KYLIE 2014-15 : The Kiss Me Once Era

This is the thread wherein we discuss Grammy Award winning Aussie pop sensation, Kylie Minogue, her new album Kiss Me Once (KM1) and all KM1 related topics including, but not limited to, singles, videos, tv appearances, live appearances, Kylie fashion, endorsement deals, possible vegan dinner dates with Beyoncé, The Voice UK and, eventually, what we're looking forward to from Kylie from in 2016 and beyond.

Let's proceed...

****KM1****KM1****KM1****KM1****KM1****KM1****KM1***

As VeraCharles3 so kindly notified us in the "Into the Blue" thread, earlier today, Kylie posted a megamix sampler for the album on YouTube with 30-60 sec samples of each track--link(s) below. After hearing the YT mix I felt a bit underwhelmed and it looked like we might have a mixed bag on our hands. Not a huge shock considering the number of producers/songwriters generally involved in a pop album. However, later in the day, eagle-eyed Kylie fans saw that full 90 second samples of the album's songs (plus two bonus tracks) had been uploaded to iTunes. After hearing these longer samples, I've gone from thinking we had an album with 4 or 5 excellent tracks and the rest a mess of muddled rubbish to thinking we may have a near perfect Kylie album that sounds like it could be a perfect synthesis of the best of Fever, Body Language, X and Aphrodite.

I'm genuinely impressed and eagerly anticipating this album now. Some things I'm pleasantly surprised by:

• -RocNation's influence is clearly felt, but Kylie and Sia (her exec producer) have managed to make an album that sounds unmistakably "Kylie" while also feeling very big, anthemic and multi-nation radio-friendly. A lot of it also feels stronger and more muscular than a typical Kylie song, but she never gets overwhelmed by the sound. There are several potential singles, but to my ears, "If Only" just screams out to be a single.
  



• -The only track that I think is a total dud is the embarrassingly titled dubsteppy "Sexercise" which feels even more forced than "Red Blooded Woman" from Body Language. Even the Enrique duet seems to fit in. Otherwise, every single other track is either a complete winner or very close.



• -Sia and her fellow producers have made better use of Kylie's voice than any of her prior producers. She is never going to be known as a powerhouse vocalist, but she knows how to deploy her small, but effective voice very well and this album plays up her strengths and adds some vocal coloring and shading missing from Aphrodite. I love that album, but she was getting a bit helium balloon/Alivin & the Chipmunks there.



• -While the lyrics to the bonus track "Mr. President" are a bit questionable, the song is such a fun banger. Surprised it didn't make it onto the album.

So, thoughts? How's this shaping up for you? Any standout tracks?

Updated On: 2/18/14 at 02:18 AM

And there are two more bonus tracks on the Japanese release (of course, grr it's hard being a collector.)

I need to give these longer samples a proper listen, but I mostly loved the sampler. I admit, I tend to prefer when an album is overseen by one producer (like Aphrodite was) but that's not the norm, and overall I like the sound of this.

And in a MasterCard promo Kylie surprised a fan with a performance at the gym... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWkV44Rzln4&feature=youtu.be

Oh gosh. That Mastercard surprise was both wonderful and horrifying all at once. Ha.

"Skirt" grew on me as well, but I'm glad we didn't get a dubstep album from her. Ha.

Well you're not alone there. I just like the chorus and the build in the extended version.

Apparently Sia wrote Sexcercise. Surprised.

Feels So Good is a cover of a song by some indie guy Tom Aspaul--here's his version (called Indiana for some reason) https://soundcloud.com/tom_aspaul/indiana

Thanks HorseTears for starting a new thread and the name check

Thanks Eric for the Guardian link - this all looks so promising.

I am really looking forward to getting the CD.

Apologies, I have nothing to add, I just wanted to see if my post is bold too. I guess BWW instintcively recognizes the importance of Ms.Minogue.

I'll for sure get the physical CD - I haven't listened to any of the snippets either. New Kylie albums don't come around every day and I want to do it properly.

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HA

Right, and you can hear the full thing (in so so quality) performed live so it's not technically like listening to Les Sex's CD recording. I do allow myself to listen to the samples. We'll se what happens when the album leaks though...

Must look for fan videos. I'm enjoying all these impromptu concerts. She's often in New York, I wonder if she'd do one there. So far I know of London, Paris and now Sydney.

Oh dear. She often makes odd second single choices (only to usually remedy that with one of the later single choices, but mainstream radio tends to be off the album by then...)

Maybe the person confused it with Les Sex?? I mean I can only hope... And she's filming a gay version for the clubs and a more mainstream one? Based on the samples I personally would release Les Sex to that first marketplace and simultaneously release a different track to radio (not Sexcercise, though it could be worse--originally they had a guest rapper, just like Chocolate originally did, who was removed last minute.)