So about my night, which as a longtime Kylie fan, will go down as one of the greatest eves of my life. Parts of it pertain more to my Dating & Relationships thread life, but I will save those details for my monthly newsletter there. The event was held at a small club/lounge-type venue in Hollywood and was the usual mix of press & industry types (mostly gay males, unsurprisingly), I would say 100 or so, all sipping on copious amounts of Kylie rosé & prosecco. So yes, I should preface this by saying I had had a number of Kylie Spritzers before hearing a lick of music. Also, all of our phones were Yonder pouch'd, so everything here is going solely based on my memory. Ms. Minogue arrived, clad in a red & pink hooded gown that was a clear homage to the Can't Get You Out Of My Head video. She made her way directly to the stage, introducing the album and thanking everyone for their attendance. She said it would be the first time she's heard the album in full with other people, seemingly equal parts excited and nervous to get real-time reactions, demanded a drink, and told everyone the music would be worth staying on the dancefloor for. The tracks began, and Kylie found a spot in the center of the floor, where she spent the entire album play dancing and singing along to every single track, flanked by the adoring media gays in the room. The tracks were played on random, which I quickly realized after Padam Padam and found annoying because I struggled to always know which tracks were which. I looked over and saw Kylie exclaim the same - "Wait, these are on shuffle!" - as it took her a second to figure out which song was being played every time a new track started. When Hold On To Now came on, I couldn't resist asking her if this was the 'emotopop' moment, which made her giggle. At certain points, I found myself dancing with Kylie herself, as we played off each other to some light choreography - hips swaying, rubbing shoulders, mouthing the words to some of the catchier moments - in one of the most surreal experiences of my life. She mentioned the album would have a couple slower numbers, but we spent the entire time getting down on the dancefloor with her and I didn't detect a single moment where it was worth taking a break (nor did she). But to get a first play of these tracks blasting from club speakers, under the glimmering lights of a giant disco ball, shimmying alongside my favorite artist of all time... a life highlight I will never forget. As mentioned, the album is a non-stop bop fest that felt inviting, cohesive, and dare I say, warm. We only heard the 11 tracks from the standard edition, but what we got was a barrage of shining, synth-packed euphoria that often felt reminiscent of Carly Rae Jepsen's joyous output. So much of this felt like classic Biffco Kylie in a way that will certainly get criticized for being safe, but felt so delightfully comfortable and, after the gimmicks of the last two eras, actually refreshing. It will surprise no one that Padam Padam is a bit of an outlier, as nothing else felt as icy and clubby, but it still fit in perfectly with the summery, dancey mood of the rest. My only gripe here is that this truly is the perfect summer album, and yet, we have to wait. I wouldn't describe anything here as experimental, and it all fits in together, so I'm more inclined to compare this to Aphrodite or Fever than the hodgepodge of X or Kiss Me Once. That said, having only heard each song once - while also trying to listen through the crunchy speakers and over the screaming, cheering crowd - I would take my response as reactions than fully-fleshed opinions (I also ignored the snippet leaks before attending). She again took the mic at the end of the night, saying she hopes people have noticed the conscious effort to spend more time doing promo in the States and playing coy when asked about a US tour (her face said 'not likely' to me) and even coyer when asked about the Vegas residency (her face said 'still in the works/not ready to be announced' to me), before making her way out.
Now here's my reactions to the individual tracks:
Hold On To Now - I suppose this is the 'slowest' moment here, and as many have said, the emotopop moment of the album. This era's I Believe In You, The One, All The Lovers, Into The Blue, etc. but it felt more Light Years than anything to me. Pure standard Kylie electronica euphoria
Things We Do For Love - One of the blissful Carly Rae types, a proper anthem
Tension - One of the more clubby moments that had everyone cheering on the dancefloor
One More Time - Everyone was singing along by the end of this as Kylie led us in the 'one more time' chants of the chorus. This felt very Future Nostalgia adjacent nu-disco
You Still Get Me High - Another Carly Rae 80s prom dance moment, feels very E•MO•TION era, and this is the one that I believe starts really slow on the verses - to which I asked Kylie if this was the slow one as it felt very Lost Without You - before it goes 0-100 on the chorus - which caused me to turn back to her and tell her she tricked us. Maybe the catchiest moment here
Hands & Green Light - These were the weakest moments for me; both a lot of fun, but felt like songs meant to transition out of the Disco era, and as a result, a tad unnecessary
Vegas High - The third arguably clubby moment - you could feel the moment the chorus hits that smoke and confetti should be shooting out of the club cannons; that sweaty summer in Ibiza moment
Story - Final 80s homage with an explosion of a chorus. It will be quite the task not spending this entire album on your feet and I love that it ends on a rush of a high.
