1997 album Impossible Princess (a title temporarily shelved in the UK when Diana, Princess of Wales died). The LP had some good moments, though not enough (it tanked). If I remember correctly, I asked if she had listened to Alanis Morissette’s angst-fuelled 1995 Jagged Little Pill album, and I just as hazily recall her reply – something like: “Didn’t everybody?”
With huge, sincere eyes, and cropped, Jean Seberg-style hair, she talked of how she often thought of herself as a “show pony”, and of emotional turbulence, artistic drive, and working, working, working …
Is this one of the cornerstones of her enduring success? In terms of reinvention, at times, Minogue has been dismissed as a budget Madonna. In reality, she has ploughed her own distinct furrow. Top of the list: likability, a priceless commodity in the music industry – one of pop’s golden tickets. It creates a fanbase that never forsakes you. It is why Lewis Capaldi’s audience recently sang the words of Someone You Love for him when he was overwhelmed, mid-performance in Frankfurt, with Tourette syndrome tics. It is unusual enough for pop careers to span decades, but for Kylie’s trademark likability to survive intact for that long? That’s rare.
Another career-long Kylie hallmark is her work ethic. There was an enforced grim pause when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, which she later noted changed her attitude to life. Other than that, a quick glance at her output seems to barely allow time for a blow-dry, never mind a career break.
Then there is her eclectic fanbase, from her heroically devoted career-lull-resistant gay fans to women cheering on the gold hot pants in Spinning Around.
For someone whose career has been steeped in glamour, Minogue also has a gift for normality. She is perceived as down to earth and humorous: brief as it was, she appeared to have a hoot returning for last year’s Neighbours finale. She also exudes good attitude, pluck and the ability to be a hoofer and trouper – this pop princess may be dinky, but she is tough.
It has not all been PR roses, though. There have been less than adoring critiques of her acting, which, for some, peaked with Neighbours’ dungaree-clad, bubble-permed Charlene. Botox Kylie has drawn criticism for her “tweakments”.
Then there were the tabloid stints as everything from prima donna Kylie to unlucky-in-love Kylie. For long decades, she was poor, barren Kylie. For a while, too, Minogue rivalled Jennifer Aniston for possessing the most speculated-about womb in celebrity history.
For all that, in contrast to the likes of Madonna – almost 10 years older and way ahead in pop years – Minogue has somehow managed to swerve at least some of the industrial-levels of sexist, misogynistic flak that comes with the older female artist territory.
Why is this? Is it partly because Madonna is the epitome of the demanding, high-maintenance star (Respect me! Admire me! Acknowledge my continued relevance!). By contrast, despite her accolades and her millions, Minogue has a vibe that remains resolutely low maintenance. Though thrilled about the success of Padam Padam, she also manages to seem a tad amazed (“Thank you, thank you”), as if it is all a wonderful, unexpected distraction from her wine-making and perfume line. This is not to criticise either Madonna or Minogue – both styles work for me– but it is just interesting how the latter can give the impression of ambling through her stellar career, as if she is some kind of chilled pop backpacker.
In creative terms, the Minogue persona grinds on a complicated axis: part girl-next-door, part reflective chanteuse, part unadulterated diva – all with the heart of a workhorse beating within that show pony. And, yes, she is forceful and ambitious too. Look at how forthright she is about not knowing her way around “tricky” apps for Padam Padam. “I feel like I have one foot in the old world and one foot in the new. I do marvel at people who are really good at it,” she said. Most pop stars would rather choke to death on fistfuls of dry ice and spangles than show their age by admitting they are lagging behind, not “with it”, when it comes to tech.
While Minogue was being self-deprecating, was there also a powerplay lurking in there? As in: “I just turned 55. I’m top of the charts. I survived a terrifying bout of cancer. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pretend to be a day younger than I actually am.”
Also, note her instant pivot regarding social media technology: “Now I think it’s amazing”. Is this a sign that one of pop’s most resourceful performers is ready to adapt again?
Maybe it is significant that Minogue’s only real career mis-step was when indie Kylie lunged for credibility, to be considered cool. Hasn’t Kylie always been cool – exuding, as she does, her weird “outsider” energy? It is hard to think of the industry producing another artist like this. Just as there have been many Kylies over the years, there has been only one Kylie – one who could regenerate again.
Don’t rule it out: Minogue has done five decades – why not make it an even six? Make another youthful cohort’s hearts beat faster. Padam, and indeed, padam.
