In honor of Kylie Minogue’s 2024 Grammy win for Best Pop Dance Recording, we’re re-running our interview with the singer from December.
No one could have predicted the hold a gloriously gobbledygook tribute to Édith Piaf would have over us this year. But Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam” was a triple threat: a campy club anthem, a commercially viable banger, and an irresistible template for memes. Built around a sinuous bass line and hypnotic hook, the lead single from the Australian star’s 16th studio album, Tension, ascended the global charts and brought the basic and esoteric gays together for a moment of unity.
For over 30 years, Minogue has had most of the globe in a similar chokehold, having sold more than 80 million records worldwide. Yet outside 2001 singles “Can’t Get You Out My Head” and “Love at First Sight,” she has enjoyed only sporadic success here in the States — until the arrival of “Padam,” reminding Americans of what longtime fans have known for years: Kylie Minogue is pop music, an emblem for reinvention and trendsetting, who can express the deepest of emotions through sexy, coolly detached bangers.
After delivering one of the year’s most memorable pop-culture moments, it’s fitting that Minogue would close things out in Vegas, where she’s been performing her More Than Just a Residency at the Venetian since November. While the show was originally intended to run for only a few months, extraordinary ticket demand led her to expand to May 2024.
The afternoon before another career-spanning Vegas set, and with the padam-ic effect still in full swing, Minogue recapped her colossal 2023. “It’s the happiest I’ve ever been,” she said.
Congratulations on such a fabulous year. It’s been a joy to watch.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. You know what? I actually have this sensation of “What’s happened with my career this year?!” Whether you know me, like me, care about me, I think the success of this year is kind of beyond me. Like, you opening with that is very touching because I genuinely think that there’ll be some people even casually viewing this year for me and going Wow, I didn’t know you could do that. On paper, it’s not the thing to do. I feel … I’m happy. We just really liked “Padam Padam.” It’s reached people in ways beyond what we could have imagined.
Let’s go back to May. “Padam Padam” is about to launch your new album. What kind of mindset are you in? And what are the stakes?
Firstly, with every first single, we’re going, Is it this one? Oh, no, it’s that one. It’s the juggle of which one we start with. So once we all agreed on “Padam” — or “Padam Padam” because no one bothers to say its full title anymore — we simply just waited. As a team, we felt like we had everything lined up. I had all the same excitement and nerves as I always do. So I would take myself back to, “How did I feel when I first heard the song as a demo?” And I felt intrigued. I felt kind of drawn in by it. And I wanted to hear it again. I can’t say I had full confidence because I don’t know if that’s possible for me anyway, but the stakes were high enough.
Your previous two albums played within the constraints of specific genres, strictly country and disco themes. Tension feels much more anything-goes and eclectic. Why the looser approach?
I mean, how I even did two themed albums, I don’t know. Naturally I don’t like being boxed into any one thing. So I did feel a lot of liberation going into Tension, and now that I’ve got a tiny bit of distance I can look back at DISCO and the making and release of it, and how it took place during COVID lockdown. And so I went into Tension just like we all did, back into the new old world. I had so much drive to express myself and to be with people and to create something that’s actually got a hope of reaching people and connecting — which DISCO did, but in a lockdown way.
With Tension, we initially thought of it as a bit kind of ’80s, Stranger Things, but it just wasn’t clicking in the moment. We decided to ditch that and not be bound by a genre or theme, and that’s where the total freedom came in. We were just trying to find a “Kylie” song, which, as we know, can mean many things. There’s plenty of room within that playing field.
As a songwriter, you’re used to seeing the world apply its own meaning to the art you make, but “Padam Padam” really took on a new life of its own — something I think TikTok is partially responsible for. How did you find trying to learn the ropes of TikTok this year? Do you think it’s a platform that’s allowed you to relate to your fandom in new, meaningful ways?
I do, actually, and I have confessed many times since “Padam” that I’ve tried TikTok, and thought, I don’t know how I’m ever going to access this. Then I met some people from TikTok at an album listening party in Los Angeles. So we do the whole “Hello, nice to meet you” get a picture thing, and as they were leaving, I just said, you know, I don’t know if it’s for me, thanks for coming by. And then “Padam” did it for me, and I was kind of able to get on the wave. My takeaway is that it’s got to be organic. Now I’m enjoying the interactions on there. It’s fun for me now.
I have to say, not everyone might have understood Impossible Princess, but I think the kids are finally ready for it.
Oh my gosh, I heard that from one of my dancers in Vegas, he’s 22, I mean, he’s younger, and he’s obsessed with Impossible Princess. I should probably give it another spin myself. I would have loved to put one of the songs on the setlist but it probably wouldn’t work for Vegas. But, you know, one day, I definitely want to sing “Limbo” or something like that live.
This Vegas residency is giving you an opportunity to showcase your glitziest side. Do you see yourself wanting to scratch your more experimental itch after this stint?
Yes, yes. But I think if you took “Padam” on its own and even for the video, I don’t think it is glitzy. And I mean with Vegas, you’ve got to go Vegas. But yeah, I don’t want to lose touch with that experimental side. I’m thinking sonically as opposed to visually here, but a lot of the songs aren’t about the glitz. There’s sheen, for sure, and the dazzling sparkle has its own place as well.
You’ve have a reputation for being one of the nicest stars in the industry. Have you ever just wanted to say “sod that” to anyone in public?
I actually never have to say it because they get what’s known as “the look.” You don’t want “the look.” Sometimes it’ll come out before I’m even aware of it and I’ll just have to be like, sorry, sorry, sorry! But I think starting out in TV where it’s, you know, you’re part of a team and a cast and you can’t be late and you’ve got to know your lines and you’ve got to know that professionalism. I mean, for the most part it’s just got to be my nature. But I think that what I learned in my first step into the professional world was definitely important. You meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way down. Kindness is just good. I mean, when I’m the boss, I’ve got to be the boss. But I like to be a good boss.
“Hold On to Now” poses one of Tension’s more existential questions: How do I make sense of this moment and celebrate it? During a career-best year and Vegas residency, are those the kinds of questions you’re still asking yourself?
Yes, I think it’s a daily question. Subliminal or not. Holding onto now, this current moment. You know, I’m just doing my best. I’m fully cognizant that it is a great time. I’m 54 and a half — [laughs] you know, like 8-year-olds say “8 and a half” — and just want to seize the day. It’s a total celebration. So I’ve just got to keep my vitamins in and drive. And, I don’t know, it feels I’m naturally a warrior and I stress and care about every little bit. But I also think I’m doing better than ever before in finding a place where I can allow myself to be just to be and to be comfortable with myself and be comfortable with what’s happening around me. It’s something that comes with age and time. Also, it has to be said, it’s a lot easier when you’re riding a good wave.
Is this the happiest you’ve ever felt in your career?
I’m definitely gonna say yes, because experience for me is just like stardust. I’ve said this for years and years and years: You can’t buy it. You can’t invent it. No one can give it to you. You have to earn it. And for me, there’s so much satisfaction in learning and seeing that put into practice and staying super grateful. At 35 years of songs and connection and highs and lows and droughts — there’s a world within that world, and it fills me with wonder.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
