Kylie (album)

Background and recording

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 both 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.

In 1987, during a Fitzroy Football Club benefit concert, the other cast members of Neighbours put on their own talent stage show. Minogue had not prepared anything so she got up on stage and performed a cover version of "Loco-Motion" - she was then immediately signed to a recording contract with Mushroom Records. The song was released as a single in Australia, and became the highest-selling single of the 1980s. Its success resulted in Minogue travelling to London with Mushroom Records executive Gary Ashley to work with Stock, Aitken and Waterman. They knew little of Minogue and had forgotten that she was arriving; as a result, they wrote "I Should Be So Lucky" while she waited outside the studio. Minogue recorded the song in less than an hour, and returned home to Australia to work on Neighbours. The song became a huge chart success, and Mike Stock travelled to Melbourne to apologize to Minogue for forgetting about her previous recording session. While Stock was there, Kylie recorded her next single, "Got to Be Certain" along with album track, and the Japan-only single release, "Turn It into Love", and Stock successfully convinced Minogue to return to London in the beginning of 1988 to record songs for her debut album.

Development

Minogue was eventually signed to Mushroom Records in early 1987. The first song that Minogue had ever considered to record was the successful "The Loco-Motion", which she instantly fell in love with when she first heard it. When she performed for a fundraiser in Australia, she performed Sonny & Cher's song "I Got You Babe". Alan Hardy, who asked Minogue to perform at the fundraiser, noticed that she was very nervous in performing. However, the crowd were estatic of her performance. Hardy later asked if she would do another and, to her surprise, she performed "The Loco-Motion", already rehearsing the song before the performance. Minogue went to record the song in Melbourne but could not record the song in the same key as the backing track, so she went to improve her vocals so she could change her pitch to a E minor.

After the success of her debut single "Locomotion" in Australia, Minogue traveled to London to work with Stock Aitken Waterman, a successful British writing and production team. They knew little of Minogue and had forgotten that she was arriving; as a result, they wrote "I Should Be So Lucky" in forty minutes while she waited outside the recording studio. Mike Stock wrote the lyrics for the song in response to what he had learned about Minogue prior to her arrival. He believed that although she was a successful soap star in Australia, attractive and very talented, there had to be something wrong with her and figured that she must be unlucky in love. Minogue recorded the song in less than an hour, which Stock attributes to her good ear for music and her quick memorization skills. After Minogue finished the recording session she returned home to Australia to continue work on the soap opera, Neighbours. After hearing the song, Waterman said "I thought it was fantastic, so I ran over to the DJ and asked him what it was. He said 'Its Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky'." He later said to Mike Stock that the song would be an instant smash hit.

Composition

The first song, "I Should Be So Lucky" is a dance-pop oriented song, which features elements of bubblegum pop and new wave music. According to the music sheet on MusicNotes.com, which was published by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is set in the key of C Major. Minogue's vocals span from the key note of D4 to the key note of C5. The song is set in common time and moves at a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. Instrumentation of the song features synthesizers, keyboards and guitars. According to PopMatters, they said the song features "numerous orchestra hits to the uncomfortably thin sounding drum machine." "Je ne sais pas pourquoi" is a pop ballad song, which is also inspired by minor teen-pop and dance-pop styles, which features instrumentals including drum machine, synthesizers and some minor guitar riffs. A substantially different early demo version of "Je ne sais pas pourquoi" is known to exist, although it has never been officially released. This version is said to have a completely different intro and is of a slightly faster tempo and has a stronger beat. The songs "Got to Be Certain" and "It's No Secret" are both dance-inspired songs, while the latter is inspired by more ballad music, while "Turn It into Love" is a house music song.

Critical reception

Kylie had received mixed reviews from music critics. Chris True from AllMusic gave it two-and-a-half out of five stars, giving it a mixed review. He said "While the production values on Kylie's debut are dated at best and the tunes are nothing but standard late-'80s Stock-Aitken-Waterman bubblegum, there are some rather endearing qualities to it. Firstly, she shows a lot more personality than the other Stock, et al." He did say that Minogue would become a pop star and a "European icon". Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave it three stars out of five. The stand out track, he said, was "I Should Be So Lucky", as he said "but anyone who denies 'I Should Be So Lucky' classic status has clearly let their tune detection muscles turn to flab". He also finished saying "The bog-standard S.A.W. production renders Kylie as dated as that haircut on the album cover, and it's as loaded with variety as a loaf of bread, but the little Aussie pop rocket is already showing signs of personality and the record's quintessentially '80s charm ultimately wins through."

Commercial performance

Kylie debuted at number two in the UK on 16 July 1988. However, in its seventh week, the album eventually peaked at number one, staying there for four consecutive weeks, and two weeks in November 1988, and was certified six times platinum at the start of 1989. It sold 1.8 million copies in 1988 (eventually sold 2,105,698 copies) and became that year's best selling album. Kylie was the first album by a female solo artist to exceed sales of two million in the UK, and is the 58th best-selling album of all time. Eventually, in 1989, Minogue became the youngest singer ever in UK music history to have a number one album, and held that record until Canadian recording artist Avril Lavigne's album Let Go was released in 2003.

In Minogue's native Australia, the album entered at number two, where it eventually peaked for three consecutive weeks, and stayed in the top 50 for a total of twenty-nine weeks. In New Zealand, the album remains Minogue's longest and only number one album. The album debuted at number ten, and eventually peaked at number one for six weeks. The album then stayed in the charts for a total of fifty-three weeks. As of September 2014, Kylie is the 330th best selling album in New Zealand.

The album reached the top ten in Germany, Norway, and Switzerland, and sold 143,627 in Sweden. Kylie managed to even chart in the United States, where it debuted at number fifty-three on the Billboard 200. This was Minogue's last charting album in the United States, until her 2001 album Fever. In 1989, the album was certified gold in the United States, selling over 500,000 copies.

Singles

"Locomotion", Minogue's first single release, spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart, and was the highest-selling single in the country for the 1980s. This version of "Locomotion" is often aired on VH-1 Europe. It, however, was only an Australian release and was not part of her debut album project until re-recorded for release in 1988. "I Should Be So Lucky" was the first single from the album and featured lyrics written by Mike Stock. Stock believed that although Minogue was a successful soap star in Australia and very talented, there must be something wrong with her and figured that she must be unlucky in love. It became a number one hit for Minogue in Australia and the United Kingdom. "Got to Be Certain", the second single, reached number one in Australia, and was moderately successful in other parts of the world, reaching number two in the UK for three weeks and the top ten in Germany and Switzerland. Minogue re-recorded "Locomotion" in April 1988, retitling the song "The Loco-Motion". It was released as the album's third single and became the highest entry of the UK singles chart by a female artist. In North America, it reached number one in Canada and number three on the Billboard Hot 100. "Je ne sais pas pourquoi", the fourth single, reached number two in the UK. "It's No Secret" was released as the album's fifth single in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, North America, and Japan where it was the fourth single. "Turn It into Love" was exclusively released in Japan as the fifth single and spent 10 weeks at Number 1 with no promotion or video.

Track listings

All songs written and produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, except "The Loco-Motion", which was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Credits adapted from the liner notes of Kylie.

("Love at First Sight" below is entirely unrelated to the better-known song of the same name Minogue recorded in 2001).

Personnel

The following people contributed to Kylie:

Formats

These are the formats of major album releases of Kylie.