Kylie Minogue On Having Hope In Her Songs, Why She Wants To Share A Stage & More
With her new album Tension II and her biggest world tour since 2011, Kylie Minogue is gearing up for an exciting year ahead.
Kylie’s back. The Aussie superstar recently performed at the Singapore Grand Prix, thrilling 50,000 fans at the Padang. If you couldn’t catch her live, here’s some good news: Minogue has just dropped "Lights Camera Action," the lead single from her 18th studio album Tension II, which came out on October 18.
Tension II follows the massive success her previous album – 2023's Tension – notched up, including the viral hit Padam Padam, which nabbed the Best Pop Dance Recording Grammy this year.
Kylie Minogue has a new album out on October 18th – titled Tension II, it will reportedly see the singer delving deeper into the electronic realm.
The new album features 13 tracks in total. Nine are brand-new songs, while the other four are earlier-released dance titles Edge of Saturday Night featuring The Blessed Madonna, along with collaborations with Orville Peck, Bebe Rexha, Tove Lo, and Sia.
It looks to be a packed year ahead for the singer – on top of releasing Tension II, she's soon to embark on the biggest tour since 2011 with the just-announced Tension Tour 2025.
“I am beyond excited to announce the Tension Tour 2025,” says the singer. “I can’t wait to share beautiful and wild moments with fans all over the world, celebrating the Tension era and more! It’s been an exhilarating ride so far, and now, get ready for your close-up because I will be calling 'Lights, Camera, Action' … and there will be a whole lot of Padam-ing!”
Minogue's world tour will kick off in Australia next February, before moving to Asia and the UK in May, with additional dates and locations in Europe, North and South America to be announced soon - Singapore is currently not on the tour list but it's early days yet. For the full line-up of dates - head to the singer's website to keep updated.
Below, the songstress discusses what keeps her motivated and who she’d love to collaborate with during a sit-down chat with FEMALE, just a day before her concert at the Singapore Grand Prix last week:
Hello Kylie! What’s your secret ingredient to creating great pop anthems?
“If I knew I wouldn’t have to try so hard. I guess I fell in love with pop music as a child, so I knew what I liked… and then I started making pop music myself, and I guess if you do anything long enough, you start to have some kind of understanding. But what makes a great pop song - that should always be a bit of a mystery. It’s not just about the song itself - it’s got to hit the market at the right time and people respond to that.
If I was maybe to throw something into there that I think has become quite specific to me now - I don’t think it was always the case - and I think that’s having hope. I have songs that are more obviously dance-y like Padam Padam or Lights Camera Action, but I think having that always hopeful tone in my work - that has become my specialty, I think.”
You talked about the timing of a song – last year Padam Padam became a viral hit for you on TikTok. What was that like for you?
"It was mind-blowing actually. It's the first time I've had a song be a viral hit on TikTok. It was really thrilling to see people's content reacting to Padam Padam... I'm of the generation where people have one foot in the new world and one foot in the old world, which I still will have. But to have a moment where things felt really modern and reaching a whole new demographic... it was an amazing moment.
My team and I believed in this song, and hoped it would do well but imagine Padam Padam with a different video - it might not have done so well. So that's what I mean when I say you really need so many things for a song to magically come together - it doesn't always happen - so I was very grateful and excited."
Your songs are always great for parties – I want to know, what makes a good party to you?
"Good music - I definitely don't want to be the DJ, I'd choose someone else to DJ. I guess a good group of people definitely helps make everyone feel more relaxed... I tell myself I'll be out of a party in under two hours but who's usually the last person there? Me. The last time I did that was at the Met Gala after-party this year - I went down to the Loewe party because I really wanted to meet Jonathan Anderson. I told my team okay, let's go in for a few minutes, say hello to whoever I need to say hello to, and get out. I make a lot of noise about not wanting to go to a party but if it's a good one like Loewe's - I'm usually the last person standing at 4am. It was the music and great company that kept me there."
You've had such an amazing career – is there anything you'd still like to do?
"I remember being asked that question early on in my career - not right at the start but after I had some success, and I was like, what are you talking about, there's so much to do! I think if I'd stopped five or 10 years ago, I'd have missed out on so much. For a start, there's always a song that hasn't been written, or a moment that hasn't been created with fans, or with people you'll never meet. There's endless things to do and I'm still curious and inspired. Aside from pure determination, those are the things that keep me going."
Who would you love to collaborate with?
"I don't even know where to start. I always get nervous to say a specific name because there are just so many people I'd love to work with. You've got your titans like Beyonce, Rihanna, Gaga, Miley... Madonna - I've yet to properly collaborate with her. Amazing new artists like Chappell Roan, who just blows my mind...
These days, you either never meet the person, or you perform with them once... I wish there was more and it's deeper than just that. For example, performing Midnight Ride with Orville Peck not so long ago - just to have another artist on stage with you and feel how they operate, is very interesting to me. It's normally just me on stage; sometimes I wish I was in a band so that I can have more people on stage with me. So yeah I'd love to have more opportunities to share the load... if you like the other artist and things go well, I can sense and feel what they're doing and why they're doing it. It's an unspoken energy (between performers who share the same stage)."
Tension II drops October 18 via BMG – you can pre-order the album here.