Just two days ago, a spokesperson for BBC Radio 1 was explaining why Kylie Minogue’s Padam Padam hadn’t made its playlist, despite the writhing electropop song being her first Top 10 single in 12 years and now bordering on a national obsession. (Last week, it even made it into Hansard, referenced by Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle in a speech about Pride: “And finally Mr Deputy Speaker, in the words of Kylie, padam.”) “Each track is considered for the playlist based on its musical merit and whether it is right for our target audience, with decisions made on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesperson said.
Kylie turned 55 last month, leading to accusations of ageism against Radio 1. In response, the station claimed that “an artist’s age is never a factor” in decision-making. Technically, that bears out – David Guetta is a perpetual figure on the station, currently on the C-list with Baby Don’t Hurt Me, and he’s also 55. But Guetta is a fairly faceless dance producer. The stakes are evidently different for women whose appearance and physique contribute to an overall performance of pop in which the suggestion of desirability is key. As culture perceives women to become less attractive and sexually viable as they hit middle age, the assumption is clearly that an older female artist is of little relevance to Radio 1’s demographic of listeners aged 15-29, even if – or perhaps specifically because – she’s singing about a dancefloor infatuation so delirious that she and the song’s intended have to go straight home “and take off all my clothes”.
