Kylie Minogue

In the league of pop singers, a certain Australian comes second only to Madonna. That woman is now old enough to be some of our tropers' mothers (well, so is Madonna, but let's not get into that).

Kylie Minogue, Born 28 May 1968, (active 1984-present) is a former Neighbours star and actress but later on became a singer, songwriter and performer with a world-wide following.

10 Australian number one singles to her name (7 UK, 5 US Dance Play), Kylie started off as an actor, appearing in Neighbours as Wrench Wench Charlene Mitchell. Her character, of course, married Jason Donovan's character.

In between her many hits and her many music videos where she doesn't wear very much, she has continued to appear in acting roles every so often. Moulin Rouge is one example (Street Fighter is another, but let's gloss over that, and don't even start with Bio-Dome), but her most recent was in the Doctor Who 2007 Christmas Special "Voyage of the Damned".

In the UK she was one of the leading lights of the late-80s Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) hit factory, along with Jason Donovan and Rick Astley. SAW were responsible for producing early number one singles such as "I Should be So Lucky" and "The Locomotion", with minimal input from Kylie herself. "Lucky" in particular was both popular and hugely reviled by the music press on account of its epic cheerfulness, and Minogue was a byword for naff for many years afterwards.

After a generally unsuccessful attempt to take a Darker and Edgier direction - including a collaboration with Nick Cave, and her 1997 album Impossible Princess, which was renamed Kylie Minogue in the UK, as it had been released just after the death of Princess Diana - she hit platinum with 2000's "Spinning Around" and "Can't Get you Out of My Head", which topped the charts worldwide and even sold well in the United States, which has never really gone for dance-pop. "Head" in particular became one of the key singles of the 2000s and remains instantly recognisable today.

The British press and public quickly decided they did like her after all, and she subsequently became something of a national treasure and style icon. Also, her 2003 lingerie calendar was a best-seller in the UK. Her sister, Dannii Minogue, has had a very similar career, although never reaching the same peaks.

Albums
 * Kylie (1988)
 * Enjoy Yourself (1989)
 * Rhythm Of Love (1990)
 * Lets Get To It (1991)
 * Kylie Minogue (1994)
 * Impossible Princess (1997)
 * Light Years (2000)
 * Fever (2001)
 * Body Language (2003)
 * Ultimate Kylie (2004)
 * X (2007)
 * Aphrodite (2010)
 * K25:Best Of Kylie Minogue (2012)
 * Kiss Me Once (2014)

Live Albums
 * Intimate and Live (1998)
 * Showgirl (2005)
 * Showgirl Homecoming Live (2007)
 * Kylie: Live in New York (2009)
 * Aphrodite/Les Folies (Live In London) [2011]

-

"These are the dreams of an impossible princess"
 * Absolute Cleavage: Her infamous white "dress" in Can't get You Out Of My Head.
 * A Day in the Limelight: The setlist(s) of her 2012 Anti-Tour were dedicated solely to littler-known Kylie tracks that only her diehard fans would know, like b-sides, singles that have been largely forgotten, and unreleased tracks.
 * Awesome McCoolname: Although Kylie is debatable. Some sources cite it as Old English caegan-leah "pasture where wood chips were obtained", but then again she is Australian.
 * Album Title Drop - Done twice:
 * From 'Dreams' on Impossible Princess

"Read my body language"
 * From 'Slow' on Body Language

"Remember the old days remember the O'Jays Walkin' in rhythm"
 * Bilingual Bonus: "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi"
 * Break Up Song: “It’s No Secret”, “I’ll Still Be Loving You”, “Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi”, “Hand On Your Heart”, “Tell Tale Signs”, “I’m Over Dreaming Over You”, “Tears On My Pillow”, “The World Still Turns”, “Word Is Out”, “If You Were With Me Now”, “What Kind Of Fool (Heard All That Before)”, “Put Yourself In My Place”, “Where Has The Love Gone”, “Through The Years”, “So Now Goodbye”, “Dancefloor”, “Baby”, “Promises”, “Obsession”, “Someday”, “Get Outta My Way”, “Illusion”
 * Camp - Her career and live shows are built on this.
 * Career Resurrection: "Light Years" was this for her Australian popularity, Fever was this for America. "X" was this after her cancer ordeal and came out 5 years after "Body Language"
 * Christmas Cake
 * Cloning Blues - The video for 'Come Into My World' features Kylie rounding the same course in one continuous shot. As she does this copies of herself and the other people in the background.
 * There is also the older video for Did It Again which has four Minogues cat-fighting for dominance.
 * Corrupt the Cutie: Michael Hutchence's relationship with Minogue was pretty much this: he stated that his favorite hobby was corrupting her as she was still seen as very innocent and cute at the time. In a positive twist, this didn't hurt their images at all and they remained very close friends after their breakup and up to his tragic death.
 * Creator Breakdown: No More Rain, Flower and Cosmic deal with her cancer ordeal on her X album...but Impossible Princess is an extremely personal album and dealt with her pressures of celebrity and icon status.
 * Darker and Edgier - Her sixth album Impossible Princess was considered alot darker than previous albums. It was even noted for its more aggressive vocal style. However, the album did poorly in sales, and it would take a few years for Kylie to fully return to prominence. Impossible Princess is now regarded as a favorite within the fanbase.
 * Dream Team: Robbie Williams, Bono, Nick Cave, Jason Donovan, and Coldplay...and that thing she did with the Doctor Who team.
 * Everythings Funkier With Disco - First there was 'Step Back In Time' and then pretty much all of Light Years.
 * Fan Service - You've seen the picture for this article, right? Well, have you seen a Kylie video? In one, she channels a certain Jane Fonda movie.
 * She did an advert for Agent Provocteur, to be shown in theatres. If that isn't enough, it was actually banned from theatres..
 * Fascinating Eyebrow - She has a naturally crooked right eyebrow but it's become more obvious in recent years and she has admitted to have sampled Botox in the past.
 * Former Child Star: Of Neighbours.
 * Gratuitous French: The title of the Les Folies Tour.
 * But went by The Aphrodite Tour in America.
 * Hidden Depths: Actually quite a well-schooled piano player when she was younger, and she composed "No More Rain" and the greater Impossible Princess album on the piano.
 * Hotter and Sexier - Believe it or not kids, Kylie was very innocent in the beginning of her career. It wasn't until she started dating INXS frontman Michael Hutchence and released her third album Rhythm Of Love that she became more sexually aware and mature.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Kylie is comically shorter than her beau, Andres Velencosco (A visual aid).
 * Not just him, but anyone she stands next to (she is only 5'2", after all.)
 * Intercourse with You: Her later albums has a lot of this.
 * "Nu-Di-Ty" throws all subtlety out the window...
 * Love Nostalgia Song: “I’ll Still Be Loving You”, “Never Too Late”, “Better The Devil You Know”, “If You Were With Me Now”, “No World Without You”, “Put Yourself In My Place”, “Disco Down”, “Soul On Fire”
 * Lyrical Dissonance: Her old SAW days are quite heartbreaking if you listen to the lyrics, some of her newer stuff has shades of this too.
 * Male Gaze: Most infamously, the tiny gold shorts from the "Spinning Around" video. Justin Timberlake even took the opportunity to see for himself.
 * Moe Anthropomorphism: "German Bold Italic" - Kylie as a... font?
 * Name's the Same: Two songs of the title "Love At First Sight," one on her Fever album which was a single and one called "Love At First Sight" on her debut album.
 * She also has two songs called "Closer"; one appears as the B-Side of her 1991 single "Finer Feelings", and the other is on 2011's Aphrodite.
 * Never Speak Ill Of A Breast Cancer Survivor: Averted. There is still extremely heavy criticism of Kylie.
 * New Sound Album: The first two albums (Kylie and Enjoy Yourself) were simple freestyle/dance-pop albums. The next two Rhythm of Love and Let's Get To It) still had the freestyle sound but also had more of a new jack swing sound. The next one (Kylie Minogue) was a fusion of R&B, jazz ,and house (it also marked her first foray into experimenting with her style and sound). Impossible Princess (Minogue's first release on an indie label) was a combo of trip-hop, alt-rock, drum&bass, and eastern sounds. Light Years (which is widely considered her pop comeback) was a disco album. Fever (one of her largest selling albums) was more of a house and synthpop album. Her 9th album Body Language was an R&B/funk/lounge album. Her latest albums X and Aphrodite have been modern edgy electropop albums. Either aimed a variety/complexity (X) or cohesion/vision (Aprodite).
 * Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly: The albums "Impossible Princess", "Kylie Minogue" and "Body Language" have extremely mixed elements of different types of sounds. Her hit single "Confide In Me" is particularly conflicted with Baroque, Classical, R N B and Pop elements all used.
 * Non-Appearing Title: Kylie and Kylie Minogue but also X.
 * Obsession Song: “I Should Be So Lucky”, “My Secret Heart”, “What Do I Have To Do”, “I Am The One For You”, “Right Here, Right Now”, “No World Without You”, “Automatic Love”, “Say Hey”, “Drunk”, “Love Takes Over Me”, “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”, “In Your Eyes”, “Your Love (Even has the line ‘you’re my obsession’ right in it!)”, “Tightrope”
 * Old Shame: Bio-Dome. Kylie claims Bio-Dome' is the only thing she's done that her father ridicules her for.
 * She has also voiced her dislike over her older more bubblegum pop sounding songs. She has a particular dislike for her song 'What kind of Fool (Heard That All before)'.
 * Older Than They Look: Do you believe she's 46 (in 2014)?
 * One Mario Limit: Averted by two of her self-titled albums, 1988's Kylie and 1995's Kylie Minogue.
 * One-Scene Wonder: As the green fairy in Moulin Rouge.
 * The Oner: "Come Into My World". It's possibly the only video of her that lacks Fan Service, but is still damn cool.
 * Rearrange the Song: She has done this a lot. She has remade various songs into ballads, jazz, and electronica.
 * Is working on a collection of her greatest hits redone in an orchestral format with a couple of new songs for her up coming album.
 * Rickroll: A meta version - Stock Aitken And Waterman rushed through the production of "I Should Be So Lucky" because Rick Astley was scheduled to do recording after her (it's not certain, but given the production dates, it may well have been for "Never Gonna Give You Up").
 * Sesame Street Cred: She's an honorary Wiggle.
 * Self-Titled Album: First and Fifth were self titled and sixth was self titled in the UK and Europe.
 * Soprano and Gravel: Her duet with Nick Cave.
 * She's Got Legs: Fantastic legs. Proven by SCIENCE, no less!
 * In an interesting twist on this trope, she's short (nice legs are often long legs, and long legs tend to happen on tall people.) Such is the power of the Kylie.
 * Shout-Out: In her song "Step Back In Time"


 * Showgirl Skirt: For her "Showgirl" tour.
 * Take That: What Kind Of Fool is rumoured to be about her SAW days. Rumoured
 * Illusion and Obsession both mention the fact she's a celebrity and her worry that a man would want her for her fame instead of herself.
 * Three Minutes of Writhing
 * Your Cheating Heart: “It’s No Secret” and “Word Is Out”. “Secrets” also counts too, but it’s in the POV of the cheater.