Did It Again (Kylie Minogue song)

"Did It Again"
Single by Kylie Minogue
from the album Impossible Princess
B-side	"Tears"
Released	24 November 1997
Format	12" 7" 3" CD single cassette single
Genre	Pop rock
Length	4:22
Label	Deconstruction
Writer(s)	Kylie Minogue Steve Anderson Dave Seaman
Producer(s)	Brothers in Rhythm
Kylie Minogue singles chronology
"Some Kind of Bliss" (1997) "Did It Again" (1997) "Breathe" (1998)
Music video "Did It Again" on YouTube

"Did It Again" is a song by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue from her sixth studio album Impossible Princess (1997). It was released as the album's second single on 24 November 1997 by Deconstruction Records. Minogue wrote the track in collaboration with Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman, while it was produced by Brothers in Rhythm. The single artwork features the singer in a dark-lit green room photographed by French photographer Stéphane Sednaoui.

Musically, "Did It Again" is a pop rock song that employs elements of alternative rock and Middle Eastern music. The lyrical content addresses themes of self-consciousness and self-hatred, which discusses about Minogue telling herself off. "Did It Again" received positive reviews from music critics, who hailed it as an album standout. Many critics also praised Minogue's vocal and lyrical delivery.

Released in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, it was successful in Australia with a peak position of number fifteen and a gold certification by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The song peaked at number fourteen in the UK. A music video was made to promote the single, featuring four clones of Kylie who battle for supremacy The video was hailed by critics as one of her best works to date.

Background

Minogue left London-based record label PWL in 1992 after British tabloids accused the staff of PWL for creating too similar music to other artists who were signed to the label.^[2] Minogue signed a three-album deal with British dance label Deconstruction Records in order to achieve further credibility in the music industry.^[3][4] Minogue released her first self-titled album through Deconstruction in fall 1994 and received mixed reception from music critics.^[5] Commercially, the album peaked inside the top three in Australia and sold over two million copies worldwide as of April 2007.^[5][6]

Minogue begun work on her sixth studio album and had greater freedom in both songwriting and composing. Many British tabloids rumored stories that Minogue wanted to establish herself as an indie artist. However, she denied, telling Mixmag: "I have to keep telling people that this isn't an indie-guitar album. I'm not about to pick up a guitar and rock."^[7] To promote the album, she released the lead single "Some Kind of Bliss", but was only chosen due to a bias decision by Deconstruction as she personally favored "Limbo".^[8] The song received negative reviews from most music critics in 1997.^[9][10] The song under-performed in international countries, mainly in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, where it peaked inside the top twenty and top fifty respectively.^[11][12]

Composition

	"Did It Again" (1997) The song contains an aggressive vocal style, with alternative and Eastern musical influences.
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"Did It Again" was written by Minogue, Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman.^[13] Steve Walters played the bass guitar, Greg Bones and Anderson played the electric guitar through the bridge section, while all other instruments as well as mixing were handled by Brothers in Rhythm.^[13] "Did It Again" is a pop rock song that employs alternative rock and Middle eastern instruments.^[14] Minogue's vocals were noted as more "aggresive" than any other track she has recorded.^[14][15] The song was originally titled "Clever Girl (Did It Again)".^[16]

The lyrics discuss themes of self-consciousness and self-hatred and is about Minogue telling herself off.^[1] According to Pam Avoledo from Blogcritics, Minogue "doesn't know who she is. Her real self is got lost along with her different phases. She has an idea but doesn't know where to start [...] She's also Kylie, Inc."^[15] Minogue commented that the song was an experience where she had learned from her "mistakes."^[1] The conception started with British media reporting that she was anorexic, labelling her "Kylie Thinogue".^[17] In an October 1997 interview with Company magazine, she was questioned on her weight issues and she explain "The lyrics in my song ["Did it Again"] are the most honest thing you'll probably ever read about me."^[17] She explained, "It's a bit of a girl's song, with me telling myself off and never learning my lesson, particularly with men. It's me looking myself in the eye and saying "You fool, stop being too clever and over-neurotic."; she admitted that she had made problems out of nothing at the time.^[17]

Release

"Did It Again" was released on 24 November 1997 in CD format by Deconstruction Records and Mushroom Records, as the second single for the singer's sixth studio effort Impossible Princess (1997).^[18] Sednaoui photographed the single cover art which features an indie-rock Minogue is a dark green room.^[19] Two maxi singles were released, the first featuring the b-side track "Tears", one remix and the music video to "Some Kind of Bliss".^[13] The second maxi single featured the single edit and two additional remixes.^[20]

Critical reception

"Did It Again" received positive reviews from music critics. Chris True, who provided the extended biography of Minogue on the online website Allmusic, had highlighted the track as an album and career standout.^[21] MacKenzie Wilson from AllMusic, while reviewing Minogue's compilation Hits+, was positive, saying that along with "Automatic Love", "Breathe" and "Confide in Me", "Did It Again" is one of the album's standouts.^[22] Sarah Smith from FasterLouder commented "She experiments with...rock ('Did It Again') and dips her toe into electro-pop, which would dominate commercial music (and her own records) for years to come."^[23] Jack Foley from Indielondon.co.uk called "Dit it Again" one of Minogue's "chart-busters" that "continue to fill the dancefloors despite being relentlessly over-played in their heyday."^[24]

Pam Avoledo from Blogcritics described the song as blunt, but then said that "['Did It Again'] is a cunning and self-aware look at celebrity without even mentioning fame."^[15] Natasha Tripney from musicOMH, during a review for Ultimate Kylie, said: "['Did It Again'] reminds you of her valiant but wildly misjudged attempt to morph into Indie Kylie circa 1997, only really serving to highlight the limitations of her voice in the process."^[25] Michael R. Smith from Daily Vault felt the song and "Breathe" represented the album perectly and had labelled the songs as "undiscovered gems."^[26] In the annual 1997 Triple J Hottest 100 list, "Did It Again" was listed at number eight-seven.^[27]

Commercial response

The song debuted at number twenty-one on the Australian Singles Chart, which was a higher debuted than her previous single "Some Kind of Bliss".^[12] The next week, the song fell to number twenty-five and stayed outside the top twenty for the next four weeks.^[28] The song entered the top twenty and number seventeen, which became her first Impossible Princess single to chart inside the top twenty.^[28] In the sixth week, the song peaked at number fifteen and became her highest charting single from the Impossible Princes album.^[29] The song survived eight non-consecutive weeks inside the top twenty in Australia and the song eventually lasted seventeen weeks, which became one of her longest charting singles to date.^[28] The song was eventually certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) with sales exceeding 35,000.^[30] The song debuted at at fourteen on the UK Singles Chart. It stayed on the chart for five weeks.^[31] The song became her highest charting single from the album, but was eventually tied with the following album single "Breathe".^[31]

Music video

Indie Kylie, Dance Kylie, Sex Kylie and Cute Kylie in the video.

The accompanying music video for "Did It Again" was directed by Pedro Romanhi and later included on the video release Ultimate Kylie (2004).^[32] Minogue shot the music video in two days and was required to shoot each character one at a time. It took a long time for Minogue to rehearse to make it precise.^[33] After the video was released, Minogue revealed on Light Lunch that her favorite 'Kylie' in the video was "Cute Kylie".^[33]

In the finishing music video, it features four different Kylies—namely Indie Kylie, Cute Kylie, Dance Kylie and Sex Kylie—in a catfight.^[32] It starts with Sex Kylie singing to the camera, before Cute Kylie comes in and pushes her away from the camera, with each one doing the same thing until the chorus.^[32] When the next verse starts, Sex Kylie pushes Dance Kylie into the camera, then Cute Kylie pulls her hair, after which Dance Kylie comes back. Then all Kylies come and dance to the song in the chorus, until they have a fight. At the end, they start to fight yet again, while it shows Cute Kylie holding a baseball bat, and the other Kylies walking away.^[32]

Idolator noted that "the tongue-in-cheek video had the pop icon acknowledging all the ways she had reinvented herself over the years".^[34] During an interview Minogue gave to Jetstar Airways magazine, interviewer and journalist Simon Price stated that the four different Kylies were "brilliantly" satirised in the video.^[35] Costumes from the video, along with accessories spanning Minogue's career, became part of an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Australia, during May 2005.^[36][37] They were also displayed in another exhibition with the same theme in February 2007.^[38]

Live performances

To promote the single, Minogue performed the song on the Top of the Pops, the same venue where she performed the previous single "Some Kind of Bliss." The performance had featured Minogue in her Indie Kylie outfit from the video, with drag queens wearing the outfits of the other three characters from the music.^[39] Minogue had also scheduled appearances to perform the song on the National Lottery, the Australian TV series Hey Hey It's Saturday and the UK music series Beat UK.^[40][41][42]

During the Intimate and Live tour in 1998, Minogue performed "Did It Again" during the show's fourth act. Minogue would come from the right side of the stage in a blue tank top and black pants with a pink "K" behind her. Like the rest off the costumes on the tour including the performance off "Did It Again", it features Minogue with a lot of "princess"-inspired outfits.^[43] The performance was part of the concert in the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, Australia, which was recorded and released on CD and DVD.^[44][45] The song was also performed on her 2001 On a Night Like This tour at some shows in Australia, but was not included on the video release Live in Sydney, released later that year.^[46]

In March 2015, Minogue had performed a medley on her Kiss Me Once Tour including the track "Did It Again" and other tracks "I Believe on You" and "The Loco-Motion". This was the second Impossible Princess track to featured on the tour, just behind "Breathe".^[47]

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.^[13]

Song credits

• Kylie Minogue – Vocals, songwriting, vocal production
• Steve Anderson – Songwriting, guitar, Hammond organ
• David Seaman – Songwriting, guitar
• Greg Bones – Guitar
• Alan Bremner – Engineer, mixing production
• Paul Wright – Engineer

Cover credits

• Kylie Minogue – Model
• Stephane Sednaoui – Photographer, designer
• Farrow Design – Cover sleeve programmer

Formats and track listings

Charts and certifications

References

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics