Kiss Me Once

Background and production

Following the release of Minogue's orchestral compilation album The Abbey Road Sessions (2012), she parted ways with her long-term manager Terry Blamey and his team, and announced a musical hiatus. Then, in February 2013, she announced via Instagram and Twitter that she signed a management contract with American rapper and businessman Jay-Z's imprint Roc Nation. Following the announcement that same month, British publications reported about Minogue's 12th studio album and commented that she had been collaborating with Australian musician Sia Furler, which Minogue confirmed. Throughout March–July, Minogue announced collaborations with Norwegian team Stargate, American producer Darkchild, American rapper Brooke Candy, MNDR, and will.i.am via Twitter. On May 27, one day before Minogue's 45th birthday, she teased information about an "interesting" collaboration, later revealed as a duet with Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias. That same month, Minogue commented to American magazine Rolling Stone that the album was "bringing out something different... which is cool". She also recognised that she had to "do something different", but added that the album "will maintain the DNA of what a Kylie track is, because I'm on it. I like to try and move the goalpost and experiment with different sounds."

On May 28, Minogue's 45th birthday, she announced the buzz single "Skirt", and it was made available on Beatport on June 24. Whilst the track attracted positive commentary from critics, mainly for Minogue's newly experimented sound of electronic dance music, she revealed that it would not feature on the then-upcoming studio album. In February 2014, Minogue confirmed Furler as the album's executive co-producer's. Minogue stated in an interview with American website Idolator that "I got on with her so well... I asked her if she would executive-produce. I was hoping she would say yes. I didn’t know if it was something she had done or was interested in, or if maybe she just preferred writing and doing her own music." That same month, she commented to American Billboard magazine; "I felt like I needed a new landscape, and once you've got your feet on the ground you're raring to go. [...] So far the support has been great, and it's just another part of this amalgamation of 'new' that I had wished for and was struck by."

Composition

Minogue enlisted several songwriters and producers to create the album, including Sia, Cutfather, Greg Kurstin, Pharrell Williams, and MNEK amongst others. Minogue recorded majority of the album in Los Angeles, California and New York City, with additional recording and mixing handled in London, United Kingdom. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Minogue revealed that she and Furler had recorded several tracks that didn't appear on the final cut in comparison to her previous album Aphrodite (2010). Minogue recalled that the amount of tracks that didn't appear collated into "three albums" in "three genres"; a "pure pop" album, a "dancy-urban" album, and an "indie" album, and said both her and Furler selected tracks from each they felt represented Kiss Me Once at the time. Regarding the recording process, she revealed to Colleen Quill at Radio.com; "Compared to the early days for me, I’m really comfortable in the studio. I record really fast, my leads, my backing vocals and the harmonies. I’m kind of a like a machine doing that."

Musically, Kiss Me Once has been described by critics from publications such as Timeout.com, The Guardian, and Clash Magazine as Minogue's return to contemporary pop music. According to Quill, she stated that the album was a form of return to "pure pop" that also incorporated elements of dance music. Tim Sendra, writing for AllMusic, categorised the album as "an intoxicating blend of uptempo dance tracks, funky club cuts, sexy midtempo jams, and the occasional ballad." NME's Ben Cardew noted elements of contemporary R&B and dubstep in some of the tracks, including "Sexercize" and "If Only". Similarly, Kitty Empire from The Observer felt the album was "rooted" with R&B music and incorporated elements of funk, disco, and electronic dance music (EDM).

Songs

The album opens with "Into the Blue", which Minogue describes lyrically as an "escape" and "free". The track was described by Matt Bagwell from The Huffington Post as a "euphoric" and "melancholy" track, and was labelled "age-appropriate dance-pop". "Million Miles" was compared to the work of Dragonette, where it was commented by PopMatters critic Ryan Lathan that it featured real instrumentation including electric guitars and keyboards; he latter concluded it as an electropop song. According to Minogue, the idea of the third track, "I Was Gonna Cancel", came about when Minogue attended a recording session with American producer Pharrell Williams and "burst into tears"; then on wards, Williams composed the track inspired by Minogue's moment. She was booked with Williams for only one day throughout the entire process of the album, leading to only two tracks finished by him. Bagwell compared the "electro funk" sound to her 2003 album Body Language. "Sexy Love" was one of the first of three tracks on the album that represented "sex", a recurring theme on the album; according to Lathan, it is a "disco-pop" anthem. Paul Keevers from Samesame.com.au felt it was the "offspring" to Minogue's 2008 single "Wow". "Sexercize", the second of "sex" songs, was criticized by several critics for its "dated" dubstep/brostep production and lyrical content. The sixth track, "Feel So Good", is a cover song that was adapted from the demo track "Indiana" written and recorded by Tom Aspaul; Bagwell labelled it a "mid-tempo electro" recording.

According to Lathan, the first R&B entry, "If Only", "begins with a brief synth chordal progression before giving way to the steady sound of stadium-size handclaps, which form the basis of the song’s marching rhythm." The final track that represents the "sex" them is "Les Sex", which Minogue described her favorite out of the trio set. Joe Muggs from Fact Magazine felt the lyrical content was slightly campy and described it as an "electro" song. The title track, "Kiss Me Once", was aprpeciated by music critics as a return to Minogue's "romantic" lyrical content instead of sex. Described as a mid-tempo pop song that resembled her 1980s releases, Levine from Attitude compared the quality and production style to the title track from her previous studio album. The album's only pop ballad and duet, "Beautiful", was heavily criticized for its overuse of Auto-tune and vocoder techniques, but commended for its lyrical hook during the chorus. Minogue revealed that she did not meet Iglesias to record the track, as she was in Paris at the time. The album's standard edition closer was "Fine", the only co-written track by Minogue. An empowerment anthem that utilizes musical elements of electro and house music, it was heavily commended by critics as an "accomplishment" to Minogue's back catalogue. The albums bonus tracks: "Mr. President" and "Sleeping With the Enemy" were noted by critics as electro entries; the former was described by Bradley Stern from MuuMuse as "silly fun", and using samples of Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" speech, and the latter was noted as "dreamy" and "lush".

Release

Kiss Me Once was released by Parlophone, Warner Music and Warner Bros. Records on 14 March 2014, and was her first studio release since her 2010 album Aphrodite. Released worldwide on a compact disc, the album features 11 tracks with first press issues featured the bonus tracks "Mr. President" and "Sleeping With the Enemy". The album was released in North American by Warner Bros. on 18 March, which only featured the 11 standard tracks, whilst it was later distributed a day later in Japan; the latter region featured the B-side "Sparks" from her single "Into the Blue" and a remix of the single by Japanese musician Yasutaka Nakata. In Europe, a special double-12" vinyl was issued on May 17 and featured a bonus digital download code for the bonus tracks. That same day, Minogue's website distributed a limited edition box set that restricted physical units to 3,500 worldwide. The box set include: 12" vinyl, CD, digital download code, five 12" art prints, 12" sticket sheet, and a 12" fax window featuring raindrops and the album title. A deluxe CD and DVD bundle included the 11 standard and 2 bonus tracks, excluding "Sparks" and Nakata's "Into the Blue" remix outside of Japan, and featured the making of Kiss Me Once, a behind-the-scenes photoshoot, and the music video and behind-the-scenes to "Into the Blue". On 8 December 2014, Parlophone and Warner Music Group re-released the album on the iTunes Store; it included the standard and bonus track list, alongside the deluxe videos, plus live performances at the iTunes Festival of her tracks: "Kiss Me Once", "On a Night Like This", "Beautiful", "Love at First Sight", "Step Back in Time", "Spinning Around", and "The Loco-Motion".

Promotion

A month prior to the albums release on 14 March 2014, she released an album sampler that excluded both the bonus tracks "Mr. President" and "Sleeping With the Enemy". Minogue first promoted the album with a performance on The Voice UK, where she served as a judge for season 3, and an appearance on The Graham Norton Show on 4 April, where she sung "Into the Blue". Three days later, she performed the track "I Was Gonna Cancel" at the 2014 Logie Awards, Minogue's first appearance in 25 years. However, critical reaction towards the performance was generally negative, mainly aimed towards the choreography and accused her of lip-syncing, which she later denied a day later. In June, she later performed on the Australian Today Show, where she sung "Into the Blue" and album track "Sexy Love".

That same month, Minogue announced her Kiss Me Once Tour, which commenced on 24 September 2014. The concert tour started in the United Kingdom, traveled through Europe and finished the leg in Australia on 21 March 2015; she performed in Dubai to promote the Dubai World Cup. The concert tour attracted positive reviews from publications, praising the visuals, wardrobe and Minogue's performance, but minor criticism was aimed at the stage production. The concert tour was a commercial success, which achieved $17 million throughout ticket sales in Europe, and an additional $4 million throughout Australia. To promote the concert tour, an accompanying live album and concert DVD was released on 23 March 2015, and was shot in Glasgow, Scotland.

Singles

Two official singles and four promotional singles were spawned from Kiss Me Once. The first was "Into the Blue", which first premiered in Australia and New Zealand on 28 January 2014, until being further distributed worldwide on 7 March. The song received positive reviews from music critics, whom commended its production and sound, though minor criticism was aimed towards the commercial appeal. Commercially, it experienced moderate success in regions such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and throughout Europe and Asia; it performed better on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, peaking atop. The second single, "I Was Gonna Cancel", was released on 22 April that same year; a digital remix bundle and 7" vinyl was issued instead of a stand-alone digital download. Critical reaction was generally mixed; critics commended the disco-influences and sound, but majority of them criticised the dated production and comparisons to producer Pharrell William's previous work. Commercially, the single under-performed in regions like the United Kingdom, parts of Europe, and became her first single to miss the top spot on the US Dance Club Songs chart in over 5 years.

Three album tracks: "Million Miles", "Les Sex", and "Beautiful" with Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias were distributed as promotional CD single's. "Million Miles" was released in the US and Spain, and "Les Sex" served as the promotional single in South America. "Beautiful" was released in Australia and New Zealand as a digital single, though a promo CD was issued in Japan and the US. "Sexercize" was released as a promotional single, and featured an accompanying music video with Minogue in a gymnasium exercising in erotic positions. A promo CD was issued in Japan, featuring the one-track.

Critical reception

Kiss Me Once received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews by music critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on 19 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Tim Sendra, writing for AllMusic, awarded the album 4 stars out of five, and listed it as one of his recommendations from Minogue's album discography. He commented that "Packed with hooky songs that fit her voice perfectly, it's easily the equal of her previous Aphrodite record and therefore one of her best again." Although he pointed "Beautiful" as the one "skippable moment", "Kiss Me Once is a glittering, fun, and surprisingly powerful album that's classic Kylie through and through." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine awarded it four stars, and complimented Minogue's return to dance and pop music. He said that while the material didn't have enough commercial appeal like her previous efforts, he believed that Kiss Me Once is "better than your typical Minogue album...". Writing for NME, Ben Cardew rated it 7 out of 10 points, and said "Kiss Me Once prove[d] that after 26 years in the business, Kylie can still pull off a very modern pop album." Awarding it 7 stars out of 10, Ryan Lathan from PopMatters examined that Kiss Me Once was one of Minogue's album's that didn't showcase any "re-inventions" or wasn't a "game-changing album", but "it should churn out enough hits to secure her place on the pop culture radar until her next offering." Spin magazine editor Brittany Spanos noted the album's lacked "cohesion", but stated "Therein lies the strength of Kiss Me Once: Minogue’s ability to turn any contrived situation into something positive, magical, and utterly her own."

Marc Hirsh from Boston Globe criticized the track "Sexercize", but ultimately said about the album; "It’s the album’s only genuine misstep, but it’s still perplexing, hearing a Minogue that can do wrong." Joe Muggs from Fact magazine awarded it 3.5 points out of 5. Muggs felt majority of the album contained too many fillers and exemplified the songs "Les Sex", "I Was Gonna Cancel", and "Sexercize", but commended the overall production, Minogue's vocal deliveries in most tracks, and the quality. Similarly, Entertainment Weekly writer Adam Markovitz graded it B– and criticized the "sex" tracks. However, he complimented Minogue's "plucky" charm and felt it was more a treat to her fanbase. Kitty Empire from The Observer said "Polished but kittenish, Kiss Me Once remains true to the effervescent dance-pop for which Kylie is known. But the scenery around this album has altered profoundly." Neil McCormick from The Telegraph awarded it three stars, and complimented her "charm", the albums hooks, and the overall electronic sound, but criticized her lack of innovation through the production and songwriting field. The Guardian's Alexis Petridis also awarded the album three stars and listed it as his album of the week of 13 March 2014. He commented that the overall release was "glossy and depthless", and concluded "Her voice isn't the strongest, the lyrics are woeful and filler abounds – but Kylie hasn't lost her knack for producing a superior brand of pop...".

However, the album attracted criticism for the production and certain material, alongside Minogue's lack of innovation. Chris Bosnan from Consequence of Sound graded it C+, and exclaimed that the overall package represented "chameleonic" qualities and ended "This eclecticism yields a booming, fun pop record that is refreshing by not attempting to be anything other, though that same inessentialism keeps the record from reaching transcendence." However, he criticized the second half for its "boisterous" production and felt it "lost momentum", apart fromm the track "Fine". Annie Zalenski from The A.V. Club was less enthusiastic, who gave it it C–. She felt the material "drain[ed]" Minogue's original pop sound, and said "Kiss Me Once is a disappointing record that tries too hard to mold Minogue into something she’s not." Lydia Jenkins from New Zealand Herald awarded the record three stars, and felt majority of the content was unoriginal but highlighted "Into the Blue" as "half-decent", "Million Miles" and "Fine" as "club fillers", and "Sexy Love" as a rip-off from the song "California Gurls" by American singer Katy Perry. Kevin Ritchie from Now Toronto gave it two marks out of five, and labelled it "bad". He criticized the second half of the album, and felt majority of the songs like "Sexercize" were "dated" yet "overproduced" and the sound was "murky". Philip Matusavage from MusicOMH gave it two stars, and wrote scathingly "It’s crushingly disappointing, then, to find that Kiss Me Once is perhaps her most anonymous offering to date." Matusavage also criticized the material, feeling it would have been "rejections" from an album by Barbados recording artist Rihanna.

Based on the average shares and reactions on Metacritic, Kiss Me Once was ranked as the 47th most discussed album of 2014. Similarly, it appeared at number 6 on American website Idolator's Best Album of 2014 reader's poll. According to the editor Eduardo Lima, he said "Kylie. Kiss Me Once. The best pop album. I just can´t get enough of it."

Commercial performance

Commercially, the album experienced moderate success worldwide. It debuted at number one on the Australian Albums Chart, selling 8,166 units in its first week. This became Minogue's first number one album after X (2007), and is her fourth number one overall. However, it slipped to number six the following week and shifted 2,261 units. After falling for five weeks, it rose to number 27 due to the success of her appearance at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, but was its last charting week. It opened at number two on the UK Albums Chart with 29,251 unit sold, having been stalled by George Michael's album Symphonica. It stayed inside the top 10 for two additional weeks, and lasted for 12 weeks inside the top 100 chart. It was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments of 60,000 units. It reached the top of the charts in Hungary, and was certified Platinum by the Association of Hungarian Record Companies (MAHASZ) for shipments of 2,000 units. It peaked at number three on the Scottish Albums Chart, and number four on the Irish Albums Chart.

In New Zealand, it spent a sole week at number 13 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. It reached number 10 on the Belgium Flander's chart, in France and in the Netherlands respectively. The album also reached number eight and nine in Switzerland and Germany, whilst also peaking at number nine on the Spanish Albums Chart and spent 17 weeks inside the top 40. In Italy, Denmark, and Finland, the album peaked inside the top twenty and spent under 5 weeks in each region. Kiss Me Once reached the top ten in the regions of Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the International Croatian albums chart, but descended outside the top ten the following week in all three countries. In Japan, it debuted at number 40 on the International Oricon Albums Chart, selling 3,088 units in its first week. In the United States, the album opened at number 31 with first week sales of 12,000 copies, making it Minogue's third highest charting album on the Billboard 200. Her previous studio album, Aphrodite, had sold 18,000 in its first week. The album also debuted at number three on the US Dance/Electronic Albums and twenty-six on the Tastemaker Albums Chart. It peaked at number 15 on the Canadian Albums Chart, hosted by Billboard; it is Minogue's third album to chart in Canada, and is her third highest selling album there. By the start of June 2014, Kiss Me Once had sold 200,000 units worldwide.

After the albums release, several publications deemed the commercial value of the album as a flop. In retrospect, Minogue commented; "Maybe it didn’t do as well because it wasn’t good enough or it didn’t deserve more, who knows?". She further exclaimed, "Even in retrospect it’s hard to say why something works or it doesn’t. It’s dependent on what else is out there, the way it’s promoted... The tour has been the most successful part of that album campaign for me. The album did give me some freedom." In June 2015, publications reported Minogue's departure from Parlophone due to the performance of Kiss Me Once, which she first denied. However, she later confirmed she had parted with the label in December 2015 and would stay permanently with Warner Music Australia; she did announced her album Kylie Christmas that same month, and would be her final overall release with Parlophone.

Track listing

Notes

Other formats

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the special edition of Kiss Me Once.