Kylie and the Key to Popping Immortality

“Padam”. Excuse me, did you say something?

“Padam”. Sorry, but I’m having a hard time concentrating right now.

sure, i saw the last episode of successionAnd god, didn’t we all learn a lesson from this King Lear In this fabulous retelling of Shakespeare’s epic. And, yes, indeed, I think there’s an argument to be made for suggesting that Shiva may be the sacrificial martyr of the fable, though I prefer the version in which she is basically Lady Macbeth. And, yes, OMG, Phillip Scofield. But, now, this very minute. , , , “Padam, padam. I’ll hear it and I know. My ears are only for Kylie.”

This week’s weirdest coup theater Roy does not belong to the family, nor does the drama consuming the fortunes of UK morning television and the vulnerable cast of sofa-surfers. It’s being exec’d by Kylie Minogue, who, at age 55, has rocketed her teeny tiny scarlet-lycra-clad single up and down the charts since 2014 as an insanely catchy onomatopoeic hit for heartthrobs With the hymn has reached its highest position. “Padam Padam”.

She may offer little more to the cultural conversation than a flashy pair of hot pants and a thumping disco bass track, but she delivers by staying true to who she is.

The only female artist to have a number-one album in the UK for five consecutive decades, the Australian pop star’s latest assault on immortality comes after a period of quiet semi-retirement in Melbourne, where she has settled to be closer to her family. is also nurturing its side hustle as a part of one of the best-selling roses. Fools, if you thought her pop career was over. The lead single from her 16th studio album, “Padma Padma”, is an electropop dance banger inspired by Edith Piaf’s 1951 song of the same name. Since its release on 18 May, it has reached number one in the UK Singles Sales and Downloads charts, largely being embraced by the gay community (Kylie’s first and forever disciples) as well as social media. Its spread, where it has become the soundtrack to a bajillion memes.

And who would doubt?

Constantly overlooked, dismissed and patronized by critics and media intellectuals who generally want as much truth and insight as possible from our contemporary cultural icons, Kylie remains the people’s princess of pop. A fervent Peter Pan, she may offer little more to the cultural conversation than a flashy pair of hot pants and a thumping disco bass track, but still stays true to who she is, delivering decade after decade. .

Kylie’s latest triumph begs the question of what has contributed to her long-standing cultural fame, especially at a time when pop’s big cheerleaders are in town. In July, Madonna, now 64, will begin her latest comeback with her six-month festival tour. Beyoncé (41) is currently staging her “renaissance”, looking like a resplendent silver Nefertiti, while Taylor Swift is cementing nearly two decades of contribution to auditory greatness with an epic 40-plus-song Eras tour Is. At 33, Swift is still only a stripper compared to the others, but considering she was plucking the banjo straight out of the birth canal, her experience gives her a longevity that belies her junior years. .

Each of the above is celebrating a career defined by reinvention, and the trajectories of female singers meant to make major career moves. In contrast, Kylie’s evolution has remained surprisingly subtle: She found her fail-safe formula sometime in the early 1990s and now only bends her knees. OK, so there was that raunchy fascination with the Michael Hutchence and Nick Cave couple, but that moment was no more a commitment to “the era” than the brunette rinse dyeing her hair. Kylie’s mood is “eternal pop poppet” in a world of inconsistency: kind and bubbly inclusive, while remaining the paragon of credibility.

Ignoring the relentless search for relevance, Kylie finds herself on trend. She doesn’t swing between genres or seek out the outrage, the collaboration of people: She just comes in and grabs the tunes.

In some sense, Kylie is the pop star perfect cipher – a style inherent in a pint-sized human being. Little is known about the real Kylie: She’s never played with the artsy female tropes of girlfriend, mother, wife. If anything she’s become more artificial — she’s more vocoder-tuned and plastinated — and as her career matures, she’s becoming more unrealistic. And good for her, quite frankly, I love plastinated Kylie — it’s great for someone who wants to make a hit record every decade and then return to relative obscurity.

No doubt the proud will scoff at his successes. They may lament the lack of depth in his music. Worse, they might define her as a “guilty pleasure”—the kind most annoying of women—because it would be too embarrassing to give her any real credit.

But in a landscape in which artists are all about their narratives and journeys, and in the midst of a frothy need among famous people to constantly overshare, there’s something glorious about the 55-year-old former soap star coming from nowhere to drop a soundtrack. also quietly leaves. Year.

email joe at joe.alison@ft.com

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