- Kylie's 16th album returns to the candy-coated, feel-good dance pop she's been turning out since "All The Lovers."
- "Padam Padam" came as a surprise to everyone, including Kylie Minogue. The song wasn't only a massive hit with her core gay fanbase, but also her highest-charting song in more than a decade, achieving a ubiquity not seen since the Fever days and creating an unprecedented level of hype for her 16th studio album, Tension. You can never predict success, though I'd wager "Padam Padam" took off because it was unusual. Its minor-key intro and seductive, snake-charming melody were anathema to the feel-good, Cher-style hits Minogue has perfected. For that one, Minogue worked with a new producer, Lostboy (who also co-wrote it), injecting something new into her sound.
Minogue's last album, 2020's Disco, was a well-timed genre exercise that delighted her diehard fans. Minogue and her label sought to produce something lighter, without a theme or overarching direction—just good pop songs geared for the club. "Padam Padam" was the explosive result, a flamboyant Eurovision-style jam that catapulted the veteran pop star to a level of airplay usually reserved for mainstream stars like Dua Lipa or Olivia Rodrigo.
After "Padam Padam" became the hit of the summer, the label held back all other singles, sitting with the hype, until the title track landed in September. A roiling piano house number in line with contemporary UK radio, Tension's earwormy—but not as anthemic—title track saw Minogue return to her longtime songwriter Richard "Biff" Stannard, who dominates the rest of the album. The result isn't the Kylie Minogue refresh that "Padam Padam" promised, but another dependable LP that seems tailor-made for simple club remixes and high street play.
Since landmark albums Fever and Body Language in the early '00s, Minogue has settled into the role of influential elder diva, supplying track after track for clubs and maybe the occasional radio station to play. For her fanbase, all her songs might as well be #1. Over the years, her sound has become sugary and mid-tempo, the aesthetics fuzzy like cotton candy, the synths blurring into her voice, all soundtracking saccharine lyrics about getting over heartbreak, moving forward in life and being proud of yourself.
Tension largely ignores the sexy "Padam Padam" pivot and returns to this blandly inspirational mode. That probably comes down to Stannard, whose production chokes the sexiness out of the otherwise naughty "One More Time"—about sleeping with an ex—and makes Minogue's rapping on "Hands" sound even more awkward than it could've been, marring an otherwise bubbly track with an endearing chorus.
Still, there's plenty to love here. As far as motivational Minogue hits go, "Hold On To Now" is a wonderful carpe diem paean, and the jerky chorus and rapturous piano chords of "Tension" are hard to get sick of. "10 Out Of 10," a collaboration with Oliver Heldens originally released on his album earlier this year, is irresistible despite the lingering feeling that it's Beyoncé Renaissance-lite, with its ballroom-style voiceover. And the rushing "Green Light" makes even its string of romantic clichés feel fresh and sparkling.
In contemporary Minogue terms, Tension fires on all cylinders, with only a few awkward moments to muck up its wonderfully breezy flow. But it's also noticeably lightweight. In the interviews she's done around the album, she hinted at personal trials she's gone through over the past year and a half, but you wouldn't be able to tell from Tension's boilerplate sentiments and Hallmark card lyrics. Outside of the two singles, only "Story," the stunning closing track, truly lives up to her legacy. Taking the rest of the album's fluorescent, high-pitched aesthetic to properly ecstatic highs, this is when Minogue's upbeat, "you're gonna be okay" approach truly comes to life.
Leave it to a vocalist like Minogue—one of the world's most enduring and impressive pop singers—to turn lyrics like "Turn another page / Baby, take the stage," from "Story," into something profound. As her voice rises, it's hard not to feel those feelings well up in your throat either. Minogue is a master of pop, as songs like "Story" and "Padam Padam" remind us. She can make magic out of the most innocuous material she's given. If only Tension lived up to the promise that she might be given something different. As it is, though, it's another entry in a rock-solid catalogue of dependable, uplifting club pop. On "Hold On To Now," she sings,"Dreaming we'll be dancin' forever / Floating on this feeling together." In the right context, with the right people in the club with you, it's easy to believe her.
Tracklist01. Padam Padam
02. Hold On To Now
03. Things We Do For Love
04. Tension
05. One More Time
06. You Still Get Me High
07. Hands
08. Green Light
09. Vegas High
10. 10 Out Of 10 feat. Oliver Heldens
11. Story