Kylie Minogue (album)

Kylie Minogue
Studio album by Kylie Minogue
Released	19 September 1994
Recorded	1993–1994
Genre	Pop dance house acid jazz R&B adult contemporary
Length	57:12
Label	Deconstruction Mushroom Arista
Producer	Steve Anderson Dave Seaman M People Pete Heller Terry Farley Jimmy Harry
Kylie Minogue chronology
Let's Get to It (1991) Kylie Minogue (1994) Impossible Princess (1997)
Alternate cover
Canadian edition
Singles from Kylie Minogue
"Confide in Me" Released: 29 August 1994 "Put Yourself in My Place" Released: 14 November 1994 "Where Is the Feeling?" Released: 10 July 1995

Kylie Minogue is the self-titled fifth studio album by Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue, which was first released on 19 September 1994. The album was first released by Deconstruction Records/BMG throughout much of the world while in Australia and New Zealand the album was released by Mushroom. Plans for an American release by Imago Records (who issued lead single there) fell through, and the release never took place. According to one of the album's songwriters and producers, Steve Anderson, the album has sold 2 million copies worldwide. However, official press releases recognise 500,000 sales worldwide. In May 2003, the album was remastered, complete with a bonus disc filled mostly with remixes.

Background and development

Kylie Minogue was Minogue's first release outside of the production team of Stock Aitken Waterman. In an attempt to broaden her fan base and extend herself as an artist, she took an active role in planning the album and sought out a diverse group of artists for her to collaborate with. The first recording sessions took place in 1993 and resulted in two songs recorded with Saint Etienne ("Nothing Can Stop Us" and "When Are You Coming Home?") and eight Minogue co-written songs with The Rapino Brothers ("Aston Martin", "For All I’m Worth", "Gotta Move On", "Difficult By Design", "Love Is on the Line", "Light That I Was Looking For", "Living For Your Loving" and "Automatic Love").^[1][2]

But Deconstruction's A&R office decided they were heading into the wrong direction, so another seventeen new songs were recorded. These included eight with Brothers in Rhythm ("Confide in Me", "Where Is The Feeling?", "Dangerous Game", "If You Don’t Love Me", "Love Is Waiting", "At The End of the Day" with reproduction on "Automatic Love" and "Love Is on the Line"), four with Jimmy Harry ("If I Was Your Lover", "Put Yourself in My Place", "Intuition", "The World Needs Love"), two with singer-songwriter Gerry DeVeaux ("Surrender" and "No Turning Back"), two with Pete Heller and Terry Farley ("Where Has The Love Gone?" and "Falling") and one with M People ("Time Will Pass You By").^[3][4]

On the album cover, Minogue attempted to present herself as a serious artist, rather than the vamp-like, sex kitten she had begun to personify. This can be seen not only in the album title, with the inclusion of her surname, but in her choice of outfit. Although the singles’ accompanying videos were amongst her most provocative and overt, the album cover featured black-and-white photography of Minogue wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a conservative trouser and jacket suit with simplistic hair and make-up. Such a combination from someone who had so strenuously promoted herself as a fashion icon was seen by many critics to be an odd, yet suitable choice in representing a more mature image of herself.

Composition

The album was, stylistically, a significant departure from Minogue’s previous work. On the album, Minogue experimented with many different music styles including dance, pop, house, acid jazz, adult contemporary and R&B.^[5] The album’s opening track is "Confide in Me". The dance-ballad features breathy vocals and haunting melodies over layers of sweeping strings and nineties drumbeats. In the song, Minogue pleads for her lover to trust and confide in her. The second track, "Surrender" takes on a more R&B sound with Minogue seductively singing over a thick drumbeat. Lyrically, Minogue tells of ‘surrendering’ to her lover. "If I Was Your Lover" continues this R&B vibe, with urban drumbeats and distorted guitar. The song tells of how Minogue would please her man if she was his lover.

"Where is the Feeling?" takes on a more acid jazz style with piano and a prominent brass section. Lyrically, the song tells of Minogue feeling vulnerable without her lover and appreciating their company. The fifth song, "Put Yourself in My Place" takes on an adult contemporary ballad style with Minogue singing over a soft guitar and a thick drumbeat. In the song, Minogue talks of relationship issues and urges her lover to see things from her perspective and put themselves in her place. The adult contemporary style continues on the next song, "Dangerous Game". The song features a simplistic production with light drumbeats, piano and a string arrangement. Lyrically, the song tells of feeling alone and yearning for love. The next song, "Automatic Love" is a piano driven mid-tempo with soft guitar over a nineties drumbeat. In the song, Minogue tells of her uncontrollable desires for her lover.

Taking on a more house music vibe, "Where Has the Love Gone?" features an effected keyboard over a nineties club beat. Lyrically, the song tells of Minogue seeking an answer for why her relationship failed. The next song, "Falling", features a dance-pop production with a synthesized and bass-heavy backing while Minogue’s vocals are breathy with large amounts of echo. The song tells of how you can overcome your past and fall in love again. The closing track on the album is "Time Will Pass You By". This track revisits the acid jazz style with a prominent brass section over a rhythmic disco drumbeat. Lyrically, the song is about not taking life for granted and enjoying it to its fullest. For the album's Canadian release, Minogue recorded a franglais version of "Confide in Me", known as "Fie-toi à moi". It was released exclusively on the Canadian edition of the album which features different cover artwork.^[6]

Reception

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[7]
Digital Spy	[8]

Kylie Minogue had received generally positive reviews from music critics, many praising the slow dance music. Chris True from Allmusic gave it a positive review. He said " Kylie Minogue's fifth album no longer featured the Stock-Aitken-Waterman production gloss and found the diminutive singer working with hip dance producers like David Seaman. From the first notes of the opener "Confide in Me", you know this is not the teen pop queen of old. Kylie Minogue (also note the use of her last name on the cover) wanted to sound grown up, and she pulls it off with ease. While it is still dance-pop, there's atmosphere and style in the songs that wasn't there on Let's Get to It. Definitely the start of the second phase of her career." He had highlighted "Confide in Me", "If I Was Your Lover" and "Automatic Love" as the album picks.^[5] Most music critics generally praised Minogue for her objective, however some reviews also described the end result as disjointed and disappointing.

Chart performance

"Kylie Minogue" had debuted at number three in her native Australia and in the United Kingdom at number four; resulting in the album being certified Gold. The album debuted at number thirty-nine on the Swedish Albums Chart.^[9]

Singles

"Confide in Me", the lead single from the album, became one of Minogue's most successful single releases, reaching number one for five weeks in Australia, number two in the United Kingdom and reaching number one in Israel.^[10] The song was accompanied by an infomercial-like video. The slow tempo dance track, written and produced by Brothers in Rhythm, featured Minogue's vocals over layers of strings and drumbeats. The second single "Put Yourself in My Place" reached number eleven in both Australia and the UK. The song featured a popular music video directed by Kier McFarlane. Minogue recreated the opening sequence of the classic Jane Fonda film, "Barbarella" (1968) in the video, performing a slow strip tease inside a spacecraft.

The follow-up single to "Put Yourself in My Place" was initially planned to be "If I Was Your Lover". Originally mixed by Jimmy Harry, the track was remixed to give it a more urban appeal. The single was supposed to be released in the US first and then in the UK if the US release was successful. After the record contract for the US fell through, the UK single release was scrapped. Instead, "Where Is the Feeling?" became the third release and reached number 16 in the UK and number 31 in Australia. "Time Will Pass You By" was planned to be the final single from the album and remixes were commissioned; the Paul Masterson Mix being one of them.^[11][12] Instead, the collaboration with Nick Cave, "Where the Wild Roses Grow", was released in late 1995.^[13]

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Kylie Minogue.

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

• Kylie.com — official website.