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Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Kylie, My Pop Star
By Lady Ochel C. Espinosa
WHEN we were younger, my cousins and I would hold "concerts and performances" as if we were pop stars -- complete with stage, backdrop, minus one, karaoke, and a non-stop applause, as if on cue, from our audience. More often than not, my cousins had the starring roles as Madonna, Cher, Michael Jackson, or perhaps Elvis Presley. Surprisingly, I was the Kylie Minogue, being the youngest among the girls. My incessantly embarrassing performance of Loco-motion was then the best performance of my life.
At her "30-something age", KYLIE ANN Minogue still sings about falling in love at first sight and contracting feverish symptoms from juvenile infatuation. There is no hint of shame as she delivers lyrics ripped off from a thirteen-year-old girl's diary entry -- "I'm love sick when you're not around, check me over, when strong hands are healing. I'm dancing on the ceiling." These lines could have come from another mundane Britney song, but in the hands of a seasoned artist, Kylie shows everybody that she is clearly at her best, offering such guiltless pop pleasures.
Making The Kylie
In 1986, a post-pubescent Kylie appeared in the television soap Neighbors, Australia's answer to Beverly Hills 90210. Her singing talent was discovered during a mini concert that was held for the show's fans where she performed her own version of Little Eva's "Loco-motion."
The buck-toothed girl from Down Under was then sipped to the United Kingdom to become a pop star under the tutelage of Mike Stock, Matt Aiken and Peter Waterman, (SAW) the same team that has produced, Dead or Alive and more recently, the Steps.
SAW was known as "the hit factory". They wrote, arranged and produced only it songs. Normally, an artist or group would go to the studio, record their vocals, leave and allow the threesome to do their magic. The setup made everybody happy. Consumers mostly teenagers, bought their records, virtual unknowns became overnight sensations and producers raked in huge benefits.
In Kylie's case, she was a very obedient employee and also a very naïve teenager. She sang, learned her dance steps, posed for the cameras and as a result, transformed into one of the world's biggest pop stars (except in the US where she still remains to be unknown).
First Taste
Kylie's first taste of success arrived with her debut single " I Should Be so Lucky." Critics immediately dismissed Kylie as just another pretty face with meager talents, a soap opera star who wanted to earn more money. Some even labeled her as the poor man's Madonna. There was once a ridiculous rumor about her inability to sing, claiming that the voice behind her hit song was nothing but speeded-up tones of another SAW teen idol, Rick Astley of " Together Forever" fame.
Kylie's music was the epitome of pop -- fun, catchy tunes that everyone can sing to. It was also manufactured and artificial.
During the early nineties, Kylie formed an unlikely relationship with the late INXS frontman, Michael Hutchence. They both came from different worlds. She was pop while he was rock. With the presence of Michael, nothing in Kylie's life and career was ever the same.
After four multi-platinum albums and a string of hit dance pop singles, Kylie had had enough of being a manufactured singer. She left the SAW factory and move to another independent record label, Deconstruction, which allowed her to do what she really wanted. For the first time in her life, Kylie was in full control of her career. She co-wrote some songs and hired her own producers to work on her records.
She released the album Kylie Minogue in 1994 and Impossible Princess in 1997, which was later renamed Kylie, ro avoid confusion with the death of Princess Diana, making her the only artist who has three self-titled albums. Both albums were considered major flops, in comparison to the sales of her work during the SAW days.
Apparently, only die-hard fans bothered to buy her CDs while the rest of the world still wanted to hear her do the " Loco-motion." But at least, the critics were slightly pleased with her efforts.
Break Up To Make Up
It was around this period when dance mixes of her songs started surfacing in clubs and discos, a clever attempt to save her ailing career. She also found a tremendous amount of support from the gay community that eagerly hailed her as their Queen.
Kylie was able to hit upon her niche among the dance music enthusiasts. It prompted her to create Light Years, released in 1999 and Fever, in 2001 her most successful album. Light Years was Kylie's tribute to disco while Fever showcased a more elctronica sound. Both albums witnessed the return of Kylie to her dance pop roots -- HOME.
Throughout her career, it has always been a struggle for Kylie to write her own material, perhaps as a way to combat the manufactured pop star image and to fit the increasingly popular mold of the female songwriter/singer with the likes of Tori Amos, Jewel, and Alanis Morissette. This time, however, Kylie has willingly submitted herself to the hands of more competent songwriters and producers. But it is by no means a sign of her surrender. She mentions in one interview that a singer's interpretation of a song is just as important as the creative process.
Whoever set the standard anyway that performers had to write their own songs? Besides, not everyone can look good in really short shorts and possess the audacity to hop on a mechanical bull clad only in Agent Provocateur undies.
Pop Land Princess
Kylie now faces one of the biggest criticisms in her career -- her apparent incapacity for musical growth.
Face it. Popstars also age, which makes it harder to gyrate and catch up with dancers in music videos. There also comes a time when a performer has to expand her musical horizons as well as the subject matter covered in her songs.
Another pop diva, THE Madonna, has undergone several incarnations, each persona more daring than the last. But unlike most artists, Madonna never looks back. You won't be hearing her sing "Like a Virgin" anytime soon.
Then there's Cher. If the massive success of her single "Believe" is any indication, Kylie may have a bright future ahead of her. Clubbers and dance purists are a very accepting bunch, as long as an artist has a great sing that they can groove to. Refuge is found in dance clubs, a safe haven for aging pop divas.
But in Pop Land, ladies and gentlemen, no one ever gets old.
Kylie Minogue is its Peter Pan.
(July 26, 2006 issue)
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