“Big trap on the bass line/ Tick tock on the waistline/ Don’t rush, baby, take time,” intones Kylie on her triumphant 16th studio album Tension. It’s a record that glitters with good lip-licking hooks, mixing elements of Nineties R&B and Eighties europop into giddy dancefloor delight.
Advance slam-dunker of a single “Padam Padam” means the disco queen has now scored a top 10 hit in every one of the five decades that have passed since she launched her pop career back in the 1980s. Interviewed by the BBC’s Scott Mills this month, the Aussie artist said she found her chart longevity “crazy, amazing, beautiful… daunting” and recalled how the viral “Padam-ic” left her “laughing, screaming” as she scrolled through the endless TikTok videos of fans dancing to its flirty fizz of a pulse. My 11-year-old daughter adores it – as does my octogenarian neighbour. Kylie’s candy floss vocals are guaranteed to set the whole family spinning around.
