She may be 55, but Kylie’s still queen of the catchy tune: ADRIAN THRILLS reviews Tension
KYLIE: Tension
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PAUL RODGERS: Midnight Rose
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When a new Kylie Minogue single was announced in May, all the indications were that the Australian pop goddess would stick to the style of her 2020 album, Disco — one of many dance records that sprang up in lockdown.
And, sure enough, Padam Padam ticked all the right kitchen-disco boxes, without being particularly memorable on first hearing. Then something happened … despite being sidelined by youth-oriented radio stations unwilling to champion a 55-year-old woman, Padam Padam picked up momentum.
With its onomatopoeic refrain an approximation of the human heartbeat, it became a TikTok sensation and grew into the pop earworm of 2023. The song — written by Norwegian singer Ina Wroldsen and British producer Pete ‘Lostboy’ Rycroft — gave Kylie her first solo Top Ten single since 2010’s All The Lovers, and it sets the tone perfectly for Tension, an album about seizing the day that reasserts Minogue’s reputation as a consummate showgirl while adding nuance to her signature sound.
‘It’s a blend of personal reflection, club abandon and melancholic high,’ says Kylie. The singer cites her mid-tempo 2003 single Slow as a key reference, and that’s a fair indication of what to expect.
‘You look like fun to me, you look a little like somebody I know,’ she teases on Padam Padam, and the first half of the album is infused with celebrations of the dancefloor.
Padam Padam has given Kylie her first top ten single since 2010 after having become a TikTok sensation
Padam Padam’s title track, with its breathless vocals and insistent piano, is a house music banger
While there are no departures as daring as the country detours taken on 2018’s Golden, Kylie does make a few unexpected moves as the album progresses.
The title track, with its breathless vocals and insistent piano, is a house music banger. Hold On To Now tells us to live in the moment.
There are nods to the past, too. The catchy One More Time would sit easily alongside her 1990 hits Better The Devil You Know and Step Back In Time.
10 Out Of 10, made with Dutch DJ Oliver Heldens, looks to Euro-pop for inspiration. ‘After we’re done, let’s hop in the shower,’ sings Kylie, revelling in the sexual innuendo but leaving just enough to the imagination.
There are no departures as daring as the country detours taken on 2018’s Golden, but she does make a few unexpected moves as the album progresses. Hands, all handclaps and funky bass, takes its cue from 1990s R&B rather than 1970s disco, and Green Light is a sadly tepid exercise in jazz-funk.
Story begins with delicate guitars before developing into a conventional floor-filler. ‘I had a one-way ticket, and I was going nowhere,’ admits Kylie on the latter. On Tension, she finds solace in dancing, and it’s her most irresistible release in decades.
As frontman of both Free and Bad Company, Paul Rodgers was a leading light in the British blues-rock boom of the Sixties and Seventies. The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin occupied the same ground, but many saw the Middlesbrough-born rocker as the best vocalist of the era.
Among them was Queen guitarist Brian May. May recruited Rodgers as Freddie Mercury’s replacement in Queen, but the singer’s earthy style was never quite showy enough, and he bowed out after four years to be succeeded by the more theatrical Adam Lambert.
Now, on his first batch of new solo songs in 24 years, the 73-year-old has gone back to what he does best: singing the blues with a meaty, rock-solid edge.
Paul Rodgers was a leading light in the British blues-rock boom of the Sixties and Seventies
In his first set of new solo songs in 24 years, Paul Rodgers has gone back to what he does best
Paul Rodgers, far left, was the frontman of Free who were among Britain’s hard rock pioneers
Attempts to recreate past glories fall flat, although that’s no surprise: Free set an unrealistically high bar on classics such as All Right Now, and Midnight Rose feels overproduced by comparison.
That voice is still in fine fettle, though. Rodgers lives in Canada now, and he explains his decision to move across the Atlantic on Living It Up, saying he left ‘steeltown’ to be closer to the spirit of Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin.
Elsewhere, his singing is wasted on Photo Shooter, a hackneyed tirade against celebrity culture, and Highway Robber. He fares better as he softens the mood. The folky title track shows he can do romantic and Melting dips into classic Americana. The material is uneven, but Rodgers can still sing the blues as well as anyone.
Shania turns London into Twain Town
Live: Shania Twain
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Rising slowly from a trapdoor in the centre of The O2, Shania Twain was greeted by a sea of sequinned Stetsons and cowgirl jackets as she brought her Queen Of Me tour to London.
In the UK for the first time in five years, she transformed a packed arena into Twain Town — and the rhinestone-clad faithful lapped it up.
The Canadian country-pop singer rattled through 26 songs in two hours, fleshing things out with time-honoured crowd-pleasing ploys as she flipped between fiddle-driven hoedowns and guitar-powered rockers.
‘I’m having the time of my life,’ she said, before disarmingly admitting that her chit-chat can be corny.
In the UK for the first time in five years, Shania Twain turned a packed O2 into Twain Town
The Canadian country-pop singer rattled through 26 songs in two hours
Despite all the usual bells and whistles, this wasn’t the slickest of arena shows
Despite all the usual bells and whistles — space-age visuals on Up!; a silver motorbike during I’m Gonna Getcha Good!; a Western-style saloon bar for Giddy Up! — this wasn’t the slickest of arena shows. An attempt to lead fans through intricate harmonies on Honey, I’m Home took up too much time. Twain missed a vocal cue on Giddy Up! But it was an evening of heart and humour. Shania’s voice has acquired a raspier edge since her vocal cords were damaged by Lyme disease, yet she displayed her affinity with the Nashville tradition on an impromptu cover of Hank Williams’ Jambalaya (On The Bayou) and dipped at length into Come On Over, the 1997 album that turned her into a superstar.
Finishing with her mega-hits That Don’t Impress Me Much and Man! I Feel Like A Woman!, she wowed fans by donning her iconic hooded leopard-print bodysuit — a winningly nostalgic finale.
The Queen Of Me tour continues tonight at OVO Hydro, Glasgow (livenation.co.uk).
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