Kylie Minogue
The recent developments in territories like Russia and Uganda, which are repressing and persecuting their LGBT communities with draconian laws is terrifying. Legally sanctioned social wrath is a trend that is gathering momentum and more people are living in fear for simply being who they are.
Escapist pop albums can provide a rare glitter ball of hope. Kylie Minogue's 12th is an unabashed shimmering life-raft of sexy fabulousness. She may have conquered cancer and is a love lost 40-something, but rather than get all inspiringly serious, she's stripping down to her hot pants, squealing “Fuck it – let's party!”, which is exactly the kind of fantasy hedonism so many of us need right now. A meticulously selected gaggle of notable writers and producers (including some bloke called Pharrell Williams) have knowingly updated her Fever-era persona, parrying the political messages when fun is all that is needed. And that's exactly what we get in the stupendously bubble-machined choruses of Sexy Love, Million Miles and Into The Blue. Kylie's gonna have you doing it in the shower, on the dance floor or at the gym grinding up against a Muscle Mary in Sexercize.
As we edge slowly but surely towards marriage equality in Australia, Kiss Me Once is the kind of important album that anyone forced to live in the closet can cling to as they wait for the day they can burst out and sing, “When I got my back up against the wall/Don't need no one to rescue me”.
