Kitty Empire 

Kylie: Tension review – Padam was just for starters…

After this summer’s megahit single, Kylie Minogue remains firmly on the dancefloor – and the 1980s – with this largely irresistible set of disco and R&B cuts
  
  

Kylie Minogue in a pink silk dress and bright red strappy heeled shoes, lounging back on a green bedspread in a motel setting
‘Another dancefloor come-hither’: Kylie Minogue. Photograph: Edward Cooke

Padam Padam gave Kylie Minogue a global smash hit 35 years into her career, becoming inescapable at Pride and breaking the singer in the US, where her long-time cult following is now emphatically mainstream. In November, the evergreen Australian will play an extended Las Vegas residency into 2024 – territory prepped by her last feel-sparkly album, 2020’s Disco; it lit up the pandemic alongside Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia.

There’s more shimmer from where Padam came from. Tension, the title track of her 16th record, is another dancefloor come-hither – but here, the coy sound of heartbeats is replaced by fruitier lines such as “touch me right there”; burbling digital house ramps up the temperature. The rest of Tension tours dancefloors old and new; its charms ebb and flow apace. Not so great is Vegas High, a canned paean to Sin City that feels premeditated. You Still Get Me High and Story are full-on 80s pop, expertly executed with hooks, vocal performances and a widescreen feel. Even better are breezy retro cuts such as Hands, a frisky disco/R&B outing with rapped sections. One More Time, meanwhile, packs in handclaps, housey disco and more party-for-two promises.

Watch the video for Tension by Kylie.
 

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