Enjoy Yourself (Kylie Minogue album)

Background

In 1979, an 11-year-old Kylie Minogue was established as a child actress, appearing as a cameo actress in the TV series The Sullivans and Skyways. Both Minogue and her sister Dannii Minogue were child stars trying to achieve success in the TV industry of Australia, but Dannii received better opportunities as a TV actress than Kylie. At the time, Kylie became jealous of Dannii's new found success in Australia. In 1985, Kylie was cast as one of the lead roles on TV soap The Henderson Kids but her role only lasted one season, and was completed after two seasons. Interested in following a career in music, she made a demo tape for the producers of the weekly music programme Young Talent Time, which featured Dannii as a regular performer. Kylie gave her first television singing performance on the show in 1985 but was not invited to join the cast. Dannii's success overshadowed Kylie's acting achievements, until Kylie was cast in the soap opera Neighbours in 1986, as Charlene Mitchell, a schoolgirl turned garage mechanic. Neighbours achieved popularity in the UK, and a story arc that created a romance between her character and the character played by Jason Donovan, culminated in a wedding episode in 1987 that attracted an audience of 20 million British viewers.

After the success of Neighbours, Minogue signed a contract with Mushroom Records and developed a debut studio album Kylie (1988). It yelled three top singles; "The Loco-Motion", "I Should Be So Lucky" and "Got To Be Certain". The first became a huge worldwide success and was the highest-selling single in Australia during the 1980s period and won the Highest-Selling Single at the ARIA Awards. The second song reached number one in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Israel and Hong Kong. Minogue won her second consecutive ARIA Award for the year's highest-selling single, and received a "Special Achievement Award". The last of the three peaked at number one in her native Australia. Further singles also released from the album achieved well on the singles chart.

Minogue began recording her second album with Stock, Aitken and Waterman at PWL Studios in London, England in February 1989. Recording sessions also took place in April and July 1989, with the cover version of "Tears on My Pillow" being one of the final songs recorded for the album after Minogue had heard the original version of the song while dining at Pete Waterman's house.

Recording and music

During the late 1980s and after her debut record, Minogue was trying to establish herself as a serious actress and music performer and tried to steer her public image away from her Neighbors character Charlene. According to Minogue disagreed that Charlene and "Neighbors" were the key to her fame, stating "I have spent a lot of time getting away from Charlene. I know some people say '[Neighbours] made you what you are.' But It didn't. It's exploitation." Because of this, Minogue was looking to try new film roles that were provided by American distributors. Warner Bros. had contacted Minogue about playing the lead part of Lola Lovell in the Australian-based film The Delinquents, which she accepted. She believed that the role would differentiate herself from her "girl-next-door" image. However, because she was recording a new album while still promoting her debut, recording sessions were more intense.

The film company had hired British musician David Bowie to work as the film's executive producer and produce a soundtrack. However, Bowie dropped all work on the film early into production. The film was eventually released in December 1989. The Delinquents received mixed reviews and was a commercial disappointment, particularly in North America, where Warner Bros. expected more of an impact. The film attracted negative reviews particularly towards Minogue's character. The Daily Mail likened her acting charisma to "cold porridge" and felt her sunny Charlene image was still prominent. Many critics and tabloids believed that the lack of a famous American lead actress was one of the reasons for its underachieving result. Critics were ambivalent towards her nudity scenes where she was required to pose topless for the film. Minogue's prospects of achieving a large American audience and becoming an "Hollywood star" plummeted. Due to the failure of the film, Minogue resumed work on her second studio album. Minogue recorded the album in North America, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Musically, the album resumes the similar process and composition of her previous effort. The album, like the previous, was handled by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who had written and produced the entire album apart from "Tears on My Pillow", which they only produced. According to Sean Smith, who wrote the bibliography of Minogue entitled Kylie, commented "[Enjoy Yourself] was little more than an extension of her debut album, an example of not fixing something when it isn't broken." However, he did say that the similar studio sound "hit a right note". According to Chris True from Allmusic, Enjoy Yourself is a pop rock and electronic album with influences of europop, dance-pop and eurodance. He commented "Given that it's the same team that put together her first LP, it's no surprise that [Enjoy Yourself] sounds very similar to her debut. Which is fine if you take into consideration that at the time this formula was pure gold."

Singles

"Hand on Your Heart", the album's first single release, reached number one in the UK singles chart and number four on the Australian singles chart. The second single "Wouldn't Change a Thing" debuted at number two in the UK and was accompanied by Minogue's first music video to be filmed in the UK. "Never Too Late", the album's third single, became Minogue's eighth consecutive top five single in the UK, where it reached number four and sold over 200,000 copies. The fourth single "Tears on My Pillow" was recorded for Minogue's film The Delinquents and is a cover version of the 1958 song originally recorded by Little Anthony & The Imperials. The song debuted at number two in the UK and reached number one the following week. In Sweden, "Tears on My Pillow" was released as a double A-side single with "We Know the Meaning of Love".

Critical reception

Smith had felt that the album was plainly a similar extension to her debut album and commented that the result was "in effect, another Charlene album [...]" referring to her constant "girl-next-door" image. Chris True of Allmusic commented "Europe went mad for the diminutive Australian, and this simple dance-pop is catchy stuff. Stock-Aitken-Waterman knew what they had and they crafted songs that kept Kylie in the public eye. All in all, a good companion to her debut." He did, although noted that the album was similar to her debut. He awarded the album two-and-a-half stars out of five.

Nick Levine from Digital Spy gave it a favorable review, awarding it three stars. He said "It's got a bit more variety than her debut, but one or two fewer strong tunes - and consequently a touch less charm. Still, if you're fond of the singles and Minogue at her most ingenuous, you'll find that Enjoy Yourself makes good on the promise of its title." He commented that the lead single "Put it this way... this piece is a wee bit late because it's hard to type while re-enacting the 'Hand On Your Heart' dance routine." In retrospect, Jason Shawahn from About.com reviewed her album Ultimate Kylie and said "Wouldn't Change a Thing" along with "Better the Devil You Know" and "What Do I Have to Do"; "are nothing if not pop masterpieces."

Adriandenning.co.uk awarded it five points out of ten, saying that although he favored songs "Tell Tale Signs", "Tears On My Pillow" and "Hand on Your Heart", he said "The rest of the songs on the album make up for a total listening experience less than her debut, but hey, SAW had yet to meddle around with Kylie, so to speak. They were sticking to formula, strictly." However, Arion Berger of Rolling Stone gave the album a negative review, as he explained that the album was "inept". He felt that why her voice was "abysmal", he said that the album was a prime example on how Minogue has a long way to gain any artistic innovation.

Commercial performance

Enjoy Yourself debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number one, and reached double platinum status upon release with pre-sales of over 600,000 copies. In the UK, the album sold over one million copies in its first ten weeks of release. On 1 January 1990, the album was certified four times platinum. In Australia, the album reached number nine, and was certified platinum on release.

The album reached number one in Hong Kong and Ireland, and the top ten in Belgium, Denmark, Greece and Japan. In North America, Enjoy Yourself received limited promotion and did not appear on any major album charts, making Minogue be fired from Geffen Records. It also peaked at number six in New Zealand. In Spain the album peaked at number sixteen on the charts (on 9 December 1989) and stayed there for nineteen weeks. It was later certified Gold.

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman with the exception of "Tears on My Pillow", which was written by Sylvester Bradford and Al Lewis. Credits adapted from the liner notes of Enjoy Yourself.

Personnel

Credits for Enjoy Yourself adapted from AllMusic.